The left-wing parties, he observed, talk a great deal about tackling tourism seasonality, but the zoning will have the opposite effect. It will benefit coastal areas and will prevent the development and renewal of municipalities in the interior. He argued that the zoning will deter owners from rehabilitating old houses with the intention of renting them to tourists. This will be case in, for example, Ariany and the Ruberts part of Binissalem. The objective should be, he stressed, to revitalise interior villages and to promote local trade and restaurants. He claimed that the Council's zoning has used "mixed figures" and even some outdated ones.
The president of El Pi, Jaume Font, highlighted the unfair difference for owners of houses in rural areas and those with flats in coastal resorts. Depending on where, houses in interior villages will be eligible for licences that don't require renewing. In coastal resorts, and he mentioned Santa Ponsa, an owner of a flat will have to pay 5,000 euros per place in order to rent it out. If there are six places, then this will cost 30,000 euros, and the licence will only be for five years. It would then have to be renewed, and the payment made again. "How crazy is this, if you want to help the smallest owners?"
* It was the ex-tourism minister Biel Barceló who described the holiday rentals legislation as a "Frankenstein", when Podemos insisted on an amendment which placed apartments in a state of legal limbo. The amendment was itself subsequently amended.
4 comments
To be able to write a comment, you have to be registered and logged in
Frank, having lived for a year in Palma I’m inclined to agree with you. I can’t speak for mainland Spain, but as far as Mallorca is concerned, I think you are correct.
Live in Spain for a while, get to know the work ethics, monetary priorities, consumer service values etc, and you'll conclude that Spain is, and probably will always be, a Third World country at heart, and in stark contrast to the European culture it's been dropped into.
....and they wonder why "expats" don't involve themselves with local politics as much as the Spanish do, little wonder, they're on a suicide mission......
Yes, it's good to know that taxpayers money is being put to good use paying these incompetent comedians. Reading through this it seems they don't have the brains they were born with.