Key Takeaways
- DEHú (Dirección Electrónica Habilitada única) is Spain’s centralised digital mailbox for all official government notifications — tax demands, Social Security, traffic fines, court notices, and more.
- The 10-day rule is non-negotiable: after 10 calendar days, a notification is legally “served” whether you opened it or not. The clock starts the day after the notification lands in your DEHú inbox.
- Access requires a certificado digital or Cl@ve Permanente. Without one, you cannot log in.
- Set up email alerts immediately so you get a heads-up when something arrives — then you have 10 days to log in and act.
- If you’re not going to check it every week, give your gestor apoderamiento to monitor it on your behalf.
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What Is DEHú?
DEHú stands for Dirección Electrónica Habilitada única — Spain’s single, unified digital mailbox for official government notifications. Every Spanish public body — Agencia Tributaria, Seguridad Social, DGT, courts, ayuntamientos — can and does send legally binding notifications here.
Before DEHú existed, each agency had its own notification portal, which meant tracking multiple inboxes. DEHú consolidates them. One URL: https://dehu.redsara.es/
For expats on the Costa del Sol, this matters enormously. If you’re a tax resident in Spain, hold an NIE, or have any kind of administrative relationship with the Spanish state, notifications will land here — often without any physical post as backup. Miss them, and the legal consequences unfold automatically.
The 10-Day Rule: The Number You Need to Memorise
Under Ley 39/2015, Article 43, any notification sent electronically is considered legally “served” after 10 calendar days have passed since it was deposited in your DEHú inbox — regardless of whether you opened it.
This is not a technicality. Spanish courts uphold it. The practical consequences:
- A tax demand for €8,000 sitting unread in DEHú for 11 days? Legally received. Hacienda can proceed with enforcement.
- A traffic fine from DGT with a 20% voluntary payment discount? That discount window closes on day 10 whether you knew about it or not.
- A court notification with a 20-day response deadline? The 20 days start counting from day 11 after the DEHú deposit.
- A Seguridad Social demand for unpaid autónomo contributions? Legally served. The surcharge accrual begins.
The system is not designed to trap you, but it absolutely will if you ignore it. Check DEHú weekly. No exceptions.
Who Gets Notifications Via DEHú?
If you are:
- Registered as obligado al sistema de notificaciones electrónicas (mandatory electronic notification) — this includes all autónomos, S.L. companies, and any individual Hacienda has enrolled
- A private individual who has voluntarily registered for electronic notifications (which sometimes happens automatically when you first use your certificado digital on a government portal)
- Any entity with a valid certificado digital or Cl@ve account that has interacted with Spanish public administration
…then your notifications will come via DEHú, not by post. Some individuals still receive paper post alongside DEHú, but this is not guaranteed and should not be relied upon.
If you’re an autónomo or run a Spanish company, electronic notification is mandatory — you have no opt-out.
How to Access DEHú
Go to: https://dehu.redsara.es/
You cannot log in without one of the following:
- Certificado digital — issued by FNMT (Fábrica Nacional de Moneda y Timbre) or another recognised authority. Installed in your browser. See our full guide to getting a Spanish digital certificate.
- Cl@ve Permanente: Spain’s government single sign-on. Register in person at a Hacienda, Seguridad Social or other authorised registration office (Correos post offices are not among them), or online with a postal invitation letter, which gives a basic level that clave.gob.es says does not work for every service. See our Cl@ve PIN and Cl@ve Permanente guide.
- DNI electrónico — the electronic Spanish national ID card with a chip. Less common for foreign residents.
On the Costa del Sol, your most practical route is the certificado digital via FNMT. You can start the process online, then complete the in-person identity verification at an accreditation office. In Málaga province, Hacienda has offices in Málaga city, Marbella, Torremolinos and Vélez-Málaga (none in Fuengirola or Estepona), and FNMT says they need an appointment. If you hold a TIE or a foreign passport and cannot get to an office, ACCV issues a certificate by video call for €3.40; our certificate guide covers the details.
Step-by-Step: First Login and Setup
Step 1 — Install your digital certificate or set up Cl@ve Permanente
If you don’t have one yet, stop here and get that sorted first. DEHú is inaccessible without it. See: How to Get a Spanish Digital Certificate.
Step 2 — Go to DEHú
Navigate to https://dehu.redsara.es/. You’ll see the login screen. Select your authentication method — certificado digital or Cl@ve.
Step 3 — First-time access confirmation
If this is your first login, DEHú may show a welcome screen asking you to confirm your email address for alert notifications. Do this immediately. This email is the only way you’ll get pinged when a notification arrives.
