Legalising the pool can be cheap. What the licence says afterwards is the expensive part.

What the amnistía allows, and what it does not

The seventh additional provision of Ley 7/2024, of 11 December (BOIB extraordinario 162, 13 December 2024), which grew out of Decreto ley 3/2024, allows an extraordinary legalisation of buildings, structures, installations and uses on suelo rústico where restoration of planning legality can no longer be required (paragraph 1). In plain terms: works that can no longer be ordered demolished because the action is time-barred. They are legalised without the general rural-land parameters, with the rights and duties of works done under licence. On protected rural land the owner must also prove the works were finished before they became prohibited.

It does not cover everything. Excluded are works subject to expropriation or demolition, works on public land or in coastal, road or water easements, illegal developments already mapped, prohibited uses other than a single-family home and, what matters here, any activity that needs plazas, quotas or other limited public rights (paragraph 5.c). Tourist letting is one of them: the amnistía legalises the building, it does not create plazas.

The Ibiza calendar

The provision only takes effect on an island once its consell insular adopts it by a plenary agreement published in the BOIB, and the three years run from that publication (paragraph 9). The Consell d'Eivissa plenary approved it on 28 March 2025 and the agreement appeared in BOIB 41 of 3 April 2025. That is why the Ibiza calendar is not Mallorca's: the first year ended around 3 April 2026, the second ends around 3 April 2027 and the window closes around 3 April 2028. Every application filed in time is processed under these rules, even if the decision comes later.

The prestación is worked out on the coste de ejecución material of what is legalised, at values on the date of application: 10 % in the first year, 12,5 % in the second and 15 % in the third (paragraph 3). It comes on top of the same fees and taxes a new build would pay. Income-tax payers whose average taxable base over the last four years is up to 33.000 euros filing individually (52.800 jointly) pay half, and up to 52.800 euros (84.480 jointly), 25 % less (paragraph 4).

The condition that decides it all

Paragraph 8 requires the decision granting an extraordinary legalisation licence for a dwelling to state expressly that it may not be used for the comercialización de estancias turísticas. That condition is entered in the Registro de la Propiedad within three months, and the registrar notifies the town hall. It is not a clause that stays in a drawer: it shows on the property's nota simple, where any buyer will see it.

The exception is in the fourth transitional provision. The ban does not apply to homes legally used for tourist stays before 29 May 2024 for as long as their registration stays in force. Nor does it apply where what is legalised is a structure or installation linked to that home on the same plot, such as a pool or an annex. Homes registered under the old Ley 2/2005 can carry on if they meet the quality accreditation system of Ley 8/2012 and give the Consell a certificate of soundness and safety within three months of the decision.

What happens in practice

The demand is real. According to La Voz de Ibiza (Agustín Gigante, 29 June 2026), Santa Eulària, Sant Josep and Sant Antoni had 543 applications between them, against 233 across all five municipalities in November 2025, with a rush before the prestación rose from 10 % to 12,5 %. Decisions are slower: 27 approved in Santa Eulària, 33 favourable in Sant Josep and 6 in Sant Antoni. The law gives six months to decide and, with no answer, the application counts as approved by positive silence, unless it fails the requirements.

Two details weigh on a villa. The application must cover every work and use outside planning on the same plot, either to legalise it or to demolish the part that can still be ordered restored (paragraph 2): you cannot legalise the pool and leave the studio for another day. And what is legalised is tied to the whole plot, which cannot be divided while the use continues (paragraph 7). The technical project must always include a wastewater system that meets the Plan Hidrológico.

What it leaves an owner with

For a villa already legally let to tourists before 29 May 2024, with its registration in force, the amnistía is a decision about cost and timing: legalising the pool or the annex does not touch the letting, and applying before April 2027 costs 12,5 % of the coste de ejecución rather than 15 %. For any other house it is a choice between a clean title and tourist letting, with the choice entered in the land registry. The difference is settled by a date that is already in your papers.

How to answer it from your own papers

Start with the tourist registration. Find the date of your DRIAT or earlier authorisation and check it is still in force: if the home was legally marketed to tourists before 29 May 2024, you are inside the exception; if not, you are not. Then order a nota simple and compare it with the house as it stands and with the catastro: every square metre missing from the deed is a candidate work.

With that list, an architect confirms which works are time-barred, which completion date can be proved and what their coste de ejecución material is. The sum then does itself. As an example, on 80.000 euros of coste de ejecución the prestación is 10.000 euros if you apply in the second year and 12.000 in the third, plus the fees and taxes of a new build. It is the same folder we open when a villa comes into our management: deed, nota simple, DRIAT and the house as it is.

What this guide does not cover

It deals with the extraordinary legalisation on rural land in Ibiza and its effect on tourist letting. It does not cover urban land, ordinary legalisation, buying plazas, tax, or conditions each town hall may have added by plenary agreement. The Tribunal Constitucional admitted an unconstitutionality appeal against the seventh additional and fourth transitional provisions on 10 June 2025, and we have found no ruling. The dates on which the percentage changes are approximate: confirm the last day with your town hall. It does not say that any particular home can be legalised.

This guide is our own research and our reading of the subject, published for educational purposes only. It is not legal or tax advice: it describes the rules as we understand them and names the papers that answer the question, it assesses no particular property, and reading it creates no professional relationship. Take what you find to your own abogado, tax adviser or administrador de fincas.