The 3/5 vote in Torremolinos has mostly been a confirmation rather than a discovery. The municipality has the longest continuous short-term rental tradition on the Costa del Sol — the first wave of mass tourism arrived here in the 1960s — and the apartment-tower boom of the 1970s and 1980s was built largely with tourist occupation in mind. By the time the April 2025 amendment landed, most Torremolinos comunidades already had a settled view on tourist rental. The 3/5 vote ratified that settled view in the majority of buildings.
The exceptions are real, though, and they are concentrated in specific sub-areas. This piece works through them.
The rule, briefly
The April 2025 amendment to the Ley de Propiedad Horizontal requires a 3/5 majority of the comunidad's full ownership share — 60% of the roster, not just AGM attendees — to approve any new VUT licence in a community building. Existing pre-April-2025 licences are grandfathered.
In Torremolinos, the rule is the same as everywhere; the cultural starting point is different.
One important fact about Torremolinos
Torremolinos is a separate municipality from Málaga capital. The zonas tensionadas por saturación that block new VUTs in Centro Histórico Málaga and Soho do not apply here. A buyer who is told a Centro Histórico Málaga apartment cannot be licensed for short-let can find a Torremolinos apartment three Cercanías stops away that operates under the standard regime.
The municipal Ayuntamiento has been historically and notably pro-tourism — the town's identity is built around the industry — and has not imposed parallel local restrictions on VUTs as a category.
How the 3/5 vote has played out across the sub-areas
La Carihuela — the old fishermen's quarter turned beachfront-resort strip — has been the most consistently pro-vote area on the entire network. The buildings here, low-rise and mid-rise dating from the 1960s through the 1980s, have always carried tourist traffic. Most comunidades ratified the existing culture with comfortable 3/5 majorities at the first AGM after the amendment. The Edificio Aguamarina cluster and the surrounding seafront blocks are representative.
Playamar — the 1970s-1980s tall tower-block cluster — has been more variable, but for logistical rather than ideological reasons. The towers are large (often 100-200 units), the owner mix is genuinely international with significant absentee ownership, and AGM-based votes are not always practical. Several Playamar comunidades have moved to written-vote canvasses through their administradores de fincas to collect the 3/5 threshold outside the AGM itself, with mixed outcomes. We have seen Playamar buildings vote both ways depending on resident-vs-investor balance and the strength of the administrador's communications.
Bajondillo — the central seafront stretch immediately below Calle San Miguel — has leaned permissive in most comunidades. The investor-owner share is high and the buildings are oriented toward short-let economics. The Torremolinos Beach cluster and adjacent blocks are representative.
Montemar and the inland residential belt — quieter, more residentially-oriented, with a higher long-stay tenant population — has been notably more cautious. Several Montemar comunidades have voted explicit prohibition. The owner profile here is more permanent-residence, and the comunidad culture reflects that.
El Calvario and the central apartment belt around the train station — mixed, with most blocks leaning permissive but with a meaningful minority voting restrictively.
What grandfathered means in Torremolinos
Existing pre-April-2025 VUTs are grandfathered. Given that Torremolinos has the highest VUT density per capita on the network, this matters less in absolute volume than it does in markets where new licences are now genuinely scarce.
The exception is Montemar and a few specific residential-oriented buildings elsewhere. A grandfathered VUT in a Montemar block that has since voted prohibition is unusually valuable — there is no path for a future buyer to obtain a new licence in that building. The market has priced this distinction.
The grandfathering is fragile. A missed Modelo N2, a lapsed VUT, or a botched transfer of ownership risks the licence falling back under the current 3/5 regime. We treat documentation accordingly.
What buyers should check before offering
For Torremolinos, in this order:
- Identify the sub-area. La Carihuela / Bajondillo: vote almost certainly favourable, check anyway. Playamar: check the procedural state of the written-vote canvass. Montemar: check whether the comunidad has voted restrictively. El Calvario: block-by-block.
- Read the past 24-36 months of comunidad minutes and any associated written-vote canvass documentation. The administrador de fincas can provide them.
- In Playamar specifically, confirm whether a written-vote canvass has been completed and whether the threshold was genuinely met. A partially-completed canvass with an apparent majority is not the same as a fully-completed one.
- Check the comunidad estatutos for any pre-existing clauses on short-term use.
- Verify any seller's claimed VUT against the Junta de Andalucía regional register.
What sellers should know
If you are selling a Torremolinos property with a grandfathered VUT in Montemar or any other block that has since voted restrictively, that licence is unusually valuable. Keep it active through closing (file the Modelo N2 in any sale year) and document it for the sale dossier.
If you are selling in La Carihuela, Bajondillo, or a permissive Playamar building, the grandfathered licence is meaningful but less of a scarcity asset — a new buyer can usually obtain a fresh licence in the same building.
How we handle the question
For every Torremolinos property we consider managing we read the past 36 months of comunidad documentation. In Playamar specifically we contact the administrador de fincas to confirm the state of any written-vote canvass — this is the practical bottleneck in the larger towers. In Montemar we read the estatutos and minutes with particular care, since the restrictive outcomes there are concentrated.
If the comunidad has voted restrictively, we say so plainly and discuss long-stay alternatives.
