How to rent a rural house: step-by-step guide
You have a farmhouse, a country house or a rural house that you don’t use all year and you wonder if you could make it profitable. The answer is almost always yes, but doing it well requires following an orderly process: there are legal procedures that cannot be skipped, equipment and presentation decisions that make the difference between a property with 30% occupancy and one with 80%, and a commercial strategy that determines how much you actually earn.
In this guide we explain all the steps, in order, to rent out your rural house in a legal, professional and profitable way.
Step 1: Verify that your property can be used for tourist rental
Before anything else, you must confirm that your property can be legally used for tourism. This depends on two factors:
The classification of the soil. The rural houses are usually on undeveloped land or in rural areas. Not all rustic land automatically allows tourist use: it is essential to check with the town hall of your municipality if tourist use is compatible with the urban classification of your plot.
The autonomous regulation. The regulation of rural tourism is the responsibility of each autonomous community, and the conditions vary significantly from one to another. In Catalonia, for example, Decree 75/2020 applies; in Andalusia, Decree 20/2002; in other communities, their own frameworks. What is valid in Extremadura may not be valid in Aragon.
If you have doubts, check with the town hall or a specialized professional before investing time and money in the following steps.
Step 2: Obtain the habitability certificate
The certificate of habitability (Cédula de Habitabilidad) is the document that certifies that a home meets the minimum conditions of habitability and is suitable to be occupied. It is an indispensable requirement in practically all the autonomous communities to be able to process the tourist license.
If your property already has a certificate of habitability in force, you can continue to the next step. If it has expired or you never had it (usual in old farmhouses or houses in rustic soil), you must obtain it before continuing.
The process involves the visit of a qualified technician (architect or fitter) who certifies that the house meets the minimum requirements. Depending on the state of the property, it may be necessary to carry out previous renovations to obtain it.
Step 3: Process the tourist license
With the town planning compatibility confirmed and the certificate of habitability in hand, you can start the process of the tourist license. The procedure varies according to the autonomous community, but in most cases it follows this scheme:
– Responsible declaration before the tourism body of your autonomous community. In many cases, this process can be done online and involves immediate registration in the Regional Tourism Registry and obtaining an official registration number.
– Communication to the town hall where the property is located. Some municipalities require additional documentation or have their own procedures.
– Obtaining the registration number, which you must show in the house and in all your advertisements.
The usual documentation includes: DNI or NIF of the owner, deed of property, certificate of habitability, civil liability insurance and description of the maximum capacity of the house.
Important: from July 1, 2025 there is also the obligation to register in the Single State Register of Rents – Registro Único Estatal de Arrendamientos (NRUA), managed by the Property Registrars – Registro de la Propiedad. Rural houses already registered in regional tourism registers can be exempted from this state register, but they must show their regional number on all the platforms where they are advertised. Without this number, Airbnb, Booking and similar can withdraw or block the ad.
Step 4: Take out civil liability insurance
Civil liability insurance is mandatory in most autonomous communities and covers possible damages that guests may suffer during their stay in your property. Beyond the legal obligation, it is a basic protection that any owner should have regardless of the regulations.
There are specific policies for tourist accommodation that cover this type of activity. Check with your usual insurer or with one specialized in holiday accommodation to find the right coverage.
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Step 5: Prepare the property to receive guests
Once the legal part has been resolved, it is time to prepare the property so that it is ready to receive guests. This step has a direct impact on the ratings you will receive, and the ratings determine your positioning on the platforms and, ultimately, your occupation.
Essential basic equipment:
- Beds with quality mattresses and bedding sufficient for maximum capacity.
- Equipped kitchen: fridge, ceramic hob or oven, microwave, crockery, cutlery and basic utensils.
- Bathrooms with guaranteed hot water and full supply of towels.
- Heating or air conditioning suitable for the season.
- Good quality WiFi connection. It is one of the elements most valued by guests, even in rural areas.
- First aid kit
Details that make the difference:
- Welcome guide with practical information: house rules, WiFi password, how the heating works, nearby restaurants and activities, emergency telephone numbers.
- Basic cleaning and bathroom products upon arrival.
- Fire extinguisher and smoke detector in good condition.
- Clear and signposted access, especially important in rural areas where Google Maps directions are not always reliable.
