The Spanish seasonal tenancy contract, explained for tenants

A stay of a month or more in Spain is normally let under an arrendamiento de temporada, a seasonal tenancy. It is a real lease under Spanish tenancy law, and it sits in a different legal box from both a tourist let and a permanent home. What follows is general information and not legal advice: have a lawyer or a gestor read any contract before you sign it.

#What is an arrendamiento de temporada

It is a lease of a property for a season, governed by Ley 29/1994, the Ley de Arrendamientos Urbanos. Article 3 of that law splits leases into two kinds, leases of a dwelling and leases for a use other than a dwelling, and article 3.2 places in the second category leases of urban property made by season, whether that season is summer or any other.

The practical consequence is that the machinery built to protect people's permanent homes does not apply here. There is no statutory extension to five years, no cap on how the rent is set, and no one-month limit on the deposit. What governs the relationship is the contract itself, then the parts of the LAU that deal with non-dwelling leases, then the Civil Code.

#How it differs from a tourist let and from a normal lease

A tourist let is a licensed tourism activity, registered and inspected under regional rules, with a visitor rather than a tenant. A seasonal tenancy is a private lease between a landlord and a tenant, agreed for a defined period. A permanent-home lease is the third thing: the property is the tenant's habitual residence, and the tenant gets the LAU's strong statutory protections.

What separates them is not really the length of the stay. Spanish practice looks at the cause, meaning the reason the property is needed temporarily. Real Decreto 1312/2024, which created the single national rental register, defines its scope by reference to article 3.2 of the LAU and to temporary causes such as holiday, work, study or medical treatment, and deliberately declines to fix a number of days. Obligations under that decree began to apply from 1 July 2025.

#Why the reason for your stay has to be in the contract

Because the reason is what makes the contract a seasonal one. A contract that says eleven months, gives no cause, and covers a tenant who is plainly living there as their home risks being treated as a lease of a dwelling, with the statutory extension rights that go with it, which is the outcome neither side planned for.

So a properly drafted seasonal contract states why the property is needed for that period, records that the tenant's habitual residence is elsewhere and gives that address, and often has something attached that supports it: a remote-work letter or employment contract, a course enrolment, a medical appointment. From the tenant's side this is not an intrusion. It is what keeps the contract what both parties agreed it was.

#How much deposit should you expect

Two months' rent is the statutory figure. Article 36 of the LAU sets the fianza at one month's rent for a lease of a dwelling and two months' for a lease for a use other than a dwelling, and a seasonal tenancy is the second of those.

The law also allows an additional guarantee on top, so a request for one is not by itself unusual. What matters more than the amount is the mechanics: agree in writing where the deposit is held, what it may be deducted for, and when it comes back. The LAU provides that the balance owed to the tenant starts earning statutory interest one month after the keys are handed over, which is worth knowing if the correspondence goes quiet.

#Who pays the electricity, water and internet

Whatever the contract says. For non-dwelling leases the law leaves this to the parties, and two arrangements are common: supplies included in the rent with a fair-use ceiling, or supplies charged on meter readings taken at the start and the end of the stay.

In the south of Tenerife the shape of those bills is unusual. Electricity is low, because between October and April nothing needs heating and air conditioning is barely used. Water costs more per cubic metre than on the mainland, because the islands desalinate. Fibre is normally already installed and included. Whichever arrangement you agree, get four things written down: which supplies are covered, whose name the supply contracts are in, what happens if a ceiling is exceeded, and who reads the meters at each end.

#Do you need to register at the town hall

Usually not, on a seasonal contract. The obligation in Spanish local government law attaches to habitual residence: a person living in Spain must register on the padrón of the municipality where they habitually reside. A tenant who keeps a home in another country and is here for a season is not habitually resident here, and so does not normally register.

If a stay does turn into someone's main home, that changes, and registering needs the landlord's agreement as well as the contract. Separately, and independently of the padrón, EU, EEA and Swiss citizens who intend to stay in Spain for more than three months must register with the Central Register of Foreign Nationals and obtain a certificate, applying within three months of entry.

#What should a tenant check before signing

The contract first, then the person offering it. Almost everything that goes wrong on a seasonal let is either a term nobody wrote down or a property that was never that person's to let.

Ask as well for evidence that the person letting the property is entitled to let it, and for the property's cadastral reference. Then take the whole thing to a lawyer or a gestor. A short review costs very little set against the price of a season, and it is the one piece of advice here that applies to everybody.