Short-term rental licences and registration numbers in 2026: how to get one, country by country

In Belgium, the Netherlands and Spain a short-term rental “licence” is in most cases a registration number for one unit, issued by a region or a municipality, and since 20 May 2026 Airbnb and other platforms must collect that number before a listing goes live.¹ In Belgium you register with the region: Toerisme Vlaanderen, Brussels Economy and Employment or Tourisme Wallonie.³⁴⁶ In the Netherlands the municipality decides whether you need a number, a permit or both.⁷ In Spain the national number lost its legal basis in May 2026, so the regional tourism register is the one that counts.¹¹¹²

In this guide

1. Licence, permit or registration number?
2. What the EU rule changed on 20 May 2026
3. Country by country at a glance
4. Belgium: Flanders
5. Belgium: Brussels-Capital Region
6. Belgium: Wallonia
7. The Netherlands
8. Spain: the national number and the regional register
9. Onboarding an owner’s unit: a registration checklist
10. Worked example
11. Other countries
12. Questions people ask
13. Sources

Licence, permit or registration number?

People search for a “short-term rental licence”, but the official word in most of these places is registration.

• A registration number identifies one unit. You declare details about it and get a number that goes on every listing.¹
• A permit is a decision that you may let at all. Some Dutch municipalities require one next to the number.⁷ In Belgium, urban planning is checked by the municipality, not by Toerisme Vlaanderen.³

So the answer to “do I need a licence for Airbnb?” is: almost certainly a registration number, perhaps a permit, and always the local rules behind both. The city-by-city rules are in Airbnb rules in Belgium and the Netherlands and Airbnb rules in Spain; this guide covers where you register and what goes on the listing.

What the EU rule changed on 20 May 2026

Regulation (EU) 2024/1028 applies from 20 May 2026.¹ It is the “EU STR law” people search for, but it is a data regulation, not a licence. The deeper explanation is in EU short-term rental regulation 2024/1028; for registration, four points matter.

1. The scheme stays local. A country, region or city decides whether to run a registration procedure. Where it does, the procedure must follow the regulation: online, free of charge where possible or at a reasonable and proportionate cost, with automatic and immediate issue of the number, effective appeal and no more than one procedure per unit.¹
2. You declare the unit. For each unit you give the exact address, the type of unit, whether it is a primary or secondary residence or neither, the maximum bed places and guests, and whether an authorisation applies and you hold it, plus your own or your company’s identity and contact details.¹
3. Platforms check. A platform must make hosts self-declare whether the unit is in an area with a registration procedure, must “ensure that hosts have provided a registration number prior to allowing the offering”, and must make reasonable efforts to check declarations and numbers at random.¹
4. Authorities can suspend. An authority may verify your declaration at any time after the number is issued. If you do not correct wrong information, it can suspend the number and order the platform to remove the listing.¹

For a manager the registration number is now a gate: missing, invalid or tied to the wrong address, the listing cannot go live or can be taken down.

Country by country at a glance

Where the official pages do not settle whether a manager may register for an owner, ask the authority before you file.

Belgium: Flanders

The Flemish Logiesdecreet covers all paid tourist accommodation, even occasional: “Alle toeristische logies moeten verplicht aangemeld worden bij Toerisme Vlaanderen.”³

How to register in Flanders

1. Check the nine basic conditions first. Among them: a valid fire safety certificate, fire and liability insurance, no disqualifying convictions, proof of ownership or a lease that allows the letting, and compliance with urban planning rules, which the municipality checks.³
2. Get the fire safety certificate. The duties that follow are in fire safety for registered accommodation.
3. Register in the operator portal. You need your electronic identity card and enter the operator’s and the accommodation’s details, such as type, rental units and sleeping places.²
4. Receive the number. Online, the number arrives at once by automatic email, in the letter attached to it. With the paper form, the number follows a few days later by email or post, and you must wait for it before receiving guests.²
5. Check the public register, where the unit now appears.²
6. Put the number on every platform. Booking platforms such as Airbnb, Booking.com and Natuurhuisjes are obliged to ask for it under the EU regulation.³

Toerisme Vlaanderen’s page, updated 19 August 2026, says an amendment of the decree follows later in 2026 on registration with a unique number and on proof of urban planning conformity.³ We found no confirmation on 6 November 2026 that the Flemish Parliament has adopted it, so treat the reported changes as proposals. The July 2026 draft is described in Airbnb rules in Antwerp.

City rules sit on top: see Antwerp, Ghent and Bruges before you register a unit there.

Belgium: Brussels-Capital Region

Brussels has one set of rules until 31 December 2026 and a new ordinance from 1 January 2027.

