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.

0

The Government is finalizing a law decree requiring internet portals to report owners and income. These must comply with the Public Safety Act and report on who is staying at their properties.

The Internet portals should inform the Tax Agency of who owns the tourist homes that appear on their websites and what the income they receive. In the same way, the state security forces must be informed of who the people are staying in them.

These measures are intended to increase control over tourist rental, improve security and crack down on tax fraud.

The association of the tourist rental Aptur-Baleares and the electronic portal Airbnb announced yesterday that they will work together to promote Balearic Islands as a sustainable tourist destination.

It is well known that the boom of tourist rental of apartments has recently experienced an unprecedented development in the Balearic Islands. The tourist towns of the Balearic housed inside thousands of properties intended for that purpose. Palma leads the statistics in terms of number, 3,715 in total, followed by Pollença and Alcúdia.

mallorca-tourism-tax

This data may change with what is known as zoning established by the tourism law. May not be marketed tourist stays in areas declared eligible (with administrative certificate). The zones will be determined in a motivated way by the Insular Councils, following a mandatory report from the Town Councils, except Palma City Council that will decide without need of the Insular Council of Mallorca.
While not zonifique the license application is paralyzed through DRIAT. The maximum term of 1 year is established, that is to say, until August 1, 2018 to proceed to zoning; if after this period the zoning has not been established, declarations will be requested to initiate activities regarding detached single family dwellings, single family dwellings between medians and single family dwellings.

During the past year, the holiday rental managed by the big platforms left in the Balearic Islands 900 million euros. The latter consider tourist rental on the islands not only generate benefits for traders and owners of flats and apartments but has also diversified supply generating activity in areas not noticed so far the effects of the tourism industry.

2

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.

palma-old-town

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.

0

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.

tourism-mallorca

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.

 

2

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.

tourism-law-mallorca1-2

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 €.
1

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.

mallorca-rental-properties

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.

2

Last April, the Balearic Islands Tourism Agency Board initiated the Inspection Plan for the accommodation offer focusing its efforts on controlling advertising and illegal commercial offer of holiday rentals in private housing.

With this, the offers published on the Internet are specifically controlled by verifying data that points to an activity outside of the tourism regulations. In addition, the Balearic Islands Government announced joint actions with other public administration offices, such as the national and regional Tax Agencies.

As a result, the first holiday rental inspection campaign in the Balearic Islands produced sanctioning actions to eight real estate companies with fines for commercially offering illegal holiday rentals.

The current tourism law prohibits the sale of touristic stays in dwellings located in residential buildings and at the same time it modifies the rental regulation considering the possibility of offering touristic stays in residential buildings, if a series of requirements are met and whenever it is done in the authorised areas.

And the fact is that the Balearic Islands are beating all records of visits recorded to date. Hospitality companies and holiday rentals search engines reflect a 90% occupancy until October. The same happens with licensed holiday rentals, where the average price for overnight stays doesn’t go lower than 800 euros.

palma-old-town

To deal with the above, in July a new law will change the holiday rentals to tourists in the islands and it will contemplate the following stages:

  • The properties that are already registered with the Tourism Agency may continue to be rented as before, complying with the same rules and maintaining the same sanctioning regime.
  • The apartments located in residential buildings will still not be able to be rented to tourists or commercially offered through touristic channels.
  • The apartments located in residential buildings whose owners want to rent legally should wait for the zoning and also meet the requirements set by the new law.
  • Villas or semi-detached villas can be rented to tourists, if meeting minimum requirements and if obtaining an authorisation from the Tourist Agency in advance. With the new law, the owner must present a document from his city council that proves that his property is located in an area authorised for holiday This process is the same that must be done for apartments located in residential buildings.

Faced with this type of situation, we recommend that you always search for the help of legal experts on holiday rental and completely legal local companies so that you can make use of your villa or holiday rental apartment with total peace of mind and confidence.

0

Few weeks after the start of the summer season, the Balearic Islands Government, entities and companies continue to laps with the Holiday Rental Law.

Earlier this month, the bill that will regulate holiday rentals in the Balearic Islands was approved by the Government Council after incorporating 200 of the 294 allegations it received in the public information period to which it was submitted.
These days, fourteen entities have adhered to the manifesto “Quality tourism for all”.
This manifesto has been promoted by the Association of Holiday Rental Apartments and Homes of the Balearic Islands (APTUR) in defense of the holiday rental, with the aim of obtaining the highest number of accessions and demonstrating social support towards holiday rentals.

