Tourism is obviously a great growth opportunity, but the boom in property rental for touristic purposes has turned into one of the main concerns of homeowners associations and local governments.

The lack of control over short term rentals of touristic dwellings allowed the increase of long term rental prices and it forced many local residents out of their homes.

The increasing need to regulate this situation led the Spanish government to take action. However, tourism matters are responsibility of each Autonomous Community and urban planning of each Municipality, so the only way the government can regulate touristic housing is by reviewing the law. In this case, clarifying the definition of ‘seasonal rental’ in the Urban Rentals Law and giving more power to homeowners associations through the Horizontal Property Law.

Although law reforms are full responsibility of Spanish government entities, it has been announced that changes will only be made with the consensus of all parties involved: Autonomous Communities, municipalities, homeowners associations, relevant online platforms, hotel owners and unions.

For this purpose, the Ministry of Tourism has recently addressed the 17 Spanish Autonomous Communities and the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces with a proposal to review the Horizontal Property Law, that currently states that it is necessary to have consensus among all owners to make important decisions or change the homeowners association bylaws.

If the change in the law is accepted and implemented – and it seems that there is a general agreement among the autonomous governments – homeowners associations will have more decision power as it would bring the number down to a majority of three fifths of the owners (that represent three fifths of the total property area owned, which is the actual criterium used by this law) needed to, for example, forbid the touristic rental of dwellings in their building/ community. At the moment, as long as the existing community bylaws are respected, the homeowners associations cannot prevent each owner to rent their property, because their own vote will hold back the consensus. The Spanish government has also proposed to change the Urban Rentals Law, limiting seasonal rentals to periods of minimum 7 consecutive days, not exceeding a total of 45 days per year. However, there is still no consensus among all those involved on this issue.

Also to help the autonomous communities control touristic rentals, and to offer legal security to both property owners and the people renting, it was suggested the creation of a national registry of all housing for touristic use. This registry would make it compulsory to identify the people renting and also make sure homeowners comply with their tax obligations.

If you need more information about the Tourism Law and holiday rental, do not hesitate to contact us. 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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The Balearic Islands have recently benefited from the escape of capital due to high prices and the moratorium for new hotels in Madrid and Barcelona.

According to the data analysed, the real estate investment market in Spain will close 2018 financial year with figures similar to those obtained in 2017, 13,500 million, or slightly lower, and it will continue in expansion until 2020. In the same way, it is shown that Spain remains one of the most attractive countries for real estate investment and is the fifth European destination that captures the greatest volume of investment, on the list lead by the United Kingdom, Germany, France and the Netherlands. In this sense, investment funds are still the main players in the market, especially those of foreign origin.

The commercial sector in real estate is still the one with the highest volume of professional investment, reaching a total of 2,000 million euros.

Residential professional investment has evolved positively in the first half of the year and housing is still the preferred asset for both large funds and small investors, as 25% of operations have been made as investments.

The Balearic and Canary Islands are the preferred regions of the listed real estate investment company (socimi) that Bankinter will take to the stock market at the end of this year, as they have acquired 10 hotels in both archipelagos, what adds up more than 3,400 rooms. From a total of 23 hotels, 10 are on the islands: 5 in the Balearic Islands (4 in Mallorca and 1 in Menorca) and another 5 in the Canary Islands.

The idea is that these hotels allow to give back an annual dividend close to 5% to all the shareholders of the “socimi”, which will be quoted on the “MAB – Mercado Alternativo Bursátil” (Alternative Stock Market).

The main shareholders of Atom are Bankinter’s private banking clients, with a minimum investment of 200,000 euros and a maximum of 15% of their financial assets, but the bank itself, the manager of the “socimi”, GMA, and some institutional investors also take part in the capital.

This situation has contributed to the increase of private investment in construction. The increase in demand and promotion of housing, the latest impulse in the modernisation of hotels; and the industrial and commercial companies’ activity reactivation, have made the money that has been allocated from the private sector to building or refurbishing projects has increased an incredible 60.6% during the first four months of this year in relation to the same period of 2017.

Our foreign investment area offers legal assistance with regard to funds from other countries for investments in real estate and commercial Islands.
Our team has extensive international experience, we also have cooperation agreements with international firms.

 

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During the first semester of the current year, the luxury property buy and sell increased 27% in Spain, as the average price increased 19%.

The most expensive houses in Spain are located near the sea, not surprisingly, three of the top 5 most expensive properties are in Mallorca.

An annual report on wealth has been published recently, reflecting  that the number of personal Spanish wealths shot off to 76% since 2008, concurring with the beginning of the financial crisis. At the moment, Spain stands as the 7th country in Europe with the highest number of people with this economical profile.

