Businesses for sale in the Canary Islands: the guide to the traspaso

What you're buying with a traspaso, and what you're not

• The right to step into the unit's lease, on the current terms or renegotiated with the landlord.
• The business's licences and authorisations, if they're transferable and if the activity you'll run is the same one.
• Furniture, equipment, stock: with a signed inventory, not ‘everything that's there’.
• The goodwill: the name, the clientele, the location, the supplier contracts. This is the part you pay for, and it's only worth what it genuinely is.

You're not buying the property: the unit stays owned by the landlord, who has to be involved in the handover. If you want the walls too, you're looking for a commercial unit for sale, which is a different transaction with different taxes. And you're not buying debts: a traspaso transfers a business, not a company; if the seller proposes selling shares in their company instead, everything changes and you need a lawyer.

The unit's lease: the real backbone of the deal

Under the Ley de Arrendamientos Urbanos, leases of commercial units are ‘arrendamientos para uso distinto del de vivienda’: they're governed above all by what the parties agree (art. 4.3), without the minimum term that protects a residential tenant. On assignment the law is clear: where the unit is used for a business or professional activity, the tenant can assign the lease or sublet it without the landlord's consent (art. 32.1), but must give notice in a verifiable form within a month (art. 32.4); if they don't, the landlord can terminate the lease (art. 35). In practice the landlord almost always comes to the table, and it's worth having them there: a handover signed by all three parties is far more solid than an assignment simply notified.

• How long the lease has left to run, and the renewal terms: a traspaso on a lease expiring within a year isn't worth much.
• When the tenant of a commercial unit assigns the lease or sublets the whole unit, the landlord is legally entitled to a rent increase of 20%; for a partial sublet the increase is 10%.
• The clauses on works, signage, opening hours, permitted use: a unit leased ‘as a bar’ doesn't become a restaurant without the landlord's agreement.
• The deposit: for a non-residential lease the law sets it at two months' rent (art. 36.1). Ask who paid it and whether it comes back to the outgoing tenant or stays as security for the new one.
• If the unit is sold, the buyer steps into the landlord's rights and obligations (art. 29): the lease continues, subject to the land registry law's exceptions.
• Compensation for clientele (art. 34): at the end of the term, if the unit has been used for retail trade over the last five years and the tenant asked, four months in advance, to renew for at least another five years at market rent, they may be entitled to compensation from the landlord, which the law caps at up to eighteen months' rent in one of the cases it sets out. It isn't automatic: it only applies if the deadlines were met.

Licences: what you need to open, and to carry on

In the Canaries, activities open to the public — especially those with a kitchen, music or a terrace — fall under Ley 7/2011 on actividades clasificadas: activities that could cause a nuisance, affect health and safety, harm the environment or create a risk to people or property are classified (art. 2.1). The general regime for installing, opening and starting up these premises is a comunicación previa to the council; prior authorisation is the exception, reserved by decree for the highest-risk activities (art. 5.1). You'll still need whatever sector-specific authorisations that type of activity requires before opening (art. 6.1): the licence alone doesn't cover everything.

A change of owner is governed by art. 33: transferring the business doesn't require a fresh licence application, but the old or new owner must notify it in writing, within a month of the change, to the body that granted it, with a copy of the transfer document. If no one does, the old and new owner are jointly liable for anything arising from the licence between the transfer and the notification. The same applies to activities under the comunicación previa regime (art. 34.3). If you change the type of activity — from a shop to a restaurant, say — you start again with the unit's technical requirements.

• The current opening licence or comunicación previa, in the outgoing owner's name, covering the exact activity authorised.
• The authorisation for a terrace on public land, which belongs to the council, has a set duration and needs renewing: it isn't included ‘in the unit’.
• The health register and the checks required for anyone serving food.
• The unit's technical checks — the fittings, the extraction system: a unit trading today may be tolerated, not actually licensed.
• The notification of the change of owner, scheduled for the day of signing: a month passes quickly.

How a business is valued, with no magic numbers

There's no multiplier that tells you what a bar is worth. The price of a traspaso is whatever the market accepts for the goodwill, and the only way to judge it is to read the real accounts: the tax returns of the last few years, monthly takings (seasonality on the islands is strong), supplier invoices, staff costs with contracts, the rent. An outgoing owner who won't show their tax returns is selling you a story.

Then you look at the rest: the location and what's changing around it, the state of the equipment, the staff who are staying on, the reputation. In our listings we publish the type of business and the price asked; we talk you through the turnover in person, by bracket, with the outgoing owner's documents.

Tax and social security: prepare before you sign

Running a business in Spain needs a tax and social security position: registering as a self-employed worker or setting up a company, registering with the Agencia Tributaria and the Seguridad Social, and an accountant who knows the Canarian regime (IGIC in place of VAT). Non-residents can take over a business, but to work here they need to be in order first: signing the traspaso isn't the moment to discover this.

The price of the traspaso and stepping into the lease have their own tax treatment, which depends on how the deal is structured: it's a question for your adviser, before you make an offer.

This page is general guidance, not legal or tax advice. Every traspaso has its own lease and its own licences: get help from a qualified professional before signing or paying any deposit.

How I work with people taking over a business

I'm Luca, I've lived in the Canaries since 2014 and I've run a business here since 2017 with Toda Canarias: I know what it means to open and run a business on the islands, and that's why I'm direct with anyone taking one over. Before I show you a business I ask the outgoing owner for the lease, the licence and the tax returns; if they don't come, I don't offer it. Then I go with you to meet the landlord and the adviser, and I stay with you through to signing.

The businesses for sale on the site are in the dedicated listings section; if you're after a type of business or an area that isn't there today, tell me: I note it and let you know.