Until 31 December 2026

You submit a file to Brussels Economy and Employment (BEE) before letting a room, flat or house for 1 night to 90 consecutive days, even if it is your principal residence.⁴ Every property needs its own number, “strictly linked to a specific operator and address”, and the municipality’s urban planning certificate is compulsory for every category.⁴ Registering with Brussels Fiscality for the regional tax is a separate step.⁴

From 1 January 2027

The decree of 9 July 2026, published on 27 October 2026, brings the ordinance of 1 February 2024 into force on 1 January 2027.⁵ It sets out the registration step by step:

1. The form. The operator’s and day-to-day manager’s details, the address, the number of units, the capacity and the category.⁵
2. The attachments. Criminal record extracts for operator and manager, under three months old; proof of your right to the property; the owner’s written agreement if the operator is not the owner; for an apartment, the co-ownership’s authorisation or proof that the syndic received your notice; a floor plan; and the urban planning and fire safety certificates, with the two main-residence categories exempt from the planning one.⁵
3. Acknowledgement. Within 15 days. Without the certificates the application is inadmissible; other missing information can follow within 30 days.⁵
4. Decision. BEE decides within 30 days of acknowledging a complete application. If it does not decide in time, the application is deemed accepted and BEE must send the number within 5 days.⁵
5. Guest information. Before the booking is made, guests must be able to see the registration number, the operator’s and manager’s names and contact details, and BEE’s contact details.⁵

Categories, fees and a worked timeline are in Airbnb rules in Brussels.

Belgium: Wallonia

In French-speaking Wallonia, anyone who offers tourist accommodation for rent must register it with Tourisme Wallonie “avant toute mise en location”, before any letting.⁶

1. Create an account on the Tourisme Wallonie platform “Mon espace” and give your identity, address and the accommodation’s capacity. Paper forms are available on request.⁶
2. Attach a fire safety certificate, either a full certificate (ASI) or a simplified inspection certificate (ACS).⁶
3. Attach a criminal record extract issued less than six months earlier.⁶
4. Receive the number. Registration is free: “Il n’y a pas de frais d’enregistrement.”⁶

The registration only stays valid while the fire certificate and criminal record extract do, and it can be suspended, for example when the fire certificate expires or planning rules are broken.⁶ Since 2023 some tourist accommodation also needs an urban planning permit from the municipality.⁶

The Netherlands

The Netherlands has no national licence. Under the Wet toeristische verhuur van woonruimte, each municipality decides whether to require a registration number, a maximum number of nights per year or a notification of each overnight stay, and some require a permit as well.⁷

What changed on 1 November 2026

The amendment of the law that implements the EU regulation, and the amended registration decree, entered into force on 1 November 2026, under a royal decree of 19 October 2026.⁹⁸ Platforms must keep and share data on short-term letting, and municipalities can request it back to 1 July 2026, for example to check whether a home is let more often than allowed.⁸⁹

For a host the steps stay municipal. Where a municipality has a registration duty, you request the number through the municipal system before you let, and it is issued digitally at once.¹⁰ Volkshuisvesting Nederland adds that “NLD” is added to Dutch registration numbers.¹⁰ We could not confirm how that prefix appears on listings, so copy the number exactly as issued.

How to register in a Dutch city

1. Find the municipality’s page on tourist letting and check who may let.⁷ In Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht and The Hague holiday letting of a whole home is only for the home you live in.
2. Request the registration number where the municipality requires one. Rotterdam and Utrecht, for example, issue it free through toeristischeverhuur.nl.
3. Apply for a permit where one is required, as in Amsterdam and The Hague.
4. Notify each stay where the municipality asks for it, and track the night cap.

The details differ per city: Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht and The Hague.

Spain: the national number and the regional register

The national registro único

Real Decreto 1312/2024 created a national registration procedure, the Registro Único de Arrendamientos, alongside the Ventanilla Única Digital for platform data. On 19 May 2026 the Supreme Court annulled the provisions “referidos al procedimiento de registro único de arrendamientos” and dismissed the appeal on everything else. The ruling was published in the BOE on 8 June 2026.¹¹ There is no longer a legal duty to obtain the national number. Which number platforms now ask for is not settled in the official texts we read; the Spain guide follows this.

The regional register: Andalusia as the example

Each region runs its own tourism register. We checked Andalusia, the region for Marbella and Málaga; we have not verified other regions’ procedures, so open their official register first.

