Ibiza’s new amnesty law

Background

What the law is, and what it isn’t

Decree-Law 3/2024 was approved by the Balearic Government on 24 May 2024. In Ibiza specifically, the three-year application window only began once the Consell Insular d’Eivissa formally adopted the procedure, published in the BOIB on 9 July 2024. So the real deadline for Ibiza is 9 July 2027, not May 2027 as is sometimes reported.

The take-up has accelerated sharply. By June 2026, more than 540 applications had been filed in the three largest municipalities alone, Sant Josep, Santa Eulària and Sant Antoni, up from around 233 island-wide at the end of 2025, and 66 had been approved, against just one a few months earlier. The window closes on 9 July 2027, and in that final year the penalty reaches 15 per cent of the value of the structures being legalised, so waiting is expensive.

Many owners of rural properties saw the decree as a long-awaited solution to a problem that had persisted for decades: buildings, extensions, swimming pools and outbuildings put up without permits, technically illegal yet also protected from demolition because the statute of limitations had passed.

The decree opened a window to bring these structures into compliance. But it is worth being clear about what it is not. This is not a blanket amnesty. It is a structured legalisation pathway with strict eligibility criteria, significant costs, and one major limitation many owners are unaware of.

Once legalised under this decree, a property can never be used for tourist rental, and this restriction must be expressly noted in the land registry. For anyone focused on holiday rental income, this is a decisive consideration.

Eligibility

Does your property qualify?

Eligibility depends on how the land is classified and on the date the infraction occurred. The law covers three categories of rural land, each with its own cut-off date.

Properties on urban land (suelo urbano) are not covered. Agrotourism establishments, rural hotels and constructions in public-domain areas are also excluded. The structure must be at least eight years old and not currently subject to an active disciplinary or demolition procedure.

Costs

What legalisation actually costs

The financial penalty, referred to in the decree as an “economic contribution”, is calculated as a percentage of the value of the structures being legalised, and it rises each year of the three-year window, which for Ibiza runs from 9 July 2024 to 9 July 2027.

On top of the penalty, owners pay the standard construction taxes and fees as if the structures were new, and must commission a full architectural project focused on environmental-quality compliance. For a rural villa with significant illegal square metreage, the total can be substantial.

Reality check

The honest picture in 2026

The figures on the ground have moved fast. At the end of 2025, around 233 applications had been submitted island-wide, with just one formally approved; Sant Joan and Vila (Ibiza Town) had none at that point, while Sant Antoni, Sant Josep and Santa Eulària were still working through their queues. By June 2026, submissions in the three largest municipalities alone had more than doubled to over 540, with 66 approvals between them, much of the surge concentrated in the first half of the year as owners rushed to file before the next penalty step-up.

Two things explain the slow processing. First, municipal technical teams are under real pressure: the volume of applications outran expectations, and staffing has not been scaled to match. Second, the process itself is genuinely complex, since each application needs an architect’s technical project, environmental-compliance measures, and full documentation of the construction history.

If the administration does not respond within six months, the application is deemed approved by positive silence, unless there are specific grounds for inadmissibility. That makes timing a real strategic consideration.

The practical implication is simple. If you are considering applying, do not wait until 2027. The backlog means that even a well-prepared application filed close to the deadline may be delayed, while starting now gives you the best chance of a clean outcome and locks in the current year’s lower penalty rate.

The catch

The tourist-rental restriction many owners miss

This is the single most important limitation of the law, and the one that catches owners by surprise. Any property legalised under Decree-Law 3/2024 is permanently and expressly barred from obtaining a tourist rental licence. The restriction is registered against the property itself, so it runs with the house rather than with the current owner.

For someone legalising a rural finca mainly in order to sell it at full market value, this is manageable, since buyers purchasing for their own use are not affected. But for anyone whose investment case rested on future rental income, the restriction changes the arithmetic completely.

Combined with the existing moratorium on new tourist rental licences across the Balearics, it means legal rental income from rural property on Ibiza is becoming genuinely scarce, and existing licensed homes are commanding a clear premium.

For buyers

What this means when you are buying a rural property

If you are buying a rural property on Ibiza, the law adds an important due-diligence step. Your lawyer, and the notary at signing, should require full disclosure of the property’s planning and energy status before completion, including any ongoing infringements, pending regularisation files, and registry anomalies. An energy performance certificate is already standard for any sale in Spain; a careful lawyer will insist on the planning-status disclosure too, as good practice rather than a specific duty created by the decree.

Before buying any rural finca or property with outbuildings, your lawyer should obtain a Certificado de Aprovechamiento Urbanístico from the local Town Hall, which confirms the land classification and the legal status of every structure on the plot. Beyond that, a few checks are worth making explicitly:

• Have your lawyer check the land registry for any pending legalisation notes or tourist-rental restrictions already recorded against the property.
• Verify whether structures on the plot are currently eligible for legalisation, or already time-barred from it.
• If the seller is mid-legalisation, clarify who bears the cost and whether the file will be completed before you complete the purchase.
• Check whether the property holds an existing tourist rental licence, since these cannot be transferred to a newly legalised structure.

Practical steps

How to proceed if your property may be eligible

1. Check your land classification. The starting point is always the land type. A lawyer obtains the official planning certificate from your Town Hall to confirm whether the plot is common rustic, protected rustic or ANEI.
2. Establish the date of construction. You will need to show the structures were built before the relevant cut-off. Aerial photographs, historic cadastral records and utility connection dates are the usual evidence.
3. Commission an architectural project. A qualified architect prepares a technical project covering both the legalisation and the required environmental-improvement measures. This is mandatory; you cannot file without it.
4. Calculate the total cost. Your lawyer and architect can estimate the full contribution from the value of the structures, the applicable year’s penalty rate, and the standard construction taxes. Get this figure before committing.
5. Submit before 9 July 2027. The window for Ibiza closes on that date. Given the municipal backlog, filing as early as possible is strongly advised, and it locks in a lower penalty rate before the next step-up. Remember that positive silence may apply if there is no response within six months.