Zone guide · Dénia
Dénia Old Town the streets under the castle
Townhouses, renovation projects and long stays in the casco antiguo, and the one plan that does not currently work here.
4.9 from 104 Google reviews · Juan Bertomeu, abogado ICALI 4643 · Our Dénia office: Calle Ramón y Cajal 5E · Legal position last reviewed July 2026
So, the honest starting point for the streets under the castle is that Dénia old town is two things at once, legally speaking. It is the most interesting housing stock in the town, terraced houses and flats in blocks that were standing long before anyone thought about holiday lets. It also sits inside the urban core, which is precisely the part of Dénia where the Ayuntamiento has stopped issuing new tourist-use compatibility certificates.
That second fact decides more purchases here than anything else. If your plan is to buy a flat in the casco, do it up and let it by the week, that plan does not work at the moment, and we would rather say so now than after your deposit has moved. What does work here is a home to live in, a renovation you genuinely want to live with, and a long stay. Buyers who come for the streets rather than the yield tend to be very happy in this part of town.
Our office is on Calle Ramón y Cajal 5E, a few minutes on foot from these streets, so when a question comes down to which side of a line an address falls on, we walk it rather than guess. Juan Antonio Bertomeu Vallés, abogado (ICALI 4643), has practised here since 1991, and Daniel Bertomeu, tax adviser (AEDAF 06838, APAFCV 3080), handles the tax side. Across the Dénia and Moraira offices the firm holds 4.9 from 104 Google reviews.
Who buys in Dénia Old Town
Character buyers, almost by definition. The people who end up owning in the casco are the ones who walked it first: British, Dutch, German and Belgian buyers who want to live on foot, close the door on the car and be somewhere that is still a town in February. Some are retiring, some are buying a base for long stretches rather than short holidays, and a good number are taking on a renovation with their eyes open. What nearly all of them have in common is that the purchase has to survive on its own merits, because the rental economics available in the parts of Dénia left outside the suspension are not on the table on these streets.
What we actually check in Dénia Old Town
Segunda ocupación: the gate every renovation walks through
In the Comunidad Valenciana the old cédula de habitabilidad has been replaced by the declaración responsable de segunda ocupación under Decreto 12/2021. It runs for ten years and has to be renewed when the property changes hands or when a new utility contract is opened. Without a valid one you cannot contract water or electricity, which is exactly the wall people hit halfway through doing up an old house. On a casco purchase we confirm the position before completion rather than after the builders are booked.
In a block, the neighbours have a vote
Old town flats sit in communities of owners, and since 3 April 2025 a new tourist let in an apartment needs the community's approval by a three fifths majority, under article 17.12 of the Ley de Propiedad Horizontal as amended by Ley Orgánica 1/2025. That is a second lock on top of the town hall position, and it is one that a seller or an agent may simply not mention. Separately, the national single register was annulled by the Supreme Court in judgment 620/2026 of 19 May 2026, so the regional VUT registration is the live requirement to look at.
The 2029 ordinance, and why nobody can promise you anything about it
On 5 June 2026 the council gave initial approval to a permanent ordinance that would cut urban-core licences from 639 to 344 from 2029, with some streets keeping them only as they fall vacant and others lapsing. It is not final. It is in public consultation, which means the map that governs 2029 does not exist yet in any form you could rely on. Honestly, anyone telling you today what your street looks like in 2029 is guessing. We track it and we tell you where it actually stands when you ask.
Holiday lets and the Dénia suspension
The suspended zone, said plainly
New tourist-use compatibility certificates have been suspended in the Dénia urban core since 11 September 2024, extended and in force from 12 September 2025. The old town sits in that core. Les Marines, Les Rotes and Montgó are expressly excluded from the suspension, so new licences remain possible there, which is why buyers set on rental income usually end up looking at a different part of Dénia altogether. For addresses outside the mapped zones, such as the port quarter, we check the live position for the exact address rather than assume it follows the street next door. Worth knowing what is actually being blocked: under Decreto-ley 9/2024, in force since 8 August 2024, a VUT is the whole dwelling let for ten days or fewer to the same guest, letting by the room is prohibited, the municipal urban compatibility report is mandatory, registration lasts five years, and fines reach 600,000 euros. Letting on longer terms is a different regime, and we would look at your specific plan on its facts.
Tourist rental licences in Dénia: the zone map and our fixed feeOwning in Dénia Old Town, the tax side
Buying a townhouse here costs what it costs anywhere in Dénia. On a resale, ITP is 9% from 1 June 2026 under Ley 5/2025, rising to 11% on the part of the price above 1,000,000 euros, with deeds signed before that date having paid 10%. Budget notary fees of roughly 0.2% to 0.5% and Land Registry fees of roughly 0.1% to 0.25% on top. If your seller is non-resident, you as buyer withhold 3% of the price and pay it over on Modelo 211 within one month of completion. Once you own, two separate bills arrive from two different places, and this is where owners get caught. IBI, plusvalía and waste are local, and Dénia delegates their collection to SUMA, so a SUMA demand is the town hall asking, not the state. Modelo 210 is national and goes to the AEAT regardless: an imputed income of 1.1% of the valor catastral if it was revised in the last 10 years, otherwise 2%, taxed at 19% for EU and EEA owners and 24% for non-EU owners, which since Brexit includes the UK. Paying SUMA does not touch the 210. For imputed income accrued up to 2025 you file any time in the following calendar year to 31 December; from 2026 accruals the window runs 1 April to 31 December of the following year, under Orden HAC/623/2026.
Modelo 210 in Dénia: what non-resident owners file, and our feeDénia Old Town: questions buyers actually ask
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PHONE (CALLS)
+34 609 477 889WHATSAPP (MESSAGES ONLY)
+34 614 08 68 07DÉNIA OFFICE
Calle Ramón y Cajal 5E, Oficina 1, 03700 Dénia, Alicante
MORAIRA OFFICE
Calle del Dr. Calatayud, 39, planta baja, 03724 Moraira, Alicante