Mallorca is going through a situation where its attractiveness seems to have multiplied, something that reflects on the record number of tourist arrivals as well as  on the boost of its real estate market, especially visible in the case of high-end products. Because of this, one of its main investments grows: the luxury real estate market.

According to the same report, real estate together with the stock market are the main destinations of these wealthy people’s money, that can lash out between 1.5 and 12 million euros. The Spanish and international buyer’s need of a second home in a unique environment, such as Andratx and Calvià, in Mallorca, made the Balearic market a protagonist in the luxury sector.

The luxury real estate market in the island is in full expansion. The supply of Premium properties is not very high, while the demand is sustained. Especially, the one that comes from the German market. With this appeal for the Spanish and foreign buyer, the luxury real estate segment is experiencing a great moment given the combination of: high demand, sales growth and rising prices.

Not only are we talking about selling, finding a long term rental property in the Balearic islands, at an accessible price, is at the moment more complicated than at the same time last year. The National Association of Real Estate Agents assures that the average price of rental in the islands has risen 12.4% during the last year and is around 10.6 euros per square meter, per month; higher than the peak of 9.6 euros reached in 2007, already surpassed since late 2017. The price increase that began in Palma’s downtown has already moved on to other neighbourhoods. An example is Son Rapinya, where three-bedroom flats are offered for around 1,300 euros per month.

For your investments in Mallorca and the Balearic Islands, 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.

Our team is committed to providing the best work processes to provide our customers with the best results, in a constant quest for professional excellence. We establish external collaboration when circumstances require and are firmly committed to transparency and honesty in our actions.

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There is no doubt that investing in Mallorca’s real estate is a totally successful decision. Palma is the Spanish city where the investment in real estate is more productive, showing a price increase of 16% in the last quarter of 2017, compared to the same period in 2016.

A recent survey comparing prices of housing in Madrid, Barcelona, Málaga, Valencia and Palma, shows that Palma and Málaga overcome Madrid y Barcelona in terms of real estate profitability

The coastal segment of real estate is the most dynamic one because of the increasing interest of people with savings on buying properties to rent afterwards. The areas that are growing the most are still the ones with safer values.

The sale price in some areas like Palma and Calvià have reached historical highs. In the second quarter of this year the average price per square meter was 2,809 euros in Palma, and nearly 3,500 in Calviá. In both areas the prices have been increasing since late 2014, up to 50%. In the islands altogether, the prices have not yet reached its highest (that occurred in late 2008) although they are very close to it.

In relation to the final price of a property we have to take into account the high interest that foreigners have in investing in Mallorca . This demand has caused that the recovery of new constructions is mostly luxury homes. To this we have to add the increasing demand from residents, that once found a job again, are interested in buying a house. Real estate promoters and agents are aware that there is a much higher demand than existing supply, and therefore the high prices.

In the same way, the number of people thinking of buying a second house in the short term has increased eight points in 2018, comparing to 2017. 18% of the Spanish people are in the process of searching for this type of property, compared to 10% last year. 43% of these potential owners think about buying a property close to the sea and 17% in the town centre of a coastal municipality.

Mallorca in general and Palma specifically are living a new real estate boom and the transactions keep increasing, especially with foreign clients that see the island as a good place to invest in again.

At Ripoll & Mateu we work to bring total satisfaction to our customers effectively by offering legal services and personalised assistance.

For foreign investment, we offer legal assistance regarding funds from other countries for investment in real estate and business.

We offer detailed advice in the field of internationalisation by providing services such as:

  • International Trade Consulting, recruitment, setting up companies, subsidiaries and branches.
  • Advice on tax issues: tax incentives for the internationalisation of companies, income earned abroad, international operations, etc.
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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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Balearics is one of the most dynamic real estate markets in the purchase of housing in 2017, the latest data also point to a price increase in the last year slightly above 9%, and 7.3% only during the three months of summer.

The price per square meter stood at 1,953 euros in the third quarter, slightly above the 1.931 euros in País Vasco and a short distance from the 2.004 euros of the Community of Madrid, according to the valuer Tinsa. This unstoppable rise in prices is largely explained by the tourist boom. During the third quarter of the year,Balearic Islands was the largest home sales community, up 21% in just 12 months. In addition, behind Madrid (63,037), Barcelona (51,010), Alicante (32,068), Málaga (28,271) and Valencia (23,644), Baleares was the province where more transactions were recorded (15,158 sales), according to data of the registrars.

