Still renting/not

[Gommar Goffer]

I am curious as to what effect the regions government decision that private rentals are basically illegal has affected the availabilty of accommodation in the port and the effect on the local economy.

Have any other owners, like me, stopped renting out? (I appreciate many people may not wish to comment on here - you could send me a PM) or continued regardless.

Has it become harder to find the accommodation that you want?

Has it affected the amount of money owners might spend in the port?

GG

 

[graham]

Renting or not

We've stopped. Sadly the advice from our lawyers was that the law would be enforced more rigidly in Mallorca than anywhere else in Spain - and that could cost up to 30,000 Euros.

We're still making our place available to family, friends and work colleagues who we've genuinely known for a long while. We're charging enough to cover costs, wear and tear etc, but we're not advertising any more

I'm afraid it's a crazy, crazy law. And not good for PP.

 

[Pollpott]

GG and Graham,
Speaking as a customer and not an owner, this sounds ridiculous. Surely the vast majorority of holiday makers to PP, apart from the ones staying in hotels, have to rent private apartments or villas? If this is illegal where are we all going to stay? I assume most owners 'buy to let.' Making it illegal is surely going to have a catastrophic effect on the tourist trade in PP. And the tourist trade is practically all they have got for bringing in money. I just don't understand it. I normally rent a private apartment through a local estate agent. Do the same rules apply to that?
I did once stay in another apartment and the owner more or less said 'if any one asks, just say you're a friend of the family.'

A very Puzzled Pollpott.

 

[allanglens]

From what I have heard the law has been on the books for a while, but the authorities have only recently started to enforce it. And given that the biggest drivers of the law were the hotel chains and their supporters in government I would expect that it willl be more rigorously enforced in the current economic climate than before.

Of course this is insane in the long run and in the wider sense, but all the backers of the law see is that by reducing competition it forces tourist to use their establishments. The fact that in places like PP it will, if enforced, so reduce the number of tourists that it will bankrupt restaurants and bars, shops and attractions, that PP will cease to be an attractive destination and revert to the 'small fishing village' it was supposed to once have been.

Only this time it will be a small fishing village surrounded by derelict apartments and villas, and possessing a centre full of shuttered and barred former restaurants, etc., more reminiscent of a war zone than a tourist destination.

Ok, I know I am (hopefully) exaggerating, and there are ostensibly good reasons for the law, but I do not see it as being in anyones long-term interests, and the sooner it can be repealed the better.

allanglens

 

[lollipop]

Renting or not

Polpott, I understand that any apartments or villas rented from agents all have to have a licence and adhere to legislation. Maybe it is better for private owners to do their own advertising rather than use the web,less likely to be caught out.

 

[Belladonna]

We too rent our apartment out through an agent and pay taxes etc., so I have been assuming that they have sorted out anything that needs doing. We did enquire at the beginning of all this what the protocol should be, and they said there was no problem - at that time! Have just been in touch with them to actually drop our rental rates - worth keeping an eye on that - and will be getting in touch with them to recheck.
I think that if we do have a problem with this, we may well sell the apartment as I dont feel we spend enough time there ourselves to warrant keeping it going without a rental income.
The money we get would still be used to rent out somewhere for PP visits though!