Guide · English-speaking property solicitor in Menorca
What you are really buying before you sign.
A property that already holds a tourist licence can be one of the best buys on the island, or one of the most expensive mistakes, because a licence is not the automatic guarantee most buyers assume. We explain what you are really buying and what we check before you commit. Nothing slips through.
Buying a property in Menorca that already holds a tourist licence can be one of the best decisions you make on the island. It can also be one of the most expensive mistakes, because a licence is not quite the guarantee that many buyers assume it is. Here we explain, in plain terms, what you are actually buying and what we check before you commit.
New tourist places on the island are, in practice, frozen. There has been a moratorium since 2022, and the Decreto-ley 4/2025 keeps new tourist activity suspended until the Consell Insular de Menorca approves its tourism carrying-capacity study, which has not yet happened. At the same time, the island keeps losing legal places as dormant licences are removed from the register.
There is a transitional mechanism, the temporary pool of tourist places (bolsa temporal de plazas turísticas), but it is not something to rely on with any comfort. It is a long and costly route, in the region of 2,500 euros per place, and it is precarious: it can disappear at any moment if the cap on places is approved or the rules change, which would wipe out the waiting list. Counting on the pool to obtain a licence means betting on something that does not depend on you and may simply evaporate.
What that means for you is simple: you generally cannot expect to buy a property without a licence and then obtain one. The realistic route to owning a property you can legally let to tourists is to buy one that already has a valid, active licence attached. That is exactly why these properties command a premium, and why it is worth making sure the licence is real and will survive the purchase.
An ETV licence (estada turística en habitatge, a tourist stay in a dwelling) is tied to the dwelling itself, not to the person who owns it. When you buy the property, the licence comes with it.
That transfer, however, is not automatic. The register does not update itself when you sign at the notary. As the new owner, you must file a comunicación previa (a prior notification of the change) with the Tourism Planning service (Ordenación Turística) of the Consell Insular de Menorca, with the required documentation, and this is now done electronically. Until that step is completed, the licence on the register is still in the seller's name.
A licence that looks fine on a listing can hide problems that only surface later. Before you commit, we verify:
We confirm the inscription in the insular register, the registration number, and that it corresponds to this specific dwelling and not another property or a general reference.
This is the point most buyers miss. Under the Decreto-ley 4/2025, a licence for a property that has not been commercially let for three consecutive years can be reviewed and permanently deactivated. A licence that has sat dormant may look valid today and be cancelled tomorrow. We check that it has been genuinely commercialised.
How many guests it authorises, and the conditions attached to it, decide what the property is really worth to you as a rental. We make sure the paperwork matches what you have been told.
A tourist licence rests on the property being legal in the first place, with a valid certificate of habitability (cédula) and the right urban-planning status. If there is an underlying problem with the building, the licence built on top of it is fragile.
Once the purchase is complete, there is a legal obligation to notify the change of ownership to the Tourism Planning service (Ordenación Turística) of the Consell Insular de Menorca, electronically, so that the register reflects you as the holder. This is not optional: it is a legal duty, and it is precisely that step that puts the licence properly in your name and in order. Until it is notified, the licence still stands in the previous owner's name.
Buyers assume the licence transfers by itself and never file the change of ownership. Buyers take "it has a licence" at face value without confirming it was ever used, and inherit a dormancy problem. Buyers rely on a verbal assurance from an agent or seller rather than the register. And buyers look at the licence in isolation, without checking that the dwelling underneath it is legal. Each of these is avoidable with the right checks done before, not after, the money moves.
We handle the whole legal side of buying a licensed property in Menorca, in English and Spanish: verifying the licence and the dwelling before you commit, reviewing the contract, and notifying the change of ownership after completion so the licence is genuinely yours. You get a clear picture of what you are buying before you are bound to it.
If you are considering a property in Menorca that comes with a tourist licence, tell us about the operation and we will look at it with you.
This guide is general information, not legal advice for a specific case. Tourist-letting rules in the Balearic Islands change often. We confirm the position that applies to your property before you rely on it.
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