Licences, building rules and insurance when you live in and rent out a home abroad

In brief

If you buy a holiday home to rent out for about eleven months and use it yourself for one, the law treats it first as a tourist letting and only then as your private holiday home. As of 31 October 2026, three checks decide whether the plan works: whether the country or city still registers new tourist lets at your address, whether the building's rules or the other owners can stop it, and whether your insurance covers both guests and your own stay. Spain (three fifths of owners must approve new tourist-use titles since 3 April 2025), Italy (a CIN code does not override a building ban), Greece (new registrations frozen in central Athens until the end of 2026) and Turkey (a permit plus the consent of every owner in the building) are the strictest on the building side. This is general information, not legal advice.

Why a home you both live in and rent out is a special case

Most guides on short lets assume an investor who never sleeps in the flat. A holiday-home owner is different: the property is a private home for a few weeks and a business for the rest. Three things follow from that.

• The licence is issued for the activity, not for the owner. Almost every regime asks for a registration number on the listing, and none of them stops you from staying in your own flat, but some give extra rules to a "primary residence" or an "owner-occupied" home, and a holiday home you use for one month is usually neither.
• The building decides separately from the state. A municipality can register your flat while the co-owners' rules still forbid tourist use. In several countries the second is the one that ends the plan.
• Insurance is written for one use at a time. A standard home policy assumes you live there; a landlord policy assumes a long tenancy. Short stays by guests sit in a third category, and you need to make sure that all three of your uses are covered in writing.

The sections below take the three checks in order, and the end of the article is a checklist you can send to a lawyer before signing a reservation agreement. For the economics of the owner month see our article on choosing your own month and the break-even point; for day-to-day operation see managing the home and blocking your dates.

Block A. Tourist-rental licences and registration, country by country

Treat the list below as a map of questions, not a final answer. Each country has its own article with more detail; links are in the text.

• Spain. A national registration number is now part of every listing, and each region keeps its own tourist register on top. Details are in our Spain short-term rental rules. The practical point for a buyer is that the number can be refused if the community of owners has not agreed (see block B).
• Portugal. Alojamento Local is a registration, not a licence in the strict sense. Since Decree-Law 76/2024 (in force 1 November 2024) the registration is no longer personal and no longer has to be renewed, which makes a flat with an existing AL registration easier to buy and sell. Councils with more than a thousand registrations had to decide by November 2025 whether to use their regulatory powers; we did not find the outcomes, so ask the council for your address. See Portugal short-term rental rules.
• France. The loi Le Meur (promulgated 19 November 2024) reshaped the regime: a 120-day annual cap, which a commune may lower to 90, applies to a primary residence rented as tourist accommodation, and the building's regulations must state whether tourist lets are allowed. Sources disagree on how the cap treats a secondary residence, which is what a holiday home usually is, so ask the town hall in writing. See France short-term rental rules.
• Italy. A national CIN code has been mandatory since 1 January 2025 and must be shown at the entrance of the building, and city rules in Florence, Milan, Venice and Rome come on top. See Italy short-term rental rules. We could not confirm the exact safety equipment list or the size of the fines from an official text, so we do not quote them.
• Greece. Every listing needs an AMA number. Central Athens (the first three municipal districts, including Plaka, Koukaki, Kolonaki and Pangrati) is frozen for new registrations until the end of 2026, and a registration there no longer travels with the flat when it is sold, given or inherited. Thessaloniki's first municipal community has a similar freeze from 1 July to 31 December 2026. One source reports further extensions to islands from October; we could not confirm it. See Greece short-term rental rules.
• Cyprus. Every holiday let needs a registration number from the Deputy Ministry of Tourism, and enforcement is tightening. See Cyprus short-term rental rules.
• Turkey. Since 2024 a permit is required for tourism rentals of up to 100 days, and the site's guide describes a requirement of consent from every owner in the building. See Turkey short-term rental rules.
• Bulgaria. The Tourism Act and municipal registers apply, and EU Regulation 2024/1028 adds data sharing. See Bulgaria short-term rental rules.
• Montenegro. Outside the EU, so the EU number rules do not apply directly, but private accommodation is still registered and taxed. See Montenegro short-term rental rules.
• Georgia. There is no dedicated licensing regime for Airbnb-style lets; the limits come from tax and from the building. See Georgia short-term rental rules.
• Croatia. In 2026 the press is contradictory about whether a registration number is already required; what applies for certain is the categorisation decision of the local office and guest registration in the eVisitor system. A draft Hospitality Act would introduce a single register and a mandatory number from 1 January 2027 if adopted. One tourist-board notice says an owner must be entered in eVisitor before the stay of the owner or the family can be registered, so the owner month is not invisible to the system.
• Thailand. Under the Hotel Act B.E. 2547 a rental of fewer than 30 days generally needs a hotel licence, and most condominiums cannot obtain one; stays of 30 days and more are ordinary leases. Penalty figures differ between law-firm blogs, so we quote none; enforcement has reportedly increased in Phuket and Samui in 2025 and 2026. The 30-day line decides whether the "eleven months of rent" model is even legal in a condo.
• Germany and Dubai. Germany has no single national law and each city sets its own limits (Germany); Dubai needs a holiday home permit from the Department of Economy and Tourism with the number on every listing (Dubai).

