The Governing Council of the Balearic Islands has recently given its approval to the draft law that will regulate holiday rentals on the islands after incorporating 200 of the 294 allegations it has received in the public information period to which it was submitted.

The document explains the novelty of not allowing tourist rental in housing of less than five years (initially was a period of 10), and during that period, the use of housing must have been private residential and will be accredited by the declaration of new construction. In the same way, it defends the fact that it is the communities of neighbors that decide whether in their building can be rented or not the houses to the tourists; and that all that channel that puts in contact offer and demand, will be considered channel of tourist commercialization.

At the moment, the project must be submitted to the parliamentary process that will introduce amendments and modifications so that it can enter into force, although it will not be before September of this year. The regulation of the commercialization of tourist stays in houses, the so-called tourist rental, will answer to a “reality” that exists in the Balearics and will allow to have a tool in enforcing the law.

A specific register will be created in which all the homes that are being commercialized must be registered, implying that all the illegal offer can’t be commercialized by tourist offers channels. In this way, any commercialization channel will have to put the number of the legal registration of activity of the house, including the platforms that announce in its web pages apartments for the holiday rental.

To this, must be added that rent will not be allowed in apartments of less than five years old. The Consell de Mallorca will create a second bag housing specific places for holiday rental, different from the hotel rooms, to exchange new law dictates touristically for those wishing to market a house or a flat. It will also set some “objective criteria” for zoning, which should be observed by all municipalities, including Palma.

In view of these criteria, the Balearic Islands Association of Apartments and Holiday Rental Homes (Aptur-Baleares), states that despite sharing many of the objectives of this Government, the regulation made leaves out 80% of the current bid. In addition, they point out that difficult technical and accessibility requirements are imposed and a single bag of places is established, without specifying which ones will be allocated to holiday rentals and which ones to the hotel sector. The association is against the decision to establish that any contract less than 30 days is considered as a tourist, as well as being considered a marketing channel either a web, as an advertisement in a printed newspaper or as the showcase of a real estate agency.