Property on a golf resort in Spain: La Finca, Las Colinas, Vistabella, Lo Romero and Santa Rosalía explained

By RB Place, estate agency for the Costa Blanca, Costa Cálida and Costa de Almería, a trading name of Fiduciaire Bleich Sàrl, Geneva

A large share of the homes we sell sit inside a resort: La Finca Golf at Algorfa, Vistabella Golf between Los Montesinos and Jacarilla, Las Colinas between San Miguel de Salinas and Campoamor, Lo Romero at Pilar de la Horadada, and Santa Rosalía at Torre Pacheco, which is built around a swimming lagoon rather than a golf course. Buyers like them for obvious reasons: a landscaped setting, controlled access on some of them, a pool and a clubhouse a short walk away, and a villa for less than the same house would cost on the seafront. What the brochure says less about is what you sign up to when you buy inside the gates: a community of owners with its own budget and votes, often a second body for the roads and lighting, rules on renting out, and a resale market with its own logic. This guide sets out what each resort is, what living there costs every year, and what to check before you reserve a plot. The detail sits inside the FAQ sections.

⚠️ Figures on fees, green fees and distances are indicative and change from one year and one residence to the next. The legal rules described are those in force in October 2026. Ask for the community's accounts and statutes, and the resort's own conventions, before you sign anything.

In a nutshell

• A resort home comes with shared costs paid to one or more bodies: the community of owners of your residence (pool, gardens, lift, insurance, reserve fund), sometimes a general community for the whole estate, and often a conservation entity that maintains roads, lighting and public green areas. Which of these exist, and what each costs, is written in the deeds and the resort's conventions, not in the brochure. Golf is almost never included: membership or green fees are a separate contract with the club.

• Unpaid community fees follow the home: the buyer answers for the part of the year of purchase already due and the three previous calendar years, which is why the notary requires a certificate of debts from the community at completion.

• Since 3 April 2025 an owner needs the community's express prior approval, by a three-fifths majority, before starting a tourist rental, and the Valencian Community and the Region of Murcia each run their own registration regime. Check both before you count on rental income.

• Five resorts carry most of our resort stock: La Finca (Algorfa, course opened 2002, five-star hotel), Vistabella (Orihuela and Jacarilla, Manuel Piñero course), Las Colinas (Orihuela, 330 hectares, Spain's best course at the World Golf Awards in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2020 and 2021), Lo Romero (Pilar de la Horadada, island green on the 18th) and Santa Rosalía (Torre Pacheco, a lagoon of more than 16,000 m², no course on site but several within a short drive).

• In our experience, resort homes resell to people who want exactly that life, so the position of the plot (fairway, lagoon, distance from the clubhouse, exposure to stray balls) and the health of the community weigh more than on an ordinary street.

What you actually buy inside a resort

A resort on the Spanish coast is a private urbanisation: streets, lighting and green areas built by a developer under a town-planning scheme, residences built on the plots, and a golf course or a lagoon which, on the resorts we handle, is operated by a company rather than by the owners. Your title deed covers your home and, for a villa, its plot. Who owns and runs everything else, and who pays for it, is set out in the deeds, the statutes and the resort's conventions, which is why we ask for them before a reservation rather than after.

The community of owners of your residence is governed by the Spanish condominium law (Ley 49/1960 de Propiedad Horizontal). Each owner contributes to the common expenses according to the participation quota written in the deeds, the community must keep a reserve fund of at least 10% of its last ordinary budget, and decisions are taken at the general meeting by majorities set by the law. On many large urbanisations there is also a conservation entity (entidad urbanística de conservación), a body of public law grouping the owners of the sector to maintain the urbanisation works, roads, lighting and public green areas. Membership is compulsory for every owner in the sector, its fees are separate from and in addition to community fees, and its arrears can be collected by the administration. The obligation to maintain can arise from the town-planning scheme and continue after the municipality has received the works, and the entity is dissolved only by decision of the competent administration once its obligations are fulfilled, so the handover of the roads and the end of the fees are two different events. Some resorts have, instead or in addition, a general community covering the whole estate. Ask which structures exist for the specific home: a buyer who budgets for the residence's fee alone may be missing a second invoice.

The club is a third contract. Owning a home on a golf resort almost never includes golf. The course is run by a company that sells memberships and green fees, sometimes with an owner's discount, and the same goes for a beach club or a sports club. Las Colinas, for instance, gives owners a discount at its Sports & Health Club and at its beach club on La Glea beach in Campoamor; the golf itself is a separate subscription. Whether any obligation towards the course or the lagoon attaches to the home is a question for the deeds and the conventions of each resort, not a general rule.

