Limits On Tourist Rentals

THERE has been a lot of talk recently about limiting the number of properties which can be used as short-term rentals. Many urbanisations on the Costa del Sol have already imposed limitations on numbers or are blocking any new tourist licence applications.

Towns and cities too are looking hard at the problem, with Barcelona and Valencia leading the way. In many of the area’s top tourist destinations these short-term rentals are creating problems with long-term renting which has a knock-on effect for local workers unable to afford to live in the area and which also drives up property prices to unsustainable levels.

However, as an indirect consequence of the proposed action by local councils, many home owners have taken pre-emptive action by registering their properties with a tourist licence in anticipation of possible future legislation such as the new decree of the Junta de Andalucía, which will allow councils to impose restrictions in their towns and cities on the number of apartments of this type.

Malaga city for instance has some 2,000 tourist homes which, despite being registered as such, are not offered on the market to travellers visiting the city.

This figure emerges from a difference detected by Malaga City Council, through the Municipal Housing Institute, between the homes that are registered as tourist apartments, which amount to 10,000, and the tourist homes that are actually offered to travellers, some 8,000 homes.

Restrict short-term rentals

This proposed legislation by the Junta, which is still being processed, will authorise local councils to limit or restrict the activity of tourist dwellings: “By providing that local councils can establish limitations on the maximum number of dwellings for tourist use per building or per sector”, says the draft of the future regulation.

Malaga Town Hall has already indicated that it will study the way to restrict these tourist homes in areas with “excessive density” as well as where “there has been a decrease in long-term rental housing”, as the Mayor of Malaga, Francisco de la Torre, recently said.