The average mortgage in Balearic Islands stands at 145,833 euros, just behind the Community of Madrid, with 184,223 euros, and ahead of communities like Cataluña (138,447 euros) and País Vasco (135,955 euros). In fact, also behind Madrid, Baleares is the second communities with the highest average monthly mortgage fee: 705.21 euros.

During the first eight months of this year 11,000 homes have been sold in the Balearic Islands, a figure that represents a growth of 18.2% over the previous year and based mainly on the sale of second-hand properties.

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According to data from the National Institute of Statistics, 9,065 used homes and 1,935 new construction have been acquired in the archipelago. What stands out is the huge difference between the two categories, since the sale of the former is growing at a rate of 25.2% compared to last year, while the latter are down 6.3%.

In Ripoll & Mateu Solicitors Mallorca, we offer our clients a comprehensive service in everything required for the sale of a property. It is therefore necessary to have the services of a firm of lawyers specialising in real estate law with multilingual abilities to offer totally reliable and understandable advice to the customer.

We specialise in Real Estate Law and legal and tax advice in the process of buying and selling a property in Mallorca.

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Palma City Council has set next spring as the deadline to have the zoning provided for in the tourism law that will determine which areas of the city can be leased multifamily housing and which are not.

In this sense, the City Council already has several reports prepared to approve the moratorium on tourist establishments affecting:  Palma centre, first Eixample, Santa Catalina and Playa de Palma. Decisions must be accompanied by technical and legal reports to support them.

In addition, meetings will be held with the corresponding entities in order to know the Plan of Intervention in Tourism Areas (PIAT) that is drafted by the supramunicipal institution.
This document, among other things, sets the ceiling of places, both hotel and rental, that can be authorized in each area. In the case of Palma this plan proposes the reduction of the places. It is therefore very important to have up-to-date data on the number of single-family and multi-family dwellings since, although the former may be the subject of holiday leases, they also count in the global number of tourist places allowed.

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In another order, and regarding the current season, the Directorate General of Tourism is processing the 1,500 tourist places, corresponding to 264 homes that were engaged in commercial holiday rental. Of the total number of tourist houses, 153 had registered the declaration responsible for starting tourist activity between 2016 and 2017, but they are floors in multi-family buildings and semi-detached houses, which were not authorized to be marketed at the time of registration.

These homes were registered prior to the entry into force of the law that regulates the tourist rental and that establishes a moratorium of new authorizations of commercialization of tourist stays in houses until the island consoles and the Palma City Council establish the zoning. The Ministry of Tourism has begun the process of the definitive removal of 111 tourist houses authorized prior to 1999, in which the Inspection Service has found that there is no longer any tourist activity.

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At the beginning of the month the moratorium for the granting of new tourist rental licenses came into force after the text of the amendment to the Balearics Tourism Law was published in the BOIB, after having been approved by the full Parliament on the 18th of July.

The amendment makes special reference to two questions:

-regulation of the commercialization of tourist stays in housing.
– the establishment of a real roof of tourist places.

The Government of the Balearic Islands has sent a letter to all public administrations that have a registration to inform the public that no new declarations can be submitted responsible for starting the tourist activity (DRIAT) until the insulars “consells” and the City Council of Palma establish the areas suitable for this economic activity.

The new tourism law that has entered into force declares those responsible for infringements related to the sale of tourist stays in illegal housing to property owners as well as to potential exploiters and marketers. The law introduces a modality called “main housing rent”, when the commercialization is carried out by the same owner in its main dwelling for a maximum period of 60 days in a period of one year.

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General requirements for residential tourism marketing

