There has been a call for a “coordinated effort” to regulate the Spanish holiday property industry by José Manuel Soria, the Minister for Industry, Energy and Tourism.

Last year, the government made alterations to the Urban Letting Act (Ley de Arrendamientos Urbanos/LAU in Spanish). This passed more control over the decisions regarding rental regulations to the local regional governments.

As mentioned in a previous article, http://palmalawyer.com/guidance-law-renting-properties-in-mallorca-ibiza-balearic-islands/249/ , we discussed the changes made to the Balearics Tourism Act in 2012 which can be interpreted to aid holiday property landlords, when taking advantage of the confusion created when combined with the Spanish Tenancy Act.

Now, the Minister has asked for further changes to be made so that the regions make their by-laws as “similar as possible” around the country. The aim is to avoid unfair competition with hotel accommodation.

For example, under Madrid’s version of the new tourist rental regulations, any touristic lettings must have a minimum duration of five days. So, under this proposal, short term city breaks are out of the question. The clear intention is to drive more business into the hotels.

If this is an example of where the Minister would like a co-ordinated set of local laws to go, then The Balearic states have yet more potentially damaging law on the way.

A possible solution:

Of course, you could always let your short term rental out for less than five days, but at a discounted rate that you might have charged for 7 days. The holiday clients will simply check out early.

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.