Frequently asked questions

Who owns the golf course? On the five resorts described here, an operating company linked to the original developer, which sets its prices and access rules. The financial health of that operator is part of the due diligence for a fairway plot: a course that changes hands or closes changes the value of the homes around it. Check the deeds for any easement or obligation between the home and the course.

Is a conservation entity the same as the community of owners? No. The community (LPH) manages your residence, the entity manages the urbanisation's public works, and both can exist on the same home with two separate fees. The entity is registered with the regional authority and ends only when the administration decides so.

Are the gates and the guards paid by the community? Security at the entrance is a service of the resort as a whole, paid through whichever structure runs the estate, rather than by the residence's community. Las Colinas has a single access with 24-hour security and Santa Rosalía is gated with access control, according to their own documentation. On the other three, security is organised residence by residence, and a gated residence inside an open resort is common.

The five resorts in our catalogue

La Finca Golf, Algorfa. An 18-hole, par 72 course by Pepe Gancedo, opened in 2002 three kilometres from the village of Algorfa in the Vega Baja, with a five-star hotel, a spa, restaurants and a golf academy. The homes around it are mostly detached villas with private pools on low-density streets, and in October 2026 nearly all of our Algorfa listings are there: villas and bungalows. Guardamar's beaches are 15 to 20 minutes by car, Alicante airport about 40 minutes. The course is open to visitors with a handicap certificate.

Vistabella Golf, Orihuela and Jacarilla. An 18-hole course designed by Manuel Piñero, Spain's team world champion with Severiano Ballesteros, on the CV-945 between Los Montesinos and Jacarilla; the course itself lies in the municipalities of Orihuela and Jacarilla. Vistabella is a village as much as a resort, with a supermarket, a pharmacy, shops and restaurants inside the urbanisation, which matters for anyone who intends to live there all year. Our Los Montesinos selection, the nearest town page, is mostly villas on or near the course, with chalets and bungalows as well. Torrevieja and its beaches are about 20 minutes away, Alicante airport 40 to 45 minutes.

Las Colinas Golf & Country Club, Orihuela. A 330-hectare valley at the foot of a protected natural park, a single entrance with 24-hour security, an 18-hole, par 71 course by Cabell B. Robinson opened in 2010 and named Spain's best golf course at the World Golf Awards in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2020 and 2021. Owners have a Sports & Health Club with gym, pool, tennis and padel, three restaurants, a mini-market and a beach club on La Glea beach at Campoamor, 4.5 kilometres away as the crow flies. It is the most expensive of the five to buy into, and its facilities are reflected in its fees. Our selection sits in the San Miguel de Salinas and Orihuela Costa pages: villas, apartments and penthouses. Alicante airport is about 50 minutes, Murcia airport about 45.

Lo Romero Golf, Pilar de la Horadada. An 18-hole course by Jorge Gallén and Enric Soler, opened in 2008 inland from Pilar de la Horadada, known for its 18th hole with an island green. The homes are small developments of villas and bungalows along the fairways rather than one large estate. The nearest beaches, at Torre de la Horadada and Mil Palmeras, are about seven kilometres away, 10 to 15 minutes by car; Alicante airport is 45 to 55 minutes depending on traffic, Murcia airport closer. See our Pilar de la Horadada page, with villas and bungalows.

Santa Rosalía Lake & Life Resort, Torre Pacheco. Not a golf resort but a lagoon resort: a Crystal Lagoons swimming lagoon of more than 16,000 m² with sand beaches, opened in 2022, inside a gated estate with access control, a central park with sports areas, bars and a restaurant; the resort's commercial area and supermarket are outside the gates, about one kilometre away. The estate is still being built in phases, from bungalows to lagoon-front villas. The Mar Menor is about four kilometres away and Murcia airport about 25 minutes by car. Golf is all around rather than inside: Roda Golf, Mar Menor Golf and La Torre at Roldán are within a short drive. In October 2026, two thirds of our Torre Pacheco homes are at Santa Rosalía: villas, apartments, penthouses and bungalows. This is the Costa Cálida, where prices per square metre are generally lower than on the Costa Blanca South.

