What is the cédula de habitabilidad?
The cédula de habitabilidad is the official paper that says your dwelling is fit to live in: that it has the required square metres, ventilation, kitchen and bathroom set by law. The autonomous region issues it — not the town hall — and it expires after a set number of years.
The cédula de habitabilidad is run by each autonomous community separately, not by the central state. Catalonia, the Balearic Islands, Valencia, Murcia, Asturias, La Rioja, Cantabria and Navarre still keep it; others such as Andalusia or Madrid abolished it and ask instead for the licencia de primera ocupación (LPO) issued by the town hall. First thing to check: which document does your region require? Don't assume what worked in one region works in another.
There are three variants depending on the case: first occupation (new build), second occupation (an existing dwelling that changes owner or is brought back into use) and rehabilitation (deep refurbishment). Each one has a different validity period. In Catalonia, for example: first occupation 25 years, second 15 years, rehabilitation 15 years. Expired = legally worth as much as no cédula at all.
For tourist rental the rule is simple: no valid cédula, no tourist licence. The HUT in Catalonia, the ETV in the Balearics and the other autonomous registers all ask for the cédula number as a precondition. And the platforms (Airbnb, Booking) cross-reference registers — if your application is rejected, you cannot list the property.
Watch out: cédula is not the same as LPO. In regions that keep the cédula, the town hall may have given you an LPO at handover, but you still need the autonomous cédula to rent legally. In regions that have abolished the cédula, the municipal LPO takes its place. Before starting any licence procedure, call your regional habitatge or vivienda office and ask which document applies to you.
Why it matters
If the cédula is expired or was never obtained, everything else stops: no tourist licence, no legal listing, and in some regions you can't even get utilities (water, electricity, gas) connected. This is the first check when buying or putting a property to tourist use — before the estate-agent contract, before opening an Airbnb account. Renewing it takes 1 to 3 months in practice, depending on the region and on whether you can find an available technician.