Mallorca Playbook

In Mallorca, the right to let a villa to tourists is not something you apply for and receive. It is carved out of a stock that the law has closed, and the only way in is through a place someone else has given up. That single fact decides what a licensed property is worth, what a seller can honestly ask for the licence, and which deals should never reach a deposit.

Most buyers learn this in the wrong order. They fall for the house, accept that the licence is “in order”, pay a premium for it, and find out afterwards that the town hall has closed the zone, that the building’s statutes forbid the activity, or that the places cannot be transferred. By then the money has moved and the evidence is still missing.

Mallorca Playbook puts evidence between your enthusiasm and your signature. It is built around four gates, taken in order, each able to stop the deal on its own: the municipality, the parcel and the community, habitability and planning, and the places themselves. A gate opens only when its document is in your hands. Every finding must change something in your offer: the price, a condition, the timetable or your decision to walk away.

What it settles

• Whether the place exists. How the bolsa recycles cancelled places one for one and creates no new supply, and how the 2026 CBAT call, its lottery and its waiting list actually work.
• Whether you may use it. Palma declared the whole municipality not apt for new tourist stays in dwellings in 2026. The manual shows what that means for new places and for existing licences, and how to get any town hall’s position in writing.
• Whether the building allows it. The typology test, the community veto after Supreme Court judgment 642/2026 and the 2025 reform of the Horizontal Property Law.
• What the licence is worth. A present-value test for the plaza premium, with a worked example and a worksheet, so you can tell a premium backed by income from a price paid for a story.
• What you will really pay. The progressive Balearic transfer-tax scale in euros, the fee per place under each modality, the annual tax stack and the 10% VAT decree awaiting a vote, modelled in both scenarios.
• How to sign safely. Suspensive conditions, retentions, warranties, the first ninety days, and the file a later buyer will ask for when you exit.

Dated and graded

Mallorca’s rules sit on four levels: island tourism law, municipal planning, national community law and a mix of state, regional and municipal tax. They also move. So every legal or numerical claim carries an evidence grade: A for an official publication such as the BOIB, the BOE or a CBAT resolution, B for consistent professional or press sources, C for a single or unverified source. Sources were checked on 8 and 9 November 2026, and Appendix D logs each claim and its basis. Where reliable sources disagree, the manual shows both and tells you which one you must resolve.

One date to know

This edition is dated 9 November 2026. A decree-law that would put 10% VAT on short stays from 1 December awaits a committee vote on 12 November, and a general election is called for 29 November. The manual does not guess the outcome. It shows you how to underwrite both cases, and which chapters to read again once each result is known.

What it will not do

It will not recommend a property, a municipality, an operator or an adviser, and it forecasts no yield. It covers Mallorca only, because Ibiza, Formentera and Menorca have their own bodies and bolsas. It will not replace a Spanish lawyer, gestor or notary, and it says so in every chapter. It improves the questions you ask and the evidence you hold when you ask them.