Step 6: Make a professional photo report
Photographs are the first filter that a traveler uses to choose accommodation. Before advertising on any platform, invest in a professional photographic report. It is not an optional expense: it is the investment with the greatest return of the entire process.
A good report must include all the interior rooms, the exteriors, the pool or garden if there are any, and views of the surroundings. Natural light, wide angles and a careful presentation of each space (no hanging clothes, no clutter, with well-presented details) make the difference between a property that generates clicks and one that goes unnoticed.
Step 7: Define your pricing strategy
One of the most common mistakes of owners who are starting out is to set a flat price for the whole year. The vacation rental market operates with dynamic prices: demand varies enormously according to the season, days of the week, weekends and holidays, and local events. Before publishing, research how much properties similar to yours charge on the same platforms and in your area. Keep in mind:
- High and low season: the price difference between July and November can be 50% or more.
- Weekends vs. weekdays: weekends have a clearly higher demand.
- Minimum stays: it is common to require a minimum of 2 nights at the weekend and 5-7 nights in high season.
- Cleaning rates: many owners charge a fixed cleaning rate per stay, separate from the price per night.
As you accumulate data and reviews, you will be able to adjust prices more precisely. Revenue management tools such as Pricelabs or Wheelhouse automate this process by analyzing the market in real time.
Step 8: Publish on the appropriate platforms
With the property listed and the prices defined, it’s time to publish. The main platforms for a rural house are:
- Airbnb: ideal for reaching national and international audiences looking for accommodations with character and authenticity.
- Booking.com: the platform with the highest volume of traffic in the world. Essential to maximize occupancy.
- EscapadaRural: the reference portal for rural tourism in Spain, with a very qualified public.
- Vrbo: especially interesting if your house has a large capacity and is aimed at groups or families.
The most effective strategy is not to choose a single platform but to be present on several simultaneously, with calendars and prices synchronized through a channel manager to avoid overbookings.
On each platform, pay particular attention to the title and description of the ad. The title must include the differentiating elements of your property (swimming pool, views, wine surroundings, capacity…). The description must be honest, detailed and oriented to the experiences that the guest can live, not just to the physical characteristics of the house.
Step 9: Organize day-to-day operations
Publishing the property is just the beginning. Managing the tourist rental on an ongoing basis involves:
- Answer inquiries and reservations quickly. The platforms penalize slow response times and guests tend to book the first property that answers them.
- Coordinate check-in and check-out, either in person or with intelligent access systems (key boxes with code, electronic locks).
- Organize professional cleaning between each stay. Cleanliness is one of the factors that most influences ratings.
- Manage the passenger register: in Spain, guest data must be reported to the security forces within 24 hours of arrival. In Catalonia, this registration is done through the Mossos d’Esquadra; in the rest of Spain, through the SES.Hospedajes system of the Ministry of the Interior.
- Attend to incidents: any technical or property problem that arises during the stay needs a quick response.
Step 10: Manage taxation
Los ingresos por alquiler turístico must be declared correctly. In the majority of cases they are taxed in the IRPF as income from real estate capital, although the situation may vary if they provide services specific to hotel activity (in that case they may be taxed as an economic activity and be subject to VAT).
In addition, in some autonomous communities—Catalonia among them—there is a tourist tax (IEET, Impuesto sobre las Estancias en Establecimientos Turísticos) that you must collect from guests and pay periodically to the administration.
Consult with a tax advisor specialized in vacation rental to ensure that your situation is properly regulated from the beginning.
Own management or specialized agency?
Once all these steps have been completed, the question that arises for many owners is whether to manage the rural house themselves or to delegate it to a specialized agency.
Self-management makes sense if you have time, live close to the property and enjoy dealing with guests. But it involves real dedication: almost permanent availability, coordination of cleaning and maintenance, active management of prices and platforms.
An agency specialized in rural houses takes care of all the operations, optimizes the income with professional tools of revenue management and multichannel distribution, and allows you to enjoy the income without the daily operational burden. The commission he charges is compensated, in most cases, by the greater occupation and the better prices that a professional management achieves.
Do you have a rural house and want to rent it without complications? At RuralEasy we accompany you throughout the entire process: from legal advice and setting up the property to complete commercial and operational management. Contact us and tell us about your case.