The effects of "illegal" renting.

[Tommo]

Originally Posted by sparky

Andrew Ede has posted his thoughts on his blog, here :- alcudiapollensa.

Blimey. After reading the article I feel like a criminal, if only a unwitting one.
I seriously don't know what to do about our annual trip. We absolutely adore PP and we've been coming most years since 1992. I feel a little bit lost.
Coincidentally as I write this I'm listening to an article on radio fours You and Yours regarding the new law. The situation is baffling, in as much that if we come to Pp are we fueling an already bad situation and if we stay away are we denying the tourist industry our cash, which could lead to the closure of our favourite restaurants, bars and the unemployment of the lovely waiters and staff.��

[Papillon]

This is so sad and smacks of unnecessary vindictiveness against innocent tourists who not only lose their holidays at this late stage but will be unable to recover their flight costs should they not travel. When the UK press finally report the true story it will have a devastating effect on the islands.

Whatever the rights and wrongs of the new legislation, applying it from May 2018 would at least show they are not victimising this years visitors but focussing on the owners.


https://majorcadailybulletin.com/new...-bookings.html

The law on rentals for tourists is already having an impact. Owners of apartments are starting to cancel bookings, fearing the fines of between 20,000 and 40,000 euros. Adverts for apartment accommodation on websites are being removed for the same reason. The Aptur holiday rentals association has advised its members to take down any advert which is for an illegal apartment and to do this immediately.


Owners are not the only ones who are worried and who are also uncertain of the situation. Their clients - tourists - share their worries and uncertainties. Aptur notes that clients will have paid for airline tickets and, in the majority of cases, also paid a deposit.

At this time of the summer, Aptur adds, it is difficult for tourists to find alternative accommodation. If it is a licensed rental, such as a villa or stand-alone house, it will cost much more than an apartment, assuming one is even available. For the moment, it doesn't seem as if the hoteliers are necessarily gaining extra business. The Majorca Hoteliers Federation says that it is too early to assess the impact of the legislation.

Aptur notes that it has been inundated with calls from owners who have apartments on websites such as Airbnb or HomeAway. The government now treats any property advertised on these sites and others as "tourist". As apartments do not have a tourism ministry licence for tourist rental (and never have had), they are automatically deemed to be illegal.

Overwhelmingly, it is apartments that are causing the anxieties. Any type of property that is advertised as a holiday rental without the appropriate licence is liable for a fine, which has always been the case. But apartments are the real target of the legislation. Under the 1999 tourism law they were excluded from categories of property which could be licensed. The 2012 tourism law reinforced this by prohibiting apartments from being marketed with terminology saying they were for tourists: adverts could not, therefore, include terms such as "tourist", "holiday" or "vacation".

A way round this was the Ley de Arrendamientos Urbanos, usually referred to in English as the tenancy act. A national law, it sets no minimum period on the length of a let. Perfectly legitimately, owners were using this law for apartment rentals. So long as they were not advertised as being "holiday", no services were being provided, and a lease contract was drawn up, they were within the law. In effect, the Balearic government's legislation, which considers any rental of fewer than 30 days to be for tourism purposes, has ended this. It will be very difficult for an owner to prove that a rental of less than a month is not touristic. And it is down to the owner to prove this.

Aptur's legal services are saying that although the tenancy act is a national law and doesn't define a minimum period, this does not prevent the Balearic government from fining a let that is for less than a month.

[allanglens]

Originally Posted by Papillon

This is so sad and smacks of unnecessary vindictiveness against innocent tourists who not only lose their holidays at this late stage but will be unable to recover their flight costs should they not travel. When the UK press finally report the true story it will have a devastating effect on the islands.

Whatever the rights and wrongs of the new legislation, applying it from May 2018 would at least show they are not victimising this years visitors but focussing on the owners.


https://majorcadailybulletin.com/new...-bookings.html

I wonder whether owners and renters could agree a formal let for a month, but also a renunciation after one, two, or three weeks as necessary? Might take a bit of adjustment to adverts, etc., but might work in part.

[eleanor]

From what I have heard from a legal channel all loopholes have been thought about. Ok there might be one that slips through but who would want to challenge it with the risks of huge fines?

