Housing Law in the Balearic Islands

By AdmSolJM16

On June 26th 2018 the BOIB (Balearic government’s official report) published the first Housing Law in the Balearic Islands, effective from June 27th 2018, and that, according to the Balearic Government, will make it easier for citizens to have access to housing.

The most important aspects of this law are the following:

– The law recognises the citizen’s right to housing and establishes mechanisms to facilitate it, like the increase of the public housing offer for social rentals, and establishing the government’s obligation to facilitate the access of citizens in vulnerable situations (accredited by appropriate entities) to this type of properties or other types if these are not available.

– It will be compulsory for major owners to grant access of their properties that have been empty/ closed for over two years to social renting if there are people in need of housing.

– Major property owners have three months to report all of their properties that have been empty for two years. Not doing this implies a serious penalty: from 3.000 to 30.000 euros.

– A universal and free housing support service goes into operation for all citizens. Its function will be to guide and assist citizens that are in a situation where there is a risk of losing their housing.

– The right of all citizens to basic supplies is guaranteed. Supply cuts can’t be made if the municipal social services recognise the difficult situation of the family.

– In order to encourage public renting, new properties built by public administration will be for renting and can also promote housing with formulas other than ownership (for example: housing cooperatives). The Law details the conditions of use of a social housing dwelling, which must be a regular place of residence. Social housing dwellings can’t be rented, except in some justified cases.

– The law also foresees the promotion of new formulas to make affordable housing available to the public. Thus, it conceives the cession of land (as a temporary cession of surface) to citizens’ cooperatives for the construction of housing. The people who, through the cooperative, have access to these dwellings won’t own them, but they will be able to use them for life.

If you need more information about the new Housing Law, do not hesitate to contact us. Our multilingual and multidisciplinary team will be pleased to assist you.

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Last updates on holiday rentals

By AdmSolJM16

The “Consell de Mallorca” authority has recently given definite approval to holiday rentals  zoning. This is going to put an end to the existing suspension of new licenses to carry out the activity. In fact, a new zoning proposal has already been prepared taking in consideration all reports and allegations.

At the moment, the Balearic Environmental Commission has one month to prepare their report, so from the second half of July new licenses could be requested.

However, it is important to take into account that the new authorisations are granted by the Tourism Agency, and that not only must the dwelling be within a qualified area according to the zoning approved by the Consell, it will also have to meet the requirements of article 50 of the Government’s Tourism Law.

These are:

  • Having a valid certificate of habitability.
  • In the case of multifamily residential buildings, the community of owners’ rules must not prohibit the activity.
  • Presenting the correspondent energy certification.
  • The dwelling must have individual water, electricity and / or gas meters.
  • It cannot be a social housing dwelling.
  • For properties situated in saturated areas it must be proved that it is the regular place of residence of the owner.

News:

  1. For new touristic properties, a spot should be bought from the Tourism Agency Pool in the same way that hotels do. The Tourism Agency must determine the price per spot.
  2. The “Consell Insular” should also write down a Tourism Intervention Plan (Plan de Intervención Ámbitos Turísticos – PIAT) that will determine the number of spots that can be granted in each zone.
  3. The new licenses will be valid for 5 years.

In regards to Palma, the town council took longer to approve the initial zoning, and as a consequence, the final zoning will have some delay as well. On August 1st, when the Government’s suspension finishes, licenses can be requested for single family dwellings, in accordance with the stipulations of the previous law.

If you need more information about the Tourism Law and holiday rental, do not hesitate to contact us.
At Ripoll & Mateu Solicitors Mallorca we advise, defend and represent our clients at all levels. Our greatest asset is an infrastructure of professional leaders in each field of action, especially Real Estate and Tax, as well as our international vocation and multilingual capacity.

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