1. Check planning with the council. The Junta tells you to confirm with the ayuntamiento that you meet municipal planning rules.¹²
2. Gather the documents. Always an up-to-date nota simple from the Land Registry and a certificate from the community of owners’ secretary or administrator approving tourist use. If the operator is not the owner, the title that lets the operator run the whole home, with its term.¹²
3. File the declaración responsable online in the Junta’s Oficina Virtual. A digital certificate is compulsory, and the procedure is free: “Ninguno, es totalmente gratuito.”¹²
4. Do not confuse the numbers. The CTC number you get on filing identifies your declaration. It is not the registration code.¹²
5. Receive the code. The registration resolution gives a code in the format VUT/XX/00000, where XX is the province. “Este código deberá indicarlo en toda publicidad o promoción que realice, incluidas las plataformas on-line.”¹²
6. Supply missing documents fast. You get 10 working days; otherwise cancellation starts.¹²

For a manager, one rule stands out: a third party who provides the hospitality services, such as key handover, reception, guest support, cleaning and invoicing, must be listed as the empresa explotadora. An agency that takes over a home already registered files the change through the Junta’s communication form.¹²

Onboarding an owner’s unit: a registration checklist

Use this for every new unit before you create or take over a listing: the right to let first, the certificates next, the number last.

1. Identify the scheme. Does a registration procedure apply at this address? Platforms ask you to self-declare it.¹
2. Check the right to let. Planning use, permits, residence conditions and night caps come before the number. A number does not cure a planning problem.³⁷
3. Check the building. In an apartment, does the co-ownership allow it? Brussels from 2027 and Andalusia both ask for proof.⁵¹² The Belgian and Dutch VME and VvE rules are in apartment buildings.
4. Order the documents. Fire safety in Flanders, Brussels and Wallonia; the urban planning certificate in Brussels; the nota simple and community certificate in Andalusia; criminal record extracts in Wallonia and, from 2027, Brussels.³⁴⁵⁶¹²
5. Decide who registers. Owner or operator, and in whose name the number is issued. In Brussels the number is tied to one operator and address, and in Andalusia whoever provides the hospitality services is the operator.⁴¹²
6. File the registration and keep the proof: the confirmation email in Flanders, the BEE decision in Brussels, the resolution with the VUT code in Andalusia.²⁵¹²
7. Check the public register. Confirm the number, address, unit type, bed places and guests match what you will put on the listing.¹²
8. Enter the number on every platform, and on your own website or other adverts where the local rules ask for all advertising.¹²
9. Put it in writing and diarise renewals. Who registered, who updates details, who renews the fire certificate and who pays a fine belong in your management agreement. Wallonia’s registration lapses with the fire certificate.⁶

Worked example

Other countries

For units elsewhere, see Airbnb rules in Portugal, France and Paris and Italy. These schemes changed in Flanders, Brussels, the Netherlands and Spain within a single year. Open the official page again before every new unit, and note the date you checked it.

Questions people ask

Sources

All sources checked 6 November 2026.

1. EUR-Lex, “Regulation (EU) 2024/1028 on data collection and sharing relating to short-term accommodation rental services”, Articles 4 to 7 and 19
2. Toerisme Vlaanderen, “Je logies aanmelden”, In Dutch
3. Vlaanderen Vakantieland (Toerisme Vlaanderen), “Het Vlaamse Logiesdecreet”, Page updated 19 August 2026, in Dutch
4. Brussels Economy and Employment, “Have your tourist accommodation registered”
5. Belgian Official Journal, “Arrêté du Gouvernement de la Région de Bruxelles-Capitale du 9 juillet 2026 portant exécution de l'ordonnance du 1er février 2024 relative à l'hébergement touristique”, Published 27 October 2026; articles 15 to 19, 27 and 104, in French
6. Tourisme Wallonie, “Gérer un hébergement touristique”, In French
7. Rijksoverheid, “Woning verhuren aan toeristen”, In Dutch
8. Rijksoverheid, “Nieuwe regels voor toeristische verhuur vanaf 1 november 2026”, News item, 29 October 2026, in Dutch
9. Staatsblad, “Besluit van 19 oktober 2026 tot vaststelling van het tijdstip van inwerkingtreding van de Wet van 8 juli 2026 (Stb. 2026, 331)”, Published 23 October 2026, in Dutch
10. Volkshuisvesting Nederland, “Europese verordening datadeelplicht kortetermijnverhuur”, In Dutch
11. Boletín Oficial del Estado, “Sentencia de 19 de mayo de 2026, de la Sala Tercera del Tribunal Supremo, que estima parcialmente el recurso contra el Real Decreto 1312/2024”, BOE no. 139, 8 June 2026, in Spanish
12. Junta de Andalucía, “Viviendas de uso turístico. Preguntas frecuentes”, Registro de Turismo de Andalucía, in Spanish

We check every figure against the sources above. Spotted something out of date? Email systemen@hostproacademy.com with the guide title.