Long-Term Rentals on the Costa Blanca: How It Works

Most people who ask us about long-term rentals on the Costa Blanca are really asking two different questions at once: what will it cost, and what am I signing. We cannot answer the first with data. We do not publish rental price statistics and we will not invent them. We can answer the second properly, and it is the more consequential of the two.

A Spanish long-term residential let is governed by the Ley de Arrendamientos Urbanos, the LAU. It is not a twelve-month agreement that ends when the year ends. It carries a statutory tenant right to stay on, and if you are a landlord who has not understood that before signing, you have made an expensive mistake.

The five-year rule

Under the LAU, a residential let signed by an individual landlord extends at the tenant's option, in annual steps, up to five years from the start date. Where the landlord is a company, that period is seven years. The tenant chooses whether to extend; the landlord cannot simply decline at the end of year one because the market has moved.

The rule cuts both ways. The tenant is not locked in for five years. After the first six months they can give notice and leave, subject to the notice period in the contract and any agreed compensation for the unexpired term. So the practical shape of a Spanish long let is: strong security for the tenant, limited flexibility for the landlord.

There are narrow grounds on which an owner can recover the property for their own use or a close family member's before the five years are up, but they generally need to have been written into the contract from the start. If you think you might want the flat back in year two, say so before signing, not after.

Deposits: what is legally a deposit, and what is not

Three separate things get called 'the deposit' in Spain and they behave differently.

The fianza is the statutory deposit: one month's rent on a residential let. It is not the landlord's money to spend. In most regions it must be lodged with the regional housing body for the duration of the tenancy and returned after checkout, less any properly evidenced deductions.

The additional guarantee is whatever the landlord asks for on top. It is negotiable, it is common on the coast where tenants are often new arrivals with no local payment history, and it is held privately rather than lodged. Get the return conditions in writing.

The agency fee is a service charge, not a deposit, and it is not returned. Rules on who pays it have tightened in recent years, so ask directly who is charging what before you commit.

Seasonal versus permanent lets

The distinction that trips people up most is between a permanent let and a seasonal one, the arrendamiento de temporada. A seasonal contract is used where the tenant has a home elsewhere and is here for a defined period, the classic winter stay of four to six months. It does not carry the five-year extension right, because it is not the tenant's habitual residence.

That makes it the right instrument for a wintering arrangement and the wrong one for someone genuinely relocating. It is also the label under which some landlords try to avoid the LAU entirely. If you are moving to Spain permanently and you are handed a seasonal contract, ask why, and take advice before signing.

A holiday let (nightly or weekly, marketed to tourists) is a third category again, and in the Valencia region it requires a tourist registration that a normal residential let does not.

The Costa Blanca towns, by sale price

We do not publish rental figures, but sale prices tell you a great deal about the shape of each local market: where the stock is deep, where it is thin, and how much of it is brand new.

Torrevieja is the town with real depth: 250 listings, an even new-build to resale split, and the lowest entry point on the coast at €89,900. That depth is why it is also where most long-term tenancies on this stretch of coast are agreed: a market with plenty of modest, older, well-located flats is a market where year-round tenants can be housed.

Orihuela Costa is the only other town on the list where resales outnumber new builds (29 against 19). Calpe and Benidorm are entirely new build in our current book, and Benidorm's median of €1,450,000 puts it in a different conversation altogether.

What kind of home gets let long-term

Qualitatively (and this is observation from our own office, not a statistic), the properties that let easily on a permanent basis are the unglamorous ones. Two bedrooms, one or two bathrooms, a lift or a ground floor, walkable to a supermarket and a bus stop, with heating that works in January. Sea views help far less than people expect; the tenant who signs for five years is choosing a life, not a holiday.

The listings below are the modest end of the Costa Blanca book, which is precisely the profile that tends to work.

Where to go next

Our current availability is on the long-term rentals page, and short stays are handled separately under holiday rentals. If you are weighing renting against buying, the sale stock is at Torrevieja property for sale and Orihuela Costa.

Tell us what you need

Long lets on this coast move by word of mouth as much as by portal, so a standing brief beats refreshing a search page. Tell us the town, the number of bedrooms, your move-in month and whether it needs to be furnished, and we will match against what comes in. If you are an owner wondering whether to let long-term or sell, tell us that instead and we will give you the honest version.