  1. Can be marketed short-term tourist stays in residential homes always carry out this marketing proprietary or made by operators or any of tourism marketing channels, on the terms set down by law.
  2. You can only carry out the activity of commercialization of tourist stays in dwellings if it is done in residential dwellings that have the habitability certificate in force or the corresponding title.
  3. Only new tourist commercialization of residential housing can be carried out that are located in areas declared expressly suitable.
  4. It’s not possible to commercialize tourist stays in any house with respect to which a firm sanction is imposed for serious or very serious infraction of the urban legality, as long as this legality is not restored.
  5. The residential houses that are the object of tourist commercialization have to prove the sustainability by obtaining the energy certificate that is determined by regulation.
  6. The houses that are subject to tourist commercialization that present a responsible declaration must have the systems of control of the consumption of water that are determined by regulation. In addition, they must be provided with individual meters with respect to other energy supplies linked to the dwelling, such as electricity or gas.
  7. You can’t touristically subject to market any residential dwelling or has been subjected to official protection regime or appraised price.
  8. The marketing person must meet all regulatory requirements requiring activity include: requirements that may be demanded for exercising business activity;the labor law, if you have hired staff;and tax-related requirements contained in the specific regulations.
  9. The marketing of tourist stays person must submit to the Directorate General of Police information concerning the stay of the people staying in them, in accordance with the rules of public safety.
  10. Users hosted people have to meet the applications of coexistence and public order and in cases of horizontal property, the internal rules of the homeowners where the property is located.
  11. The stays that are commercialized tourist must consist in the temporary assignment of the right of enjoyment of the totality of the house by short periods, understood like stays by days or weeks, without a stay can be more than one month.
  12. The tourist stays regulated in this chapter are incompatible with the formalization of contracts by rooms or with the coincidence in the same house of users who have entered into contracts.
  13. The companies that sell tourist accommodation in residential dwellings must sign an insurance policy that covers civil liability and, in the case of houses subject to the horizontal property regime, to cover any damages that may be caused by users to the owners community.
  14. The residential dwellings in respect of which the responsible declaration is presented in order to start the activity of commercialization of tourist stays must have proven the minimum seniority that is determined by regulation.

Do not hesitate to contact us to have more information related to the tourist rental in Mallorca.

 

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Last week came into force the new Law of Tourism of the Balearic Islands that begins including a moratorium of one year in which will not be granted new licenses of tourist rental.

Aspects to consider:

  • The institutions with urban planning have a period of one year to establish and approve the zoning. Until this is not carried out, no further statements may be submitted starting responsible for tourism and new licenses will be given.
  • The different marketing channels are obliged to publish the license number of the dwelling corresponding to the final license granted by the administration that has the tourism management competences.
  • The new Tourism Law introduces a modality called “main housing rent”. This will be given when the commercialization is carried out by the same owner in its main dwelling for a maximum term of 60 days in a period of one year.
  • In the modality of houses subject to the horizontal property regime, it’s necessary an agreement of the junta of owners by majority of the proprietors, who at the same time constitute the majority of quotas of property, to carry out the tourist commercialization.
  • Touristically market is prohibited any type of residential housing subject or has been subject to official protection regime.
  • The person marketer of tourist stays has to send to the Police DG the information regarding the stay of the people who are staying, in accordance with the rules of public safety.
  • Inland tourism accommodation must have a minimum of five accommodation units.
  • The law maintains the repeal of section 5 of article 88 of Law 8/2012, which allowed an exchange of two stays for one.

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As far as sanctions are concerned:

  • The new law declares those responsible for infringements related to the commercialization of tourist stays in illegal housing, both the owners of the properties and the potential exploiters and marketers.
  • Marketing a home without submitting responsible statement implies a serious offense with fines between 20,001 and 40,000 euros for both the owner and the operator or marketer, and each house is offered.
  • In the case of platforms or other owners and operators of the tourist marketing channels, advertising or promotion of illegal offers implies penalties of up to 400,000 €.
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The number of foreign tourists that visited the Balearic Islands in the first six months of the year exceeded 5.4 million, 8.5% more than in the same period of 2016, these are the latest data released by the National Institute of Statistics (INE). These data lead us to consider the current situation of the much-discussed Balearic Tourism Law.

The largest number of foreign tourists who traveled to the Balearics in the first six months of the year came from Germany, 36%, and the UK, 29.5%. The main emitting countries were the United Kingdom, with almost 8.6 million tourists and an increase of 9.1% compared to the first six months of 2016; Germany, with about 5.5 million, 9.6% more, and France, with more than 4.7 million, an increase of 4.9%. In addition to all this, it’s well known that relations between Spain and Russia enjoy very good health which means an increase of Russian tourists to our country. Every year over 1.5 million Russians come to spend holidays in Spain and most of them choose Mallorca.

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On July 18, the new Tourism Law was debated and voted on in the Balearic Parliament, which will take effect next week. In the same way, a decree law will be approved that will correct it to allow apartments leased to tourists, but this option will remain prohibited until the insular councils and Palma City Council determine in which areas and under what conditions it is authorized.

The Ministry of Tourism emphasizes the need to enforce the law, especially the large marketers, internet platforms and real estate, in clear reference to the legal uncertainty that until now allowed vacation rental housing in multi-family buildings sheltering in the state leasing regulations despite being prohibited by the Regional Tourism Law. Rental platforms that advertise homes for short leases without the mandatory authorization number and market unregistered flats or houses may be fined up to 400,000 euros.

As soon as the new law comes into force, a moratorium on new places will also be implemented until island councils and the Palma City Council decide which rental modalities are accepted in each zone.

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