I am just so pleased we applied for our licence and have a number. Having said that I do wonder if already people are thinking with their feet as my villa isn't booked after 19th. One agent told me yesterday that they are cancelling accommodation booked in properties without a licence as they will not take the chance of the fine. Where does that leave people expecting to arrive soon for their holiday?

As for the property market - who knows! Villas with licences may go sky high especially with the rental potential while apartments may feel the effect. Whatever it is a minefield at the moment. I feel sorry for those who were led to believe that they could rent to cover their mortgage. Many won't be able to sit it out to see what happens. I suppose long term rentals over 30 days may be their answer. The 'joke' is that it has been said that one reason for this is to make accommodation more obtainable to the workers. What they fail to remember is that most workers in some way are connected to the tourist industry. No jobs then no homes needed as the workers will not be here! Crazy!

[Gommar Goffer]

allanglens - I would think that it would be almost impossible to try to do that as presumably there would be back to back bookings which would prove to be holiday lets or an apartment would have to sit empty for 50% of the time which would impact on the cost.

I think they should have legalised almost everything with sensible licence fees and minimum standards of safety etc. That would bring rental costs down through competition and give access to more property for seasonal workers etc and make it far easier and more attractive for taxes to be collected.

[sws97sdg]

I think this 31 day point is misleading, if you rent over 31 days you will still need a bond and a legal contract in place to show you are renting, so this would be too costly for tourists to do, I think the law doesn't say tourists can rent for 31 days legally, the law says that if you rent for less than 30 days without the bond and legal contracts it is illegal.!! If that makes sense!

[Gommar Goffer]

guilty until proved innocent

[pips]

I emailed the owner of the apartment we rent, they said it was ok as they don't advertise through an agent, or online, only directly with the renters. I think they're panicking as well as the mortgage was mentioned. We rent for 23 days so if the apartment was available we'd go for the 30 days no problem. The other thing is I don't want to fall out with the owner and cancel, no money has been paid, as hopefully it will be sorted after the 12 months review and certain areas will be deemed tourist for apartments, or is that just wishful thinking. Remaining desperately confused.

[Mark]

Originally Posted by pips

I emailed the owner of the apartment we rent, they said it was ok as they don't advertise through an agent, or online, only directly with the renters..

The law is sure to apply to all apartments not just those that are advertised on airbnb and ownersdirect websites etc.

Think about next year, there will be many apartments with shutters closed up as no one is there, then there will be some with shutters open and towels hanging on the balcony.
How easy is that for a tourist inspector to meet his or her targets

[Papillon]

It's not the inspectors that you have to worry about but the neighbours who have been harbouring a grudge against you for years because you are an "illegal renter" and now have an email address to make your life a nightmare.

[sws97sdg]

Originally Posted by pips

I emailed the owner of the apartment we rent, they said it was ok as they don't advertise through an agent, or online, only directly with the renters. I think they're panicking as well as the mortgage was mentioned. We rent for 23 days so if the apartment was available we'd go for the 30 days no problem. The other thing is I don't want to fall out with the owner and cancel, no money has been paid, as hopefully it will be sorted after the 12 months review and certain areas will be deemed tourist for apartments, or is that just wishful thinking. Remaining desperately confused.

I think there are a large number of people from renters, restaurant, bar and shop owners who also are hoping that this will be sorted out once they deem areas suitable for tourists, Pollensa must be one of them, because unlike lots of resorts, there is not enough hotel beds or apartment complexes to cover everyone who wants to come here!!

Also worth remembering that this is an 'open forum' so it would be worth not sharing details of anything you wouldn't want anyone else to see.

It is also very clear now that Zelda was very wise to remove advertising for private rentals from PP.com when she did, although unpopular with many members at the time, very wise indeed as it turned out now!

[CharlieV]

We've been home a week now and I had started to plan next year's trip but already noticed a lot of our favourite apartments have either 'disappeared' from the websites or are showing as fully booked all summer 2018, which seems unbelievable. Have to say reading all this has made me nervous about booking for 2018 and we have now made the decision to holiday elsewhere next year
It's a sad situation.