Frequently asked questions

Which resort for a family who will live there all year? Vistabella for the shops and services inside the urbanisation, Santa Rosalía for the lagoon and the services within a kilometre, Lo Romero for a town and beaches within a quarter of an hour. Las Colinas has restaurants and a mini-market but the nearest town is a drive away. La Finca is quiet outside the hotel.

Which one for a golfer first? Las Colinas for the course and its awards, La Finca for a hotel resort with a spa and a course that asks for a handicap certificate, Lo Romero and Vistabella for a course at a lower cost of entry. The club's price list for owners, not the resort's reputation, should decide between them for someone who plays twice a week.

Do the figures in this guide match what is for sale today? The catalogue changes with every delivery, so the links above lead to the live selection by town and by type of home rather than to individual listings. Ask us for the current list on a given resort and we send it the same day.

What living there costs every year

The community fee of the residence comes first. As an illustration, in listings and agency guides published in 2026 for the southern Costa Blanca, an apartment or bungalow in a residence with shared pool and gardens is typically quoted between 60 and 150 euros a month for the residence alone, and a villa in a gated community with shared facilities often more; a flagship resort with gym, security and extensive landscaping charges accordingly. The fee covers pools, gardens, lifts, cleaning, the building's insurance, lighting of common areas, the administrator and the reserve fund. On a new development the first budget is an estimate made before the real costs are known, and it can move in either direction once the community is running. Then come the conservation entity's fee or the general community's fee where they exist, the municipal property tax (IBI) and refuse charge, the home's own insurance, water and electricity, and, for a non-resident owner, Spanish non-resident income tax on the imputed income of the home for the periods when it is not let, plus the club for anyone who plays.

Golf is sold in several forms, and the forms are not comparable at a glance: an annual membership, a pack of green fees, an unlimited pass, each with or without buggy, with or without seasonal supplements and time restrictions. La Finca, for example, sells a pack of 60 eighteen-hole green fees for 2,700 euros in 2026, 45 euros a round before supplements, with seasonal supplements of 30 euros, and 40 euros in October and November, on top. Before comparing resorts on golf, ask each club for its owners' price list and check the number of rounds, the supplements, the booking windows and whether the buggy is included. A beach club, a spa or a sports club is priced separately again.

Frequently asked questions

Can I see the fees before I buy? Yes, and you should. For a resale home, ask for the last two annual accounts and the minutes of the last general meeting, which show the fee, the reserve fund, any arrears and any special levy being discussed. For an off-plan home, ask the developer for the provisional budget and the statutes of the future community, and read the budget as an estimate, not a commitment.

What happens to unpaid fees when a home changes hands? The home itself answers for the community's claims for the part of the year of purchase already due and for the three previous calendar years. The seller must declare in the deed that he is up to date, or state the debt, and produce a certificate issued by the community within seven calendar days; without it the notary cannot authorise the sale unless the buyer expressly waives it. Do not waive it.

Is the golf course a cost of the community? Not on these resorts: the community pays for the residence, the entity for the urbanisation, and the club sells its services to whoever buys them. If a brochure says golf is "included", ask for how many years, for whom and under which contract, and check the deeds for any obligation linked to the course.

Renting it out

Two sets of rules apply, and both have tightened. Inside the residence, the condominium law was amended in 2019 to let a community restrict or condition tourist rentals by a three-fifths majority of owners and quotas, and since 3 April 2025 an owner must obtain the community's express prior approval, by the same majority, before starting a tourist rental. The transitional rule protects an owner who was already carrying on the activity in compliance with the tourism regulations at that date; it is a protection of that owner's activity, not a right attached to the home that a buyer inherits automatically. Many resort communities have used this power, because owners who live there all year do not want a hotel next door. Read the minutes before you buy with rental income in mind.

Outside the residence, the region decides. In the Valencian Community, which covers La Finca, Vistabella, Las Colinas and Lo Romero, a tourist home is one let for tourist stays of at most ten consecutive days to the same guest; it must be registered with the regional tourism register, which requires a favourable municipal report of urban-planning compatibility for tourist use, the registration is valid for five years subject to transitional provisions, town halls may cap the number of tourist homes by building or by area, and the registration must attest to the community's approval. A change of owner requires its own formalities with the register, so an existing registration is not simply transferred with the keys. In the Region of Murcia, which covers Santa Rosalía, tourist homes are declared to the regional tourism institute before the activity starts, registered in the regional register, and must carry liability insurance of at least 300,000 euros per claim for as long as the activity lasts. A national registry number for holiday lets, created by Royal Decree 1312/2024, was made compulsory for platform listings from July 2025; by a judgment of 19 May 2026, published in the Official Gazette on 8 June 2026, the Supreme Court annulled the provisions that made registration in the land or movables registry a condition for obtaining that number, while the single digital window and the platforms' data-transmission obligations remain, and the regional registers are unaffected. Check the position at the time you apply, not the position described in a listing.

