Lopende kosten van eigendom in Tenerife

Gemeenschapskosten op Tenerife

Community fees are the single biggest variable in your monthly ownership picture, and the most misunderstood. Two apartments at the same purchase price can sit in complexes with very different fee structures.

For most South Tenerife buyers, fees fall into one of three brackets:

• Basic residential complex: around 60€ to 90€ per month. A small, simple block of apartments, no pool or only a basic shared one, no lifts or only one, minimal landscaping, modest cleaning and admin.
• Mid-range complex with facilities: around 100€ to 150€ per month. Pool, lifts, gardens, regular cleaning, gated access in some cases, working reserve fund. The default figure in the calculator above sits in this bracket.
• Apart-hotel, luxury or high-facility complex: 200€ to 400€+ per month. Reception, security, multiple pools or heated pools, more intensive grounds maintenance, sometimes spa or gym facilities, sometimes a managed rental programme operating on site. Some larger luxury complexes sit higher than this.

The right number to budget on depends entirely on which bracket the specific complex sits in, not on any general “average”. Two apartments at the same 300,000€ price can carry monthly community fees that differ by 200€ or more once you compare the complexes properly.

What drives community fees up

Some of this is obvious – pools, gardens and reception services cost money to run. Some is less so. Lift maintenance is one of the bigger underestimated drivers: lifts are expensive to inspect, service, modernise and eventually replace, and a complex with three or four lifts will usually carry a meaningfully higher fee than one with a single lift, even before any other facilities are taken into account. When comparing apparently similar complexes, the lift count is one of the first useful indicators of where the fee level is likely to sit.

What community fees usually cover

Community fees are agreed by the comunidad de propietarios (the owners’ association) and pay for the shared running of the building. Typical inclusions are:

• cleaning and maintenance of common areas
• pool and garden maintenance
• lift maintenance and inspection
• shared building insurance
• communal electricity and water
• building administrator fees
• contributions to the legally-required reserve fund (fondo de reserva)

The reserve fund is set by Spanish law at a minimum of 10% of the annual community budget. A well-run community holds more than this and uses it for unplanned repairs without needing extraordinary levies on the owners.

Derramas – extraordinary levies, decided by the owners

A derrama is an extraordinary levy charged to all owners for a specific project the community has decided to undertake – typically a major repair or improvement that the regular fee and reserve fund cannot cover on their own. Common examples are roof replacement, façade work, lift modernisation, swimming pool refurbishment, or major plumbing repairs.

Derramas are not arbitrary impositions on owners. They are proposed at the community’s AGM, discussed, and voted on by the owners themselves. The result reflects what the community has agreed it wants to invest in. Buyers should treat them as a normal part of being part of a Spanish community of owners, not as a hidden risk.

That said, the practical reality is that the size and frequency of derramas depend on the complex. A well-maintained complex with a healthy reserve fund and a community that has invested steadily over the years will tend to face smaller, less frequent derramas. A complex that has under-invested, or one approaching the end of a major equipment cycle (lifts, roofs, pool plant), will tend to face larger ones. A buyer is joining whichever picture the complex actually presents, including the decisions the community is likely to make in the coming years.

Elektriciteit en water

Elektriciteit

The electricity distribution network in Tenerife is operated by Endesa Distribución, the regulated network operator that owns the wires. The retail supply side, however, is a competitive market. Owners can choose their retail supplier. Endesa retail remains the most common, but Iberdrola, Octopus Energy, Repsol and others all sell electricity to Tenerife customers, sometimes with materially different tariff structures, including time-of-day variants that can favour holiday-home use patterns. Switching supplier is straightforward and does not affect the network connection itself.

