What rules catch Brits out in Spain?

Most Spanish laws will feel familiar. A handful are stricter than at home, or simply different, and newcomers get caught out in their first months. Here are the main ones.

Carry your ID

Under Spain’s public safety law, foreigners have the right and the duty to carry documents that prove their identity and their legal status in Spain, and must show them to the police when asked. The FCDO adds that police can hold you at a station until they confirm who you are, and that ignoring a direct request from an officer can be treated as disobedience, a criminal offence. Carry your passport or residence card (TIE). Shops may also ask for ID when you pay by card.

Drinking and driving

The limit in England, Wales and Northern Ireland is 80 mg per 100 ml of blood (0.8 g/l), and in Scotland 50 mg (0.5 g/l). A drink that is fine in England can put you over in Spain. You must take a test if police ask. Driving over the limit is a very serious offence: a €500 fine (about £425) and 4 points, or €1,000 and 6 points above 0.50 mg/l of breath or for a repeat within a year. The DGT wants to lower the general limit to 0.2 g/l; it needs publishing in the BOE first, so check before you drive.

Phones, seatbelts and the V16 beacon

• Holding a phone while driving: a serious offence, €200 fine and 6 points. Headphones or earpieces are also banned; only fully hands-free systems are allowed
• Seatbelts and child seats: €200 and 4 points. The FCDO notes children under 1.35 m must use an approved seat, normally in the back
• Since 1 January 2026, a connected V16 warning beacon has replaced warning triangles for breakdowns. It must be an approved model linked to the DGT’s network
• Drivers must wear a high-visibility vest when they get out on the carriageway or hard shoulder outside towns
• Pay a traffic fine within 20 days and it is cut by 50%
• Spain’s traffic rules were updated from 1 October 2026; read Driving in Spain

Drinking in public and dress codes

The FCDO warns that drinking in the street is illegal in some areas, with on-the-spot fines. Town halls ban street drinking parties (botellón) through their own bylaws, and national law lets police fine people €100 to €600 for drinking in public places when it seriously disturbs others. In parts of Magaluf, Playa de Palma and San Antonio (Ibiza), happy hours, open bars, pub crawls, party boats and off-licence sales between 21:30 and 08:00 are banned. In some towns you can be fined for walking around in swimwear or bare-chested away from the beach.

Smoking

Smoking is banned in all enclosed public places, including bars and restaurants, on public transport and in children’s play areas, under Ley 28/2005. The basic fine for smoking where it is banned is up to €30 for a one-off offence. The Government approved a draft law in September 2025 to extend bans to terraces of bars and restaurants and other outdoor places and to treat vapes like cigarettes. It is not law yet (the law’s consolidated text was last changed in 2017), so check local signs.

Noise and neighbours

Town halls set noise rules. In Madrid, night time is 23:00 to 07:00 on working days (to 08:00 on holidays), and moving furniture or doing building work at home is not allowed from 21:00 to 08:00 on weekdays, or 21:00 to 09:30 at weekends and on holidays. You can report serious noise to the local police on 092. In a block of flats, the community of owners can take legal action against anyone who causes a nuisance.

Holiday lets need permission

Renting your home to tourists needs a regional tourist licence and registration. Since 3 April 2025, a flat owner also needs the express approval of the community of owners: three fifths of owners holding three fifths of the shares. A national register for short lets started on 1 July 2025, but the Supreme Court partly struck it down in May 2026 (regional registers still apply). In Catalonia the Constitutional Court has backed a decree under which Barcelona’s tourist flat licences are due to lapse in November 2028.

Cash, and assets abroad

• You cannot pay a business or professional €1,000 (about £850) or more in cash, including in instalments. Both sides can be fined 25% of the amount. Non-residents who are not in business can pay up to €10,000
• If you are tax resident in Spain, you must report accounts, investments and property abroad on Modelo 720 when any type adds up to more than €50,000, between 1 January and 31 March. After that you file again only if a total rises by more than €20,000. Penalties apply for late or wrong returns. See Moving money from the UK