A let of several months to a winter resident is neither of these: it is a temporary lease under the urban leases law (LAU), which has its own rules, updated in October 2026, and it is not a main-residence lease either. The three regimes, tourist, temporary and habitual residence, carry different obligations, and the contract should say which one applies.

Frequently asked questions

Can the community stop me renting long term? No. The restriction concerns tourist rentals. A lease under the urban leases law, whether for habitual residence or temporary, is not a tourist rental and cannot be banned by the community, but it has its own legal framework.

Does a resort home rent well? In our experience, from October to May there is a market of Northern European golfers for weeks and months and of winter residents for longer stays, and in summer the lagoon and the beach-side resorts attract families. These are observations from our own portfolio, not statistics, and they are irrelevant in a community that has voted to ban tourist rentals: check the minutes first.

What about tax on the rent? As a tax resident of Switzerland, outside the EU and the EEA, you pay Spanish non-resident income tax on Spanish rental income at 24% on the gross rent, under the tax administration's current practice, which does not allow deductions for residents outside the EU and the EEA; a judgment of the Audiencia Nacional of 28 July 2025 admitted deductions for a resident of a third country on the basis of the free movement of capital, which opens a possible claim to examine case by case, not an automatic deduction. The home is also declared in Switzerland; our tax guide for Swiss buyers covers it.

Living there, in season and out

A resort is a car place. The nearest supermarket is inside the urbanisation at Vistabella, about a kilometre away at Santa Rosalía, a mini-market at Las Colinas, and a drive away at La Finca and Lo Romero; the beach is 4.5 kilometres as the crow flies from Las Colinas, about four from Santa Rosalía, about seven from Lo Romero, and fifteen to twenty minutes by car from La Finca and Vistabella. A couple with one car manages; a household where two people have separate days needs two.

The second thing to know is the calendar. From November to March the golf resorts are busy with Northern European golfers and winter residents, and the inland urbanisations around them can be almost empty. In July and August the opposite happens: the lagoon and the beaches fill up, the fairways are quiet in the heat, and sprinklers run at dawn. A plot on a fairway means early-morning watering and, on some holes, stray balls; look at where the tees are before you fall for the view. Parts of Santa Rosalía and of some golf residences are still being built, so a plot bought today may have a building site as a neighbour for a while.

Frequently asked questions

Who are the neighbours? Mostly Northern Europeans, with the mix varying by resort; in our own client base, Swiss, French and Polish buyers are a growing share. English is the working language of most communities, and the meetings are often held in English and Spanish.

Is there a doctor on site? None of the five advertises a medical centre inside the resort. Health centres are in the surrounding towns and private clinics in Torrevieja and Orihuela Costa; check the distance from the plot you are considering, it varies from one end of a resort to the other.

What is a bungalow on these resorts? In the Spanish usage of the word, a small building of two levels where the buyer chooses between the ground floor with a private garden and the upper floor with a roof solarium. It is the most affordable way into a resort; our property types guide explains the differences.

Reselling later

In our experience, resort homes resell to people who want a resort, and those buyers are well informed. Three things decide the price. The position of the plot: first line on a fairway or the lagoon, a quiet cul-de-sac away from the tees, south or west orientation. The state of the community: a healthy reserve fund, no litigation with the developer, no special levy pending. And the standing of the resort itself, which is why we see homes on a well-run estate hold their price better than those on an anonymous urbanisation. On resale, the buyer will ask for exactly the documents listed above; a seller who has them ready sells faster.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a price premium for a golf or lagoon home? Agency portfolios on this coast show higher median prices for homes marketed with "golf" than for the same towns' other homes, and lagoon-front villas at Santa Rosalía are priced well above the rest of the estate. No official statistics isolate the premium, so treat it as a feature of the segment, not as a guaranteed return.

Off plan or resale on a resort? Off plan gives you the plot choice and the warranties of a new home; resale gives you the real fees, the real community and a mature garden. Our guide to buying off plan in Spain explains the payment guarantees that apply on a resort as anywhere else.