Whichever supplier you are with, the bill is usually made up of two parts:

• The standing charge (potencia contratada), paid every billing period regardless of actual usage. For a typical contracted power level of 3.3kW on a one or two-bedroom apartment, this works out at around 15€ to 18€ per month before any consumption. Different suppliers price standing charges slightly differently.
• Consumption, charged per kWh used. For a lightly-used holiday apartment this often adds another 5€ to 15€ per month. For a full-time lived-in property with regular air-conditioning use in summer, consumption can rise materially.

The practical point is that an unused holiday apartment still carries a baseline electricity cost from the standing charge alone, even when nobody is there. Buyers planning very intermittent use sometimes assume they can switch the supply off entirely. In practice they keep the contract live for fridges, alarms, automatic systems, and easy re-arrival, and accept the standing charge as part of the cost of ownership.

Water

Water in Tenerife is billed by the local supplier, with most South Tenerife properties supplied by either CIATF (Consorcio de Aguas de Tenerife) or by the municipal water company in their specific area, such as ASA in some districts. Bills run on a bimonthly cycle, not monthly.

The structure is similar to electricity:

• The standing charge (cuota de servicio), which applies regardless of consumption, typically 8€ to 12€ per bimonthly period on an apartment.
• Consumption, charged per cubic metre. On a typical apartment used for holidays plus modest year-round running, consumption often adds 10€ to 25€ per bimonthly period.

For a lightly used apartment, water as a whole tends to come out at around 15€ to 25€ per month all in, lower than electricity in most cases. Larger properties, properties with private pools, and properties used full-time will sit higher.

As noted above, some complexes meter and bill water through the community statement rather than directly by CIATF or the local supplier. The owner still pays for their own metered consumption – it is the billing route that differs, not the underlying cost.

IBI and basura

IBI – the local property tax

IBI (Impuesto sobre Bienes Inmuebles) is the annual local property tax, charged by the town hall (ayuntamiento) where the property sits. It is the local equivalent of UK council tax in concept, though not in mechanics, IBI is calculated on the catastral value of the property, not on the property type or occupant.

The formula is simple:

Catastral value × municipal IBI rate = annual IBI bill

The municipal rate varies by ayuntamiento. For South Tenerife, the main rates are roughly:

• Arona (Los Cristianos, Las Américas, Chayofa, Palm-Mar): around 0.59% of catastral value
• Adeje (Costa Adeje, La Caleta, Callao Salvaje): around 0.55%
• Granadilla de Abona (El Médano, Golf del Sur side): around 0.5% to 0.6%
• San Miguel de Abona (Amarilla Golf, Golf del Sur side): around 0.55%
• Santa Cruz de Tenerife: around 0.665%

Rates are reviewed periodically by each ayuntamiento, so the current figure for any specific property is best confirmed from the most recent IBI bill.

What the bill actually looks like in Los Cristianos

For a typical one or two-bedroom apartment in Los Cristianos, the annual IBI bill usually falls between 170€ and 300€. That is the practical range I see most often on the properties I work with.

The reason the bill comes out at that level, despite Arona’s 0.59% rate, is that the catastral value used for the IBI calculation is significantly lower than the market value of the property. For South Tenerife apartments, catastral values are typically in the range of 10% to 25% of market value, sometimes lower for older properties whose catastral values have not been substantially revised in many years. That is much lower than buyers coming from the UK or Northern Europe usually expect.

Worked example: IBI on a typical Los Cristianos apartment

Take a 300,000€ market-value apartment in Los Cristianos with a catastral value of 40,000€ – a realistic figure for a one or two-bedroom apartment in this area. The IBI calculation, using Arona’s 0.59% rate, comes out to:

40,000€ × 0.59% = 236€ per year

The same property in different ayuntamientos, on the same catastral assumption:

The catastral value can be confirmed on the most recent IBI bill or via the public Catastro search at catastro.hacienda.gob.es. If a property has been substantially refurbished, or if the catastral value has been revised more recently, the figure will sit toward the higher end of the typical range.