[copper]

We are just sitting tight and seeing what happens

Think it will blow over as tourists are so important If they did license some apartments the amount of income they would gain from people paying for the licence and then having to declare income and pay taxes on the rental income would be considerable Cant imagine they will go any further than checking on the rental compainies and also if anyone " informs " on anyone

Were any apartments ever given licences ? One we used to rent many years ago that was sold I thought had a licence ?? No paperwork kept so cant check

We are fortunate belonging to this forum as most people are going to be completely unaware of all this going on

I was also thinking it was a good move taking rentals off the website though I was disappointed at the time as they were definately the most comprehensive adverts we have ever seen !

[rebel]

HI All
What a mess,
I think the hotel lobby have stitched up everybody from apartment owners / independent restaurants / cleaners / car hire etc. through all inclusive holidays leaving themselves and a limited amount of villas for rental.
If I was a independent restaurant owner would I sign a new lease for next year I think not, it will be interesting and possibly sad to see how many don't open next year and this will only lead to less work for local workers.
To add to this the problems with the airports,
I would think very hard before I booked a apartment for next year as it will probably fall through due to apartments being removed due to the fear of fines.
The airlines know what the outcome of this will be and will reduce the flight numbers for next year selling what is needed to the all inclusive hotels making it harder and more expensive to fly independently.
I think if your deciding a holiday or to purchase in Spain there is now a bit more to think about than just exchange rates.

We purchased our first apartment in the port twenty odd years ago, then decided to sell after five years and purchased a holiday cottage back in the uk.
Then out of the blue the port was calling us to go back so decided to sell and go back to the port, we had a great time as it was the best place on the planet to go for holidays, as it turns out now big mistake.
We are lucky no mortgage on the property and only used it for us and our children and grand kids so no renting.
Due to ill health in the family we have been advised we cannot travel abroad anymore so what do we do.
Options open to us for the apartment.
Holiday rental. NO due to the new law.
Long term rental ? NO due to the law making it hard to remove a bad tenant which could turn out to be a nightmare than leaving it empty.
Sell the apartment ? If you can get some one interested with all what is going on with the new holiday laws,Brexit etc., It would now be a miracle to sell without giving it away.
Our apartment is going to be one of probably thousands of apartments left empty throughout the season if that's what the Spanish government wan't they are very short sighted.
And they say we have shot ourself in the foot over Brexit.

Rebel

[Rosie34]

Originally Posted by rebel

HI All
What a mess,
I think the hotel lobby have stitched up everybody from apartment owners / independent restaurants / cleaners / car hire etc. through all inclusive holidays leaving themselves and a limited amount of villas for rental.
If I was a independent restaurant owner would I sign a new lease for next year I think not, it will be interesting and possibly sad to see how many don't open next year and this will only lead to less work for local workers.
To add to this the problems with the airports,
I would think very hard before I booked a apartment for next year as it will probably fall through due to apartments being removed due to the fear of fines.
The airlines know what the outcome of this will be and will reduce the flight numbers for next year selling what is needed to the all inclusive hotels making it harder and more expensive to fly independently.
I think if your deciding a holiday or to purchase in Spain there is now a bit more to think about than just exchange rates.

We purchased our first apartment in the port twenty odd years ago, then decided to sell after five years and purchased a holiday cottage back in the uk.
Then out of the blue the port was calling us to go back so decided to sell and go back to the port, we had a great time as it was the best place on the planet to go for holidays, as it turns out now big mistake.
We are lucky no mortgage on the property and only used it for us and our children and grand kids so no renting.
Due to ill health in the family we have been advised we cannot travel abroad anymore so what do we do.
Options open to us for the apartment.
Holiday rental. NO due to the new law.
Long term rental ? NO due to the law making it hard to remove a bad tenant which could turn out to be a nightmare than leaving it empty.
Sell the apartment ? If you can get some one interested with all what is going on with the new holiday laws,Brexit etc., It would now be a miracle to sell without giving it away.
Our apartment is going to be one of probably thousands of apartments left empty throughout the season if that's what the Spanish government wan't they are very short sighted.
And they say we have shot ourself in the foot over Brexit.

Rebel

My thoughts exactly on the possible (likely) outcome.