Many years ago, the powerful hoteliers in the Balearic Islands lobbied the local government and pressed the point that their income was being eroded by private villa and apartment owners who were renting the homes for holiday lets.
They argued that the private owners were also very likely to be evading their tax contributions from the holiday letting income.
The Balearic government agreed and passed various laws, designed to ensure that any holiday home owner who wished to generate an income from short-term lets, needed to gain a Touristic licence. These weren’t granted easily. As a consequence, most property owners politely ignored the law and continued to let their homes out.
Under further pressure from the hoteliers, the local government introduced the ambiguous Balearics Tourism Act in 2012. This was intended to further regulate the private rental market in the Balearics. The Act seemed to ban short-term rentals to holiday-makers.
However, the Spanish Tenancy Act appears to sidestep the Balearics Tourism Act 2012, providing your short term holiday let is offered without cleaning and by avoiding advertising in the touristic channels. Clearly, it’s not quite as simple as this. But, providing you stick to these 2 basic principles and then ensure that you don’t fall foul of the criteria that defines what a touristic rental is, you should be able to continue with your holiday let.
What changes are relevant for holiday lets?
A new category of property has been added to the list. ‘Town Houses’ (properties that are not detached, which have another house to either side or both, that sit within their own land and were built prior to 1960. This type of housing can engage in touristic lets with a licence.
With specific regard to semi-detached properties, there is now a requirement that the community does not exclude touristic lets, before you can apply for a licence.
In cases of both Town Houses and Semi-Detached houses, you will have to present a signed declaration from your neighbours declaring that they don’t oppose touristic lets.
Finally, in order to engage in touristic lets, companies will have to take out an insurance policy to cover themselves for various responsibilities. The minimum value should be €300,000.
This is a very brief summary on the variations to the Balearics Tourism Act 2012. If you are engaged in, or wish to set up a private let or business for holiday lettings in the Balearic Islands, contact us for an initial chat.
We will be happy to guide you through the process. Please CONTACT PALMA LAWYER HERE.
Please note the information provided in this article is of general interest only and is not to be construed or intended as substitute for professional legal advice