The most contentious 3/5 votes on the Costa del Sol have happened in the Mijas Costa belt. Not in the headline luxury markets, not in the saturation-cap districts of Málaga capital, but in the 1990s and 2000s pool-complex urbanizaciones strung along the coast between Calahonda and La Cala de Mijas. The reason is structural: these are buildings where roughly half the owners bought for yield and half for retirement, and the April 2025 amendment forced them to vote on a question they had been politely ignoring for years.
This piece walks through how that has played out across Mijas's three quite different faces.
The rule, briefly
The April 2025 amendment to the Ley de Propiedad Horizontal requires a 3/5 majority of the comunidad's full ownership share — 60% of the roster, not just AGM attendees — to approve any new VUT licence in a community building. Existing pre-April-2025 licences are grandfathered.
The rule is national. What is local is the Mijas Costa pool-complex demographic that makes the vote so genuinely contested here.
Mijas Costa — the contested heart
A typical Mijas Costa urbanización runs to between fifty and two hundred apartments in low-rise blocks arranged around shared pools. Owner mix is roughly half British and Northern European retirees who bought for primary or near-primary residence, and half European investor-owners who bought for short-let yield. Both cohorts have legitimate stakes in the vote outcome, and AGMs in 2025-2026 have sometimes been long.
Calahonda and Sitio de Calahonda — long-tenured, mixed-nationality, historically the highest VUT density in pre-amendment Mijas — has been variable. Many of the older established urbanizaciones had silent estatutos and have voted favourably with conditions, often around quiet hours and a minimum-stay floor. Some Calahonda phases have voted permissive comfortably; others have been close calls.
Riviera del Sol — somewhat more investor-concentrated than Calahonda — has leaned consistently permissive on the 3/5 vote. Outcomes here have been less contested than the wider Mijas Costa average.
Miraflores and the elevated developments — quieter, more residentially-oriented, often with stronger British retirement demographics — has produced the most restrictive outcomes in the municipality. Several Miraflores blocks have voted explicit prohibition. Owner mix matters here: where retirees are a clear majority, the vote has gone restrictive.
El Faro de Calaburras and the urbanizaciones nearer La Cala — generally pro-vote, particularly in the seafront-adjacent blocks.
La Cala de Mijas — the permissive core
La Cala de Mijas centre is the high-yield rental zone of the municipality and the most uniformly permissive sub-area on the vote question. The blocks in and around the village — close to the seafront promenade, walking distance to the main square — are heavily investor-held and oriented to short-let. Vote outcomes have been overwhelmingly favourable.
The elevated developments behind La Cala — La Noria, the Calanova / Mijas Golf adjacent phases — vary. Some have voted permissive; some, particularly those with stronger primary-residence demographics, have leaned restrictive.
Mijas Pueblo — a quieter conversation
The Pueblo on the hillside has a markedly different stock profile. Comunidades are small (six to fifteen units typically), owner profiles are predominantly Spanish second-home or longer-tenured Northern European primary-residence, and rental intent is lower-volume. Vote outcomes have been informal and pragmatic, usually settled at AGMs without long debate.
The Pueblo is also where the freehold-villa segment is largest in Mijas, and many of those properties are not in any comunidad de propietarios at all — the 3/5 question simply does not apply.
What grandfathered means in Mijas
Existing pre-April-2025 VUTs are grandfathered. Mijas Costa has historically had a high VUT density, and many of those licences pre-date the amendment.
In a Calahonda or Riviera del Sol block that has since voted favourably, the grandfathering is less consequential — a buyer could obtain a fresh licence anyway. In a Miraflores block that has voted prohibition, the grandfathering is genuinely valuable: there is no path for a future buyer to obtain a new licence in that building. The Mijas Costa transaction market has begun to price this distinction visibly.
The grandfathering is fragile. A missed Modelo N2 over consecutive years, a flagged compliance issue, or a botched transfer of ownership risks the licence falling back under the current 3/5 regime. We treat the documentation for these properties accordingly.
What buyers should check before offering
For Mijas, in this order:
- Identify the sub-area first. Mijas Costa, La Cala centre, La Cala elevated, or Mijas Pueblo — each has a different question profile.
- Read the past 24-36 months of comunidad minutes for any vote on tourist or commercial use. The administrador de fincas can provide them.
- In Mijas Costa specifically, identify the owner demographic balance in the urbanización. A predominantly retiree-owned block is more likely to have voted restrictively than the address alone would suggest.
- Check the comunidad estatutos for any pre-existing clauses on commercial use or minimum stay.
- Verify any seller's claimed VUT against the Junta de Andalucía regional register.
What sellers should know
If you are selling a Mijas property with a grandfathered VUT in a Miraflores or similar restrictively-voted block, that licence is unusually valuable. Document it carefully, keep it active through closing (file the Modelo N2 in any sale year), and price accordingly. The premium over comparable unlicensed stock in the same urbanización is real and visible in transaction data.
If you are selling in a permissive Calahonda or La Cala block, the licence is less of a scarcity asset but still a meaningful administrative convenience.
How we handle the question
For every Mijas property we consider managing we read the past 36 months of comunidad documentation and the comunidad estatutos. In Mijas Costa specifically we also do a demographic read on the urbanización — owner mix is a strong leading indicator of vote outcomes in these particular communities, and we use it as a check on the minutes.
If the comunidad has voted restrictively, we say so plainly during the discovery call and discuss long-stay alternatives. If the vote position is unclear, we hold off until the next AGM clarifies.
