Every short-stay rental in Andalucía needs two licences, not one — and getting that mental model right at the start saves owners a lot of grief later. From our office in Arroyo de la Miel we file VUT and NRUA paperwork weekly, and what follows is what we'd say to an owner asking the question for the first time.
The VUT is the regional licence
The VUT (Vivienda de Uso Turístico) is granted by the Junta de Andalucía. It's a declaración responsable — meaning straightforward applications can be processed in as little as a day, with two to five days being more typical. The licence number identifies the property in the regional registry and must appear on every listing on every platform.
In Benalmádena specifically, the ayuntamiento processes community-vote paperwork relatively quickly compared with Mijas or Marbella, and most established blocks in Puerto Marina & Benalmádena Costa and Torrequebrada have precedents that smooth the application. Torremuelle and Carvajal follow the standard Junta procedure without local complications. The bottleneck, when there is one, tends to be paperwork the owner doesn't realise they're missing — the nota simple, energy certificate, or the community statutes confirming short-stay use is allowed.
The NRUA is the national number
The NRUA (Número de Registro Único de Alquiler) was created by Royal Decree 1312/2024 and has been mandatory since July 2025. It's a separate registration from the VUT and lives in the national registry. Both numbers must be displayed on every listing.
A point owners regularly miss: the NRUA must be registered in the name of the rental management company, not the individual owner. That means the compliance responsibility — including the consequences of mis-filing — sits with us, not you. We treat that as part of the management package, not a separate add-on.
What we actually do for a Benalmádena owner
When a new property comes onto our books, the typical sequence is: site visit and photography brief, then we file the VUT declaración responsable with the Junta, then register the NRUA in our company name, then do the platform setup with the licence numbers in place. From kickoff to a property accepting bookings is normally ten to fourteen days when everything's in order — longer if a community vote is needed for a new block, or if the energy certificate is missing.
If you already hold a valid VUT, it keeps its status under the old rules. The 3/5 community vote requirement only applies to new applications since April 2025. Existing licences are grandfathered and we don't disturb them.
The honest summary: most Benalmádena properties get through both filings smoothly. The cases that take longer are almost always missing paperwork the owner can supply in an afternoon, not regulatory blockages. If you're considering renting and want to know how your specific property would fare, the discovery call gives a real answer.