What this means for an owner who also stays one month. First, check that the registration is valid for your exact address and unit, not for the building. Second, ask whether the regime counts days of owner use or only rented nights; for most of these regimes only rented nights matter, but in France the cap is expressed in days of rental. Third, check what happens to the registration when ownership changes, because in the Athens zones it does not pass to the buyer. If you later sell, the registration may be worth nothing to the next owner.

Block B. Condominium and building rules: the check that ends most plans

The state licence is only half of the answer. In a block of flats or a residential complex, the co-owners' rules can forbid tourist letting even where the city allows it.

• Spain. Organic Law 1/2025 amended the Horizontal Property Act (art. 17.12), in force since 3 April 2025: a flat cannot be used as a tourist rental without the approval of three fifths of the owners representing three fifths of the ownership shares. According to resolutions published in the official gazette in July and August 2026, registrars have refused or suspended registration numbers when the community's certificate was missing, and the rule applies to titles dated after 3 April 2025. Cases about single-owner buildings are still being argued. The certificate is signed by the community's administrator, so ask the administrator before you pay a deposit.
• Italy. A condominium may ban short lets only if the ban is in a contractual regulation that is validly transcribed, and a simple majority vote in the assembly is not enough; changing such a ban needs the unanimity of all owners. A CIN does not override a ban: the Court of Cassation (ruling 2770/2025) allows the condominium to act against the tenant where a clear contractual ban exists. Even without a ban, noise, safety and common-area damage can still support a complaint.
• Portugal. Since Decree-Law 76/2024 a prior decision of the condominium is no longer needed to open an Alojamento Local, but the owners can later ask the council to cancel the registration; the threshold is one half of the building's permilage, and the opposition must be reasoned. A flat with a registration can still be lost to a determined building.
• France. The building's regulations must state whether furnished tourist lets are allowed, and co-owners can vote to ban them under conditions; one source gives a two-thirds majority, others do not state it, so ask the syndic for the text of the regulation and the minutes of the last three meetings.
• Greece. We could not establish a general co-owner consent rule from our sources. What is documented is that an Athens court stopped an Airbnb because the building's residential-only rules prevailed, so read the building regulation, which is annexed to the title deed.
• Turkey. The site's guide describes unanimous consent of all owners in the building. For a resort complex run by a management company, ask whether tourist use is built into the complex rules.
• Thailand. Condominiums are residential and the juristic office often bans short stays; enforcement is typically triggered by complaints. A condo hotel with its own licence is a different product.
• Resort complexes everywhere. A holiday village or marina development normally has an owners' association with its own rules on rental pools, rental caps and the number of owner-use weeks. Read them as carefully as the contract of sale.

How to check before you buy. Ask the seller's lawyer for four documents: the building or complex regulation, the minutes of the last three annual meetings, a statement of arrears and planned special levies, and, where a country has one, the community's certificate that tourist use is allowed. Ask the administrator whether any complaints about short lets have been recorded. Put the answers in the reservation agreement as conditions, with the right to withdraw and get the deposit back if the documents say otherwise.