The entities that have signed the document are: PIMEM, PIMECO, AFEDECO, ACOTUR,  municipal markets of Santa Catalina, Pere Garau, El Olivar and Inca, AMAT (Mallorcan Association of Tourist Attractions), ABONE (Balearic Association of Nightlife and Entertainment), Municipal Taxi Automotive Association (AMTAT), the Association of Golf Courses of the Balearic Islands, the Business Association of Rental of Vehicles and the Association of Nautical Companies of the Balearic Islands (AENIB).

The signatories argue that holiday rental is an aid to the local development of areas that could not have had the opportunity to access the income generated by tourism with the offer of traditional accommodation. APTUR-Balears states that vacation rental is a complementary accommodation model where the end user decides based on privacy and flexibility arguments. It also stresses that it is transverse from the point of view of sharing the benefits of tourism between the complementary offer and helps reduce the seasonality.

The entities affirm that they are looking for a regulation of the appropriate sector in which everyone can develop this activity with guarantees and fulfilling their fiscal responsibilities.

0

The Governing Council of the Balearic Islands has recently given its approval to the draft law that will regulate holiday rentals on the islands after incorporating 200 of the 294 allegations it has received in the public information period to which it was submitted.

The document explains the novelty of not allowing tourist rental in housing of less than five years (initially was a period of 10), and during that period, the use of housing must have been private residential and will be accredited by the declaration of new construction. In the same way, it defends the fact that it is the communities of neighbors that decide whether in their building can be rented or not the houses to the tourists; and that all that channel that puts in contact offer and demand, will be considered channel of tourist commercialization.

At the moment, the project must be submitted to the parliamentary process that will introduce amendments and modifications so that it can enter into force, although it will not be before September of this year. The regulation of the commercialization of tourist stays in houses, the so-called tourist rental, will answer to a “reality” that exists in the Balearics and will allow to have a tool in enforcing the law.

A specific register will be created in which all the homes that are being commercialized must be registered, implying that all the illegal offer can’t be commercialized by tourist offers channels. In this way, any commercialization channel will have to put the number of the legal registration of activity of the house, including the platforms that announce in its web pages apartments for the holiday rental.

balearics-tourism-law

To this, must be added that rent will not be allowed in apartments of less than five years old. The Consell de Mallorca will create a second bag housing specific places for holiday rental, different from the hotel rooms, to exchange new law dictates touristically for those wishing to market a house or a flat. It will also set some “objective criteria” for zoning, which should be observed by all municipalities, including Palma.

In view of these criteria, the Balearic Islands Association of Apartments and Holiday Rental Homes (Aptur-Baleares), states that despite sharing many of the objectives of this Government, the regulation made leaves out 80% of the current bid. In addition, they point out that difficult technical and accessibility requirements are imposed and a single bag of places is established, without specifying which ones will be allocated to holiday rentals and which ones to the hotel sector. The association is against the decision to establish that any contract less than 30 days is considered as a tourist, as well as being considered a marketing channel either a web, as an advertisement in a printed newspaper or as the showcase of a real estate agency.

0

Few weeks to the beginning of the tourist season and continuing with the follow-up we made to the situation of the Balearics Law of Tourism, has just confirmed that most of the homes for vacation rentals in Palma don’t meet the requirements set in that law.

This statement is based on data as evident as the fact that while the Ministry of Tourism registers 302 homes of this type, in the capital of Mallorca more than 6,000 tourist homes are rented through the internet.

Recall that the Tourism Law prohibits tourist rental in multi-family buildings.

This circumstance that is not fulfilled in the majority of dwellings, according to the abysmal difference in these registry data. The Balearic Government is studying the implementation of a new standard, which allows rental activity in multi-family housing, with the approval of the neighbors. A decision that has many detractors. From the association of tourist apartments Aptur they argue that this measure is not viable and that the houses in these circumstances are in a lawless situation, since the Law of Urban Leases contemplates to offer tourist services “in any type of house” by a “short period of time”.

palma-old-town

Another novelty that has recently been known is that the towns of Mallorca’s interior will not limit tourist rental and therefore are exempt from distinction between tourist and residential areas, a requirement included in the draft of the Holiday Rental Law.

With this measure, the Government of the Balearic Islands aims to benefit small towns that have empty houses and where the problem of access to a home is non-existent. Thus, the economic activity of these nuclei won’t be restricted. This measure will not give freedom to the tourist rent, since the law sets some requirements when renting, such as accessibility, energy consumption and not having previous penalties in urban planning.

townhouse-pollensa

From Ripoll Mateu Solicitors Mallorca we recommend hiring your holiday home in Mallorca through companies in the sector that are solvent and offer guarantees. Balearic Villas  in Pollença, with over 15 years of experience in the Mallorca holiday villas industry,  have the experts & the know-how to create the perfect, independent-living holiday for you.

 

0