The practical sequence we recommend

Decide what the home is for, year-round life, winter base, holidays or rental, because that ranks the five resorts differently. Shortlist by resort, then by plot, and visit at least once in the season you intend to use it, which a viewing trip organises in one to three days. Before reserving, obtain the community budget or accounts, the statutes, the latest minutes, the resort's conventions showing whether a conservation entity or a general community exists and what each costs, and the club's price list for owners. If rental matters, read the minutes for any vote on tourist rentals and check the regional registration rules for that town. At completion, make sure the certificate of debts is in the file. The Spanish side of all this is handled as described on our administrative support page, and the Swiss side, declaring the home and its income at home, is what a Geneva fiduciary does.

Frequently asked questions

Can RB Place obtain the community documents for me? Yes. For an off-plan home we ask the developer for the provisional budget and the statutes; for a resale we ask the administrator for the accounts, the minutes and the certificate of debts before you commit.

How do I compare two resorts on cost? Add, for each home, the community fee, the entity's or general community's fee if any, IBI and refuse, insurance, the non-resident tax on imputed income, and the club formula you would actually take, over a year. The ranking often changes once the club is included.

Final thoughts before you choose a resort

A resort delivers a landscaped setting with the course or the lagoon at the end of the street, in places still being completed, and it charges for it every year through bodies you join the day you sign. The buyers who are happy there five years on are the ones who read the budget, the minutes and the resort's conventions before the brochure, chose the plot for the plot and not for the show house, and knew whether they were buying a golf life, a lagoon summer or a winter base. Decide that first, and the right resort chooses itself.

At RB Place, we support our clients at every stage, from finding the property through to signing, including the administrative and tax formalities.

Sources and official references

Official texts and authorities

• Spanish condominium law, Ley 49/1960 de Propiedad Horizontal, consolidated text: art. 9.1.e (contribution by quota, liability of the home for the current and three previous years, certificate of debts within seven calendar days), art. 9.1.f (reserve fund of at least 10%), art. 17.12 (tourist rentals, three-fifths majority, prior express approval since 3 April 2025 and transitional rule): boe.es

• Conservation entities, Reglamento de Gestión Urbanística (Real Decreto 3288/1978), art. 24 to 30 (constitution, compulsory membership, dissolution by the administration) and 70 (collection of arrears): boe.es

• Urban leases law (Ley 29/1994, LAU), consolidated text, including the provisions on temporary leases: boe.es

• Valencian Community, Decreto-ley 9/2024 of 2 August on tourist homes, full text as published in the DOGV and reproduced by the BOE (stays of 10 days or less, municipal report of urban-planning compatibility, five-year validity of the registration, change of ownership): boe.es

• Region of Murcia, Decreto 256/2019 on tourist homes (declaration, register, liability insurance of 300,000 euros per claim): borm.es (PDF)

• Royal Decree 1312/2024 on the single rental registry and the digital window, consolidated text: boe.es; Supreme Court judgment of 19 May 2026, published 8 June 2026: boe.es

• Spanish tax administration, non-resident income tax on let and non-let property (24% on gross income for residents outside the EU and EEA, imputed income): sede.agenciatributaria.gob.es; Audiencia Nacional, judgment of 28 July 2025 (appeal 636/2021) on the deduction of expenses by a third-country resident: iustel.com

• World Golf Awards, Spain's Best Golf Course, past winners: worldgolfawards.com

• Valencian tourism board, Lo Romero Golf (designers, island green): comunitatvalenciana.com

Resort operators

• La Finca Golf, course history and 2026 green-fee packs: lafincaresort.com and lafincaresort.com (vouchers)

• Vistabella Golf, course and designer: vistabellagolf.com

• Las Colinas Golf & Country Club, official brochure (estate, security, facilities, beach club): lascolinasgolf.com (PDF)

• Lo Romero Golf, official site: loromerogolf.com

• Santa Rosalía Lake & Life Resort, resort, lagoon and surroundings: santarosalia.life, santarosalia.life (lake) and santarosalia.life (surroundings)

Legal commentary

• Valencian tourist homes regime, Decreto-ley 9/2024, summary by a law firm: cuatrecasas.com

• Supreme Court judgment on the national rental registry, commentary: osborneclarke.com

This article is for information only and is not legal, tax or investment advice. Fees, prices and rules differ by resort, residence and year; have your case analysed before taking any decision. Information current as of October 2026.