Block C. Insurance when guests and the owner sleep in the same bed

The insurance gap is the quietest of the three. Our general guide to home insurance for non-resident owners and the cost article insurance and running costs cover the basics; here is what is specific to a home used both ways.

• A standard home policy is written for an owner-occupier. According to UK broker guidance, hosting paying guests without a specialist policy can leave damage, theft or injury uncovered, because letting turns the property into a trading business in the underwriter's view.
• An ordinary landlord policy usually assumes a long tenancy (six to twelve months), not weekly turnover.
• Platform host protection is not insurance. The UK landlords' association warns that platform schemes are not always equivalent to a comprehensive policy and carry limits and exclusions.
• Three components matter: buildings (and, in an apartment, the building's own policy), contents including furniture and appliances, and public liability for guests. UK brokers suggest a minimum public liability limit of two million pounds; treat that as a UK example and ask a local broker what is usual in your country.
• Advertising on a platform without telling the insurer can invalidate cover, and some policies exclude parties or restrict periods when the home is unoccupied; the UK example is conditions for gaps of 31 to 180 days with inspections. In a holiday home this matters in the quiet months.

What happens in the owner month? Nobody in our sources describes this case directly, so treat the following as questions for the insurer, not as answers. First, is the policy written for "letting with owner use" and does it say so, or for "letting only"? Second, if a friend or relative staying for free during your month is injured, is that covered by the same public liability? Third, are your own belongings that you leave in the flat covered when guests are in it? Get the answers by email and keep them with the policy. A policy that says "holiday let" and excludes owner occupation can leave you uninsured in exactly the month you are in the flat.

Pre-purchase legal checklist

• Registration: the registration number or permit exists for this exact unit, it is valid, and the municipality confirms in writing that new registration is possible if it does not.
• Transfer: the registration passes to you on sale; in Athens central zones it does not.
• Building: regulation, last three meeting minutes, administrator's certificate where required, list of complaints.
• Cap and calendar: any limit on rented days or nights that would reduce the eleven months.
• Owner use: whether your own stay is recorded (for example guest registration in Croatia) and whether it changes the status of the registration.
• Taxes and reporting: see our article on taxes on personal-use days and rental income; ask the same lawyer to confirm the registration is linked to a tax number.
• Insurance: written confirmation that the policy covers letting, owner use and free stays of friends, with the limits.
• Safety: local rules on fire, gas, electrical certificates and smoke detectors for tourist lets, which vary by country and region and which we could not confirm for each of them.
• Exit: what happens to the registration, the building's consent and the policy if you sell in three years.

If you want a full picture of the plan, start with the guide to buying where you holiday. This article is general information as of 31 October 2026, based on search summaries rather than the official texts; check the current rule with a local lawyer before you pay a deposit.

FAQ

Can I stay in my own flat if it has a tourist licence? Yes in every regime we looked at, because the registration limits rentals, not your own use. What can differ is the record: in Croatia the owner's stay is entered in the guest system, and in France a day cap counts days of rental, so keep your own dates separate from rented ones.

Can the other owners stop me from renting to tourists after I have bought? It depends on the country and on the date of your tourist title. In Spain, since 3 April 2025 a new tourist-use title needs the approval of three fifths of the owners and of the ownership shares. In Italy a contractual regulation with a valid ban can be enforced against you. In Portugal the owners can ask the council to cancel a registration by a reasoned decision of half of the permilage.

Does a licence or registration number protect me from the building's rules? No. In Italy the Court of Cassation (2770/2025) has said that a CIN does not override a contractual ban in the condominium regulation, and in Spain the registration can be refused if the community's certificate is missing.

Is a normal home policy enough if I rent out for eleven months? Usually not. UK broker guidance says standard home policies assume owner occupation and a landlord policy assumes a long tenancy; letting to tourists generally needs a policy that names short stays and includes public liability. Ask in writing that it also covers your own month and the free stays of friends.

Is the plan realistic in a condominium in Thailand or Turkey? Both are risky: in Thailand rentals under 30 days generally need a hotel licence that most condos do not have, and in Turkey the site's guide describes a permit and the consent of every owner. A detached villa or a licensed resort is a different case, and the local lawyer should confirm it before you pay.