Basura – the local waste and sewage charge

Basura is the annual waste collection and sewage charge issued by the local ayuntamiento. Typical figures for a standard apartment in South Tenerife are roughly:

• Arona: around 78€ to 90€ per year
• Adeje: around 60€ to 80€ per year
• Granadilla de Abona: around 70€ to 90€ per year

Some municipalities apply a Cabildo de Tenerife (island council) surcharge that appears on the same bill, depending on the year and the local arrangement.

In many South Tenerife apartment complexes, basura is collected through the community fee rather than billed directly to each owner by the ayuntamiento. The community pays the bill on behalf of the owners and the cost is passed through. This is one of the most common sources of “I thought it was included” confusion, the basura cost is on the community statement, but it is being paid by the owner, not absorbed by the community. See the callout in the previous section on what “billed through the community” actually means.

Neither IBI nor basura is a shocking number on a typical apartment, but both should be in the annual budget rather than discovered after completion.

Verzekering

Insurance is not the biggest ownership cost, but skipping it is not a smart saving. Depending on the property and how it is used, owners may need buildings cover, contents cover, or both.

Typical premiums for an apartment in South Tenerife run between 150€ and 350€ per year, depending on cover level, property value, and contents value. Villas, larger properties, and properties used as VV holiday lets tend to sit higher.

Non-resident property tax (Modelo 210)

If you own property in Tenerife as a non-resident, you have an annual tax filing obligation to AEAT even if the property is not rented out. This is filed through Modelo 210 in the Spanish non-resident tax system.

For a 300,000€ apartment with a catastral value of 100,000€, the annual figure is approximately:

• 209€ per year for an EU or EEA resident
• 264€ per year for a UK or other non-EU resident, post-Brexit

The tax is filed per owner, not per property. Two registered owners on the título means two separate filings every year, usually with two separate gestoría fees.

The full calculation methodology, including the imputation rate, the EU vs non-EU rate split, the Brexit timing, and what changes if the property is rented out, is covered on Belastingen bij de aankoop op Tenerife.

Costs change if you have a holiday rental (VV) licence

Owners with a VV (Vivienda Vacacional) licence to operate the property as a short-term holiday let face a meaningfully different cost picture from non-renting non-residents. Three changes matter most.

1. IGIC at 7% on rental income

Short-term tourist rental income in the Canary Islands is subject to IGIC at the general rate of 7%. The owner charges 7% IGIC on top of the nightly rate, collects it from guests, and pays it to the Canarian tax authority. Long-term residential lets are exempt from IGIC; only short-term tourist lets, the kind a VV licence permits, attract it.

2. Modelo 210 changes from annual to quarterly

For a non-rented property, Modelo 210 is filed once a year on imputed income. Once the property is being let, the regime changes:

• Modelo 210 is filed quarterly, on actual rental income
• EU/EEA residents pay 19% on net rental income, after allowable expenses such as community fees, IBI, insurance, mortgage interest, repairs, depreciation, and management costs proportional to rental use
• Non-EU residents (including UK residents post-Brexit) pay 24% on gross rental income, with no expense deductions allowed

The non-EU position is materially harsher than the EU one, because UK landlords cannot net off the costs of running the let against the income before tax. On the same rental income, a UK owner can end up paying significantly more in IRNR than an EU-resident owner would on the same property.

3. Accountancy and compliance costs scale up

Because the filings are quarterly rather than annual, and because IGIC, IRNR and any local tourist tax all have to be tracked and submitted, professional fees for handling a VV-licensed property are substantially higher than for a non-renting non-resident. Typical gestoría or accountant costs run 120€ to 180€ per quarter, sometimes more, against 100€ to 200€ a year for a non-renting non-resident filing.

Note that obtaining a new VV licence in Tenerife is now extremely restricted under Ley 6/2025 (in force since 13 December 2025). The cost picture above applies to existing licensed VV properties; if you are buying with a VV outcome in mind, see Holiday Rental (VV) Licences in Tenerife first.