Your Malaga Host
Since 29 January 2025, no vacation rental in Andalusia can legally operate without a Número de Registro Único de Alquiler (NRUA) — the Unique Rental Registration Number. And from May 2026, EU Regulation 2024/1028 will force Airbnb, Booking and every other platform to automatically block any listing that cannot show this number. If you own a VFT in Málaga or on the Costa del Sol and haven’t completed the registration yet, the clock is ticking. This guide covers, with real dates and documentation, exactly how to register your property step by step, what the community of owners now requires after the 3 April 2025 rule change, and what to do if your application is rejected. Get one detail wrong and the process stalls for weeks. Get it right and you can be done in under 30 days.
The NRUA is the Unique Rental Registration Number introduced by Decree 31/2024 and Royal Decree 1312/2024, implementing EU Regulation 2024/1028. It is a single property identifier that consolidates all fiscal, land-registry and tourism data into one reference, enabling platforms like Airbnb and Booking to verify automatically whether a listing is legal.
The VFT (Vivienda con Fines Turísticos) category continues to exist — it is the use classification in the Andalusian Tourism Registry. The NRUA is the national number that accompanies the VFT and satisfies the European single-window requirement. In Málaga, the format remains VFT/MA/00000, but each VFT now carries an NRUA that must appear in every platform listing.
In practice: if you already have an approved VFT, you are not starting from zero — but you do need to complete the national registration before May 2026, or your listing disappears.
Any owner who rents their property for periods of less than two months for tourism purposes must register the property and obtain the NRUA. This covers second homes, inherited apartments, investment properties and properties managed through a co-host or a management company like Your Malaga Host.
Tenants who sublet with the landlord’s permission are also obliged to register, provided the purpose is tourism. Seasonal rentals (minimum two months, typically for workers or students) are excluded, as are long-term rentals governed by the Spanish Urban Tenancies Act.
If you own several apartments in the same building, each one needs its own NRUA. There is no way to register an entire building under a single reference unless it operates as Apartamentos Turísticos (AT) — a legally distinct category from VFT.
The most common mistake is starting the registration without having all documentation ready. The digital single window requires all documents to be submitted in one batch — if anything is missing, the file stalls and the clock resets.
The minimum documentation includes: municipal occupancy licence or responsible declaration (depending on the municipality), valid habitability certificate (or equivalent Certificate of Suitability), updated land-registry excerpt (nota simple), energy performance certificate, and the community of owners consent certificate under the new 3/5 rule — mandatory since 3 April 2025.
If you rent through a management company, add the signed management contract. If the property has a mortgage, check that the deed does not prohibit tourist use: many mortgages signed between 2010 and 2020 include restrictive clauses that can invalidate the NRUA.
Have everything in PDF, clearly named, with the property address spelled identically across all documents. A single address discrepancy between two files is enough for a rejection.
From 1 July 2025, the process is carried out exclusively on the new Junta de Andalucía digital portal. Access requires a digital certificate, electronic DNI or Cl@ve PIN — without one of these three systems it is impossible to start the application.
The flow is: (1) owner identification and tax details; (2) cadastral data and property geolocation; (3) registration type (new VFT, amendment or NRUA upgrade on existing VFT); (4) document upload; (5) electronic signature and submission; (6) provisional number and case reference.
After submission, the Junta carries out an automatic cross-check of land-registry and cadastral data. If everything matches and the community has granted consent, the definitive NRUA is assigned and the VFT is activated in the Tourism Registry. This reference is the one you enter on Airbnb, Booking and VRBO.
Keep a copy of the submission receipt: it is your legal proof that you started the process within the deadline, even if the formal resolution takes time.
The legal maximum resolution period is three months from file registration, but in practice most NRUAs are approved in two to four weeks when the documentation is complete.
You can check the status on the same portal, under ‘My Applications’, using the case reference. Possible statuses are: pending verification, remediation request, approved, or rejected.
If you receive a remediation request, you have ten working days to supply what is missing. After that deadline without a response, the file is archived and the process must start again. Watch your email and your digital mailbox: notifications are sent electronically, not by post.
1. Incorrectly worded community consent. The minutes must record the explicit vote of the 3/5 majority and their participation quotas. A vague ‘approved by majority’ without the breakdown is invalid.
2. Outdated cadastral record. If you carried out works and did not update the Catastro, the floor area will not match the land-registry excerpt and the system automatically rejects the file.
3. Expired municipal licence. Responsible declarations in many municipalities have a limited validity. Check with your local council whether renewal is required before the NRUA application.
4. Expired energy performance certificate. These are valid for ten years. Many owners try to use the original certificate from purchase, not realising it has lapsed.
5. Incorrect registered owner. If the deed is in the name of a deceased spouse or a company that no longer exists, the system will not accept the registration. Ownership must be regularised before starting the NRUA process.
EU Regulation 2024/1028, transposed into Spanish law by Royal Decree 1312/2024, requires all short-term rental platforms to verify the registration number of every listing before 20 May 2026. From that date, any listing without an NRUA must be blocked by the platform automatically.
This is not a recommendation: fines for Airbnb, Booking and VRBO for hosting an illegal listing can reach €30,000 per property. Given that pressure, platforms are erring on the side of caution and will begin blocking listings ahead of the deadline to avoid liability.
For owners, a block means: immediate loss of your booking calendar (reservations already accepted may or may not be honoured at the platform’s discretion), disappearance from search results, and potential loss of all accumulated reviews if the listing is deleted rather than paused. Recovering your listing means rebuilding from scratch — without the years of review history that drives the algorithm.
If you manage your property with Your Malaga Host, NRUA registration is part of the onboarding process. Our team reviews your documentation, identifies gaps before filing, coordinates with your property administrator to draft the correct community minutes, and submits the application through the digital single window using your digital certificate or ours on your behalf.
We have been working on the Costa del Sol since 2019, managing VFTs in Málaga city, Mijas, Fuengirola, Benalmádena, Marbella and Nerja. We know the specific requirements of each municipality and each property type. Within our Premium Listing service, we also activate your property on Airbnb, Booking, VRBO and our direct booking site with your NRUA correctly embedded in every listing.
No upfront fee, no fixed monthly charge — we only earn when you earn. No commitment, no small print.
The legal deadline is three months, but in 2025 the average in Andalusia has been two to four weeks when the file is properly submitted. If the Junta issues a remediation request, the process can extend by up to two additional months. Having your documentation verified by an expert before submission significantly reduces the risk of rejection.
If you already had an active VFT, you can keep your listing live while the upgrade to NRUA is being processed, provided you started the application within the deadline. If it is a new VFT, you must not advertise or accept bookings until the approval is confirmed. Bookings accepted before approval can result in administrative penalties.
Since 3 April 2025, community consent is mandatory for new VFTs. If you cannot reach the 3/5 majority of owners and participation quotas, the NRUA will be denied. VFTs already registered before that date retain their rights, although the community can still vote additional restrictions through a formal resolution.
The NRUA does not expire through the passage of time, but it can be revoked if ownership changes, the use is modified, fraud is detected, or the requirements cease to be met (licence, habitability certificate, community consent). Keep all your documentation up to date to avoid an unexpected cancellation.
The administrative fee for a VFT with NRUA in Andalusia is modest — around €50 in 2026. The real cost lies in the supporting documentation: energy performance certificate (€150–300), land-registry excerpt (€10), and if you need a lawyer to handle the community minutes, between €150 and €400. A trusted professional manager bundles everything into a single quote.
