Seeking to quell talk of a rift between him and Antoni Noguera, tourism minister Biel Barceló said yesterday that he was in favour of Palma's deputy mayor having announced the intention to ban holiday rentals.
The minister added that it was understandable that the town hall should wish to prohibit rentals, given problems with housing, the increased cost of renting and the movement of residents out of the city centre. He explained that the law gives the town hall rights to exercise powers over its own territory. Specifically, the law on capital cities (of which Palma is one) provides a framework for town halls to act.
He had no objection to Palma's announcement but stressed that in Majorca it is the government which has responsibility for issuing penalties for contraventions. The councils on the other islands have this responsibility, and the Council of Majorca is due to eventually assume it. Although the legislation has yet to make its way through the full parliamentary procedure, Barceló observed that it was appropriate for town halls to be thinking about what sort of model they want for rentals and not wait for the law to be passed.
With regard to apartments, the minister said that the tourism law already prohibits holiday rentals (properties expressly marketed as being for holiday and tourist use).
Meanwhile, the Partido Popular has echoed what the Aptur association said about the town hall "invading" the powers of the government. Councillor Fernando Rubio said that he doubted that the town hall is capable of regulating something which is a government responsibility. Noguera's announcement was, he considered, "more improvisation" by an administration which "unfortunately does not have a defined tourism model".
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I live in an apartment block in Puerto Portals which have a lot, a very lot of people renting out their apartments through Air B and B and other sites. July and August is an absolute nightmare. It is like living at a public swimming pool. The garden is crowded with people on holiday from 9am until 11pm. At any time there are (and I have counted) up to 30 children in the pool. I have had to regularly quietly ask these tourists to stop shouting and screaming by the pool at midnight and on one occasion tried to stop a drunken man peeing into our pool. I would be very happy for these tourist lets to be illegal!!!! But, I think that I will probably have to move.
Biggest issue with Airbnb is the increase in scam operations, one of which nearly happened to someone I know although the scammers didn't get the loot, and with their all care (reads happy to take your money) no responsibility, gig disruption economy attitude towards scams perpetrated through their website, perhaps governments should take the same line as happening in Scandinavia towards Uber - and effectively outlaw them until they HAVE some responsibility.Happy to take your money, not happy to safeguard it.
@Simon Tow. In andwer to your question, "Who comes first.....", the answer of course is that we all have the same rights. Without tourists the citizens will suffer, so it's foolish to move to jeapordise their spending within all areas of Mallorca. All landlords inject money into our economy, don't frive them to sell up or we'll all suffer.
Well said Louise. Frank and Sarah. Take a little time and read the Spanish Horizontal Property Act then think about: 1) Noise at all times of day and night. 2) Damage to common parts. 3) Invalid buildings insurance. 4) Cleaning common parts especially tyre marks from stair walls and lifts. 4) etc, etc. You CANNOT do what you want, when you want.
I totally agree with Louisa. The whole thing has gone from the sublime to the ridiculous. Even cities such as Bercelona and Amsterdam have woken up to the problem. Who comes first, tourists or its citizens ?.Sara, haven´t you heard about the old B&B´s in places like Scunthorpe and Blackpool ?. Same thing, except that their customers decided that staying at a hotel in Can Pastilla was better value for money.Nothing new about Air BnB, only it´s method of marketing the product via the internet.
All this nonsense about banning different types of rentals is nuts and fundamentally flawed. Any property owner is perfectly entitled to let and advertise wherever he wishes. Any fines issued for this percieved "illegality" won't hold up if appealed against, as Spain discovered when the huge fines it made to AirBnB and Owners Direct were later thrown out by the Courts. High rental costs, along with shortage of supply exist in all the cities in the world, living there is for the wealthy. Get real, - pay it or change your zipcode.
Louisa I totally disagree. Mallorca is failing to offer the new tourist model phenomenon. Tourists no longer want hotels, they are after diversity. Renting a private room in someone's home is a truly amazing way to travel.
This is great news as normal families and working people can find homes to live in on this island and its a disaster for those who come for work or just want to come and live here and cannot find accommodation as all the properties are rented out for holiday rentals. The time has come for people to stop renting out homes without licences and not respecting the law or the home owners that want to live quietly. I am an agent and I think this is good news for the island