Step 4 — Check your inbox
Once logged in, you’ll see the main inbox. Notifications are listed with:
- Sending body (e.g., Agencia Tributaria, DGT)
- Subject line
- Deposit date (this is when the 10-day clock starts)
- Status: pending (not opened), accepted (opened), rejected (10 days passed unread = legally served)
If you see anything in “pending” status, open it immediately. Do not let it sit.
Step 5 — Update your email alert address
Go to Perfil / Configuración (top right menu). Verify the email address on file is one you actually check. DEHú will send an alert to this address each time a notification arrives. The alert email does not contain the notification itself — it just tells you something is waiting. You must log in to read it.
Use an email you check daily, not an old Hotmail account you last opened in 2019.
Step 6 — Set up your gestor with apoderamiento (optional but recommended)
If your Spanish is limited or you have complex tax affairs, consider giving your gestor apoderamiento electrónico — formal digital power of attorney to access your DEHú on your behalf. They can monitor it, download notifications, and flag anything urgent before the 10-day window closes.
This is done via the Agencia Tributaria’s apoderamiento portal. See our full guide: How to Set Up Apoderamiento Digital in Spain.
What Types of Notifications Arrive in DEHú
Agencia Tributaria (Tax)
The most consequential. Includes:
- Liquidaciones provisionales — draft tax assessments telling you Hacienda thinks you owe more
- Propuestas de liquidación — proposed settlements
- Requerimientos — formal requests for documentation
- Embargos — asset freezes (these follow after missed earlier notifications)
- Confirmation letters for declarations you’ve submitted
Seguridad Social
Social Security sends contribution demands, inspection notices, and letters about your base de cotización. For autónomos, these can involve significant sums. Missing a Social Security demand triggers automatic surcharges — 20% on top of the original amount within the first month, rising thereafter.
DGT (Tráfico)
Traffic fines. If you’re registered in the electronic notification system, fines for your vehicle arrive in DEHú. Miss the 20-day voluntary payment window and the fine doubles. Miss the subsequent appeal deadline and the fine is locked in.
Ayuntamiento (Local Council)
Some municipalities — including Marbella, Málaga, Fuengirola, and Mijas — have integrated their notification systems. IBI (property tax) surcharge notices, municipal inspection orders, and urban planning infraction notices can arrive via DEHú or the municipal equivalent.
Courts (Juzgados)
Court notifications — subpoenas, judgement notices, deadlines to file responses — can be delivered electronically. These carry some of the most severe consequences for missing deadlines. A missed court notification can result in a default judgment against you.
DEHú vs Individual Agency Portals: What’s the Difference?
DEHú is the centralised hub, but some agencies still use their own Sede Electrónica portals in parallel — or instead of DEHú for certain communication types.
| Portal | What Goes There |
|---|---|
| DEHú (dehu.redsara.es) | All official notifications from any public body using Red SARA. The central inbox. |
| Sede Electrónica AEAT (sede.agenciatributaria.gob.es) | Tax submissions, direct tax notifications, your tax record. Cross-references with DEHú but not identical. |
| Sede TGSS (sede.seg-social.gob.es) | Social Security — your contribution history, notifications, autónomo cotización. |
| DGT sede (sede.dgt.gob.es) | Vehicle registration, licence, traffic fines management. |
The safest approach: check both DEHú and the individual agency portals. DEHú catches most things, but not every agency has integrated fully, and some communications are sent via the agency’s own portal without a DEHú mirror.
What Happens If You Miss a Notification
After 10 calendar days with no response, the notification moves to “rechazada” (rejected) status in DEHú. At that point:
- The notification is legally considered served
- Any deadline tied to that notification — payment, appeal, document submission — starts or has already started counting
- The sending agency can proceed as if you received and acknowledged the notification
- You cannot claim ignorance as a defence in most circumstances
The consequences cascade. A missed Hacienda requerimiento becomes a formal infraction. A missed liquidación provisional becomes a confirmed tax demand with interest and penalties. A missed DGT fine doubles, then gets passed to enforcement.
What to do if this has already happened to you: see our guide Missed a Government Notification in Spain — What to Do.
Going Away? Absence Is a Setting: the AEAT’s 30 Días de Cortesía
The ten-day clock does not pause for your holiday, and Spain assumes you are reachable unless you configure otherwise. For the tax lane, there is an official switch: the días de cortesía — courtesy days. Anyone in the mandatory electronic-notification system (or voluntarily subscribed) can block up to 30 natural days per calendar year during which the Agencia Tributaria cannot post notifications to their mailbox.
- How far ahead: request at least 7 natural days before the first blocked day. Ask today, and cover starts a week out; planning an August break means requesting in July.
