Five points to understand the new tourist rental law
The new Tourism Law of the Pacte, approved in almost all its sections, aims to prevent an increase in all types of tourist places, by setting for the first time a "real ceiling" established in the existing ones and without allowing exchanges to create new places. In addition, it raises the fines to combat the illegal offer of vacation rentals, to the platforms dedicated to commercialize this activity, and to the owners of properties that do not register and comply with all the requirements.
Although it does not explicitly permit or prohibit the rental of apartments, the new law includes other points that regulate this type of offer. One of them establishes that in multi-family houses the permission of the community of neighbors by majority vote will be necessary. All this is now awaiting the regulations of the councils and town halls to delimit the areas in which this activity is allowed or not.
Approval of the Pacte Tourism Law
Rental of apartments: One of the great novelties of the law is the modality of renting apartments to tourists only if it is the owner's usual dwelling and for a maximum of 60 days a year, prior registration. The owner is pending on whether or not his area has the permission of the councils and town halls in the pending delimitations that will make up the new legal framework.
Other buildings and multi-family properties: The law does not expressly contemplate or prohibit rental in buildings and multi-family properties. Rental in apartments is excluded, even without mentioning it, and is only provided for in "single-family, detached and semi-detached" houses.
Fines and requirements against illegal offers: The law is toughened against illegal offers on tourism websites such as Airbnb, under threat of fines of up to 400,000 euros to these companies if they include offers of homes without a registration number. For owners of unregistered houses, they will be up to 40,000 euros.
The bans in Palma and Ibiza, still pending: The prohibition of tourist rentals in the center of Palma and on the whole island of Ibiza was requested, but the Govern rejected it and claims that they will have to be decided by Cort - which has already promised it - and by the Consell in the regulations they should approve by 2018.
Ceiling of vacancies: The law sets a ceiling for all types of tourist vacancies, those that already exist: in order to register one vacancy, another will have to be cancelled. The tourist decrease is another objective, all those registered since 1998 by exceptions will not be able to be used to eliminate them in exchange for another one. It is estimated that 100,000 vacancies in the air in Mallorca alone, which, if they were to be cancelled, would disappear definitively.
You don't know in which position your vacation home was left? Would you like to have an advice about the rental of your second property? We are specialists in the management of vacation homes, contact us.