- How: online only, in the AEAT sede electrónica, signed with your certificado digital, DNIe, or Cl@ve. There is no paper or phone route.
- What it covers: AEAT notifications only. DGT fines, Seguridad Social demands, court notifications via LexNET, and town-hall notices keep posting, and their clocks keep running. For those lanes, your protection is the email-alert setup above plus a portal check before and after travel.
- What it does not do: it pauses new notifications; it does not stop the clock on anything already posted. Check the mailbox before you switch it off.
Courtesy-days mechanics last verified August 2026 against the AEAT sede.
Practical Routine: How to Stay on Top of It
Set a weekly calendar reminder — Monday morning works well — to log in to DEHú and check for pending notifications. The whole process takes under two minutes if there’s nothing there. If something has arrived, you’ll have days to act rather than hours.
For those on the Costa del Sol who are frequently travelling or have a complex tax position, the apoderamiento route is cleaner: your gestor logs in on your behalf, flags anything urgent, and you’re covered even when you’re not in the country. It’s worth the cost of a decent gestoría relationship. See our guide on setting up apoderamiento digital.
Related Guides
- How to Get a Spanish Digital Certificate (Certificado Digital)
- Cl@ve PIN and Cl@ve Permanente: Spain’s Digital ID System
- Tax Residency in Spain: What It Means and How It Works
- Apoderamiento Digital: How to Give Your Gestor Digital Power of Attorney
- Missed a Government Notification in Spain — What to Do
Frequently Asked Questions
I don’t have a certificado digital yet. Can I still access DEHú?
No. DEHú requires either a certificado digital, Cl@ve Permanente, or DNI electrónico to log in. If you don’t have one, you’re locked out — and notifications are still being deposited there. Getting a digital certificate is the first step. Start at the FNMT website and complete identity verification at your nearest accreditation office (book ahead), or, if you hold a TIE or a foreign passport, use ACCV’s paid video route instead. See our full guide: How to Get a Spanish Digital Certificate.
Does DEHú replace all the individual government portals?
Not entirely. DEHú centralises notifications from agencies using the Red SARA network, but individual agencies (Agencia Tributaria, DGT, Seguridad Social) still operate their own Sede Electrónica portals for submissions, records, and some communications. Check DEHú weekly and periodically log in to the individual portals for your specific situation — especially AEAT’s sede if you’re a tax resident or autónomo.
Will I get a physical letter as well as a DEHú notification?
Sometimes, but do not rely on it. For entities obligated to electronic notification (all autónomos and companies), paper post is not a legal fallback — electronic delivery is the official method. Some agencies send a physical letter as a courtesy, but this is inconsistent. Treat DEHú as the only reliable channel.
The 10-day clock — does it start from when I get the email alert, or when the notification arrives in DEHú?
From when the notification is deposited in DEHú — not from when you read the email alert, and not from when you first log in. The deposit date is shown on each notification in your DEHú inbox. That’s day zero. Day 10 is your deadline. If the deposit date shows Monday the 3rd, your window closes on Thursday the 13th.
What if I’m outside Spain and can’t log in within 10 days?
The 10-day rule applies regardless of where you are physically. If you’re travelling, you need either a way to log in remotely (DEHú works from anywhere with your digital certificate) or an apoderamiento arrangement so your gestor can access it on your behalf. Being abroad is not a valid exemption under Ley 39/2015.
Can my gestor or lawyer access DEHú for me?
Yes, through apoderamiento electrónico. This is a formal digital power of attorney registered with Agencia Tributaria that allows your appointed representative to receive and act on notifications in your name. It’s the cleanest solution if you have a busy life, travel frequently, or have limited Spanish. See our guide: How to Set Up Apoderamiento Digital.
I set up DEHú a year ago and never checked it. What do I do?
Log in immediately. Check the inbox for anything in “rechazada” (rejected/expired) status — these are notifications that passed the 10-day window. For each one, note the sending body and the subject. Then contact your gestor or a Spanish administrative lawyer and go through each one to understand what deadlines have passed and whether remedies are still available. Don’t delay — appeal windows are time-limited. See our guide on what to do if you’ve missed a government notification.
I’m on the Costa del Sol. Where can I get help setting up my digital certificate?
The Agencia Tributaria has offices in Málaga city, Marbella, Torremolinos and Vélez-Málaga where you can complete the in-person identity verification step for your FNMT digital certificate, by appointment. Some gestoría offices also offer assisted setup. Once you have the certificate, DEHú setup itself takes about 10 minutes. See: Spanish Digital Certificate Guide.
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