What is the exact position about apartments in 2018

[pollensa]

Pollensa

I believe that there is an additional caveat to the 60-day rule and that is that the property is the owners' habitual residence. I am not sure what difference this makes to the conclusion you reach in the final sentence of your posting.

Luckjon

As it is has now been explained to me this 'modality' only applies to people who wish to rent out their 'main' residence (as you put it 'habitual' residence) i.e. they live in this property most of the year. In that case they can only let it it out to tourists for a maximum of 60 days per year.

This was misinterpreted as meaning that only Residents could apply for a tourist license i.e. not foreign owners of second homes. I no longer believe this to be true. This 'modality' is quite separate to people (Spainish residents or foreigners) who own second properties who wish to let them out.

As I now understand it, if you own an apartment that is not your main residence i.e. you normally live elsewhere in Spain or another country, you may eventually be able apply for a tourist license to let this property out and there is no maximum 60 days a year. You do need to satisfy other regulations including agreement by the community.

It also now seems from the zoning maps published that properties in some areas will also be restricted to letting out for a maximum of 60 days p.a.

Hope that makes sense?

 

[clinkham]

Zoning Map

Has anyone found a link to the original zoning map? Perhaps the council website? The links in previous messages, and the MDB, only display as very low resolution pictures. I have recently been to Specsavers, so my eyes are not causing my inability to make out the small print.

 

[pollensa]

Am afraid it's disappeared off the Ultima Hora website. There is a notice about it here (in Catalan but Google will translate it) Aclariments sobre la zonificació del lloguer vacacional de Mallorca :: Home :: Consell de Mallorca

"Clarifications on the zoning of the holiday rental of Mallorca (23.01.2018)
The agreement that will be approved in the Friday Plenary is a document that begins a period of consultations. Until the final approval, the document can be improved with the contributions made by the city councils.

The Department of Territory and Infrastructure wants to make a series of clarifications about the zoning of Mallorca vacation rental, due to the diversity of opinions that arise based on facts that can lead to confusion.
The Plenum of the Consell de Mallorca will initially approve zoning this Friday. This document is only a proposal that must be submitted to the public. For this reason, after its publication in the BOIB, a period of public exposure of 30 days will begin so that everyone has the option of presenting allegations."

etc. etc.

 

[pollensa]

Here we go, I think I found it!

http://www.conselldemallorca.net/media/53502/20180119_Mapazonificacio.pdf

 

[Pocket_Buddy]

I've just been looking at the zoning map, and I have to say, I'm confused. All of this came about because of an island Saturated by tourists, yet the saturated zones (Red) are a tiny tiny part of the island.
Not to say we didnt already know this, but it just seems to prove them wrong in their theory. 'Magaluf is getting a bit busy! lets cripple all of the island!!!!'

 

[Hotpot]

My family have rented an apartment in PP for 10 years for 4/6 weeks every year, I understand about the problem with licenses but I have been told until it is sorted that to be able to rent for over 30 days I have to give a deposit of the same amount of rent to the department (I am not sure what it is called) of tourism.I have been to told it is refundable but not sure when. Just wondered if anybody knows anything about this arrangement.

 

[bobley]

As far as I know, such private contracts for long term rentals are between you and the owner. I wouldn't imagine it will take long to get the deposit back if you can agree at a final inspection that the premises are in the same condition as when you arrived?

 

[Hotpot]

Thank you for your reply but maybe I didn't explain properly, the money equivalent to the rent I would pay the landlord would go to a the department that I think issues the licenses, a Spanish department somewhere. I think it is because the landlord I rent from does not have a license. I know in a previous post someone said a third party holds the depoist, so I want to know how I or the landlord goes about doing this? Thank you

 

[ricky230]

Hoping to buy in Pollensa or Puerto Pollensa

Hi,
Just joined the forum recently. My wife and I are now seriously thinking of buying in either P Pollensa or Pollensa town having holidayed here for years. I wondered what others thought about the new rental laws and if they have or will effect prices? I don't intend to rent out, but I know lots do, and if this is banned by the authorities surely this will hit prices as demand from part time renters drops?

Ricky

 

[Sparky]

Hi,
Just joined the forum recently. My wife and I are now seriously thinking of buying in either P Pollensa or Pollensa town having holidayed here for years. I wondered what others thought about the new rental laws and if they have or will effect prices? I don't intend to rent out, but I know lots do, and if this is banned by the authorities surely this will hit prices as demand from part time renters drops?

Ricky

Hi ricky230 as you will see i have moved your post to this thread, do read past posts as many have posted their thoughts here .

 

[bobley]

The market is still quiet buoyant though. If you go to Pollença then you'll find plenty of houses for sale so you can dodge the "apartment" issue straight away... but you cant apply for a licence for anything at the moment. Having a house wont mean it's automatically going to get a licence as there are still hoops to jump though.

If you do have an apartment and let your friends and family use it then the authorities cant stop you anyway. Just make sure you dont let any idiots in who could annoy the neighbours and start arousing suspicion which is a sure fire way to get the authorities on you. Even if I did have a licence I would have reservations about putting my place on the open market so I think I'm happier to keep it for my family if they want to go out there. Having seen a few "second hand" apartments recently (look shiny enough on the estate agents website) you can certainly tell which ones have been rented out to the max even after a refurb and I found them a bit depressing.

 

[ricky230]

Thanks, I dont think I would rent out to strangers, just friends and family. There seems to be a big difference in prices between say a Town House in Pollensa and a nice apartment in P Pollensa, both seem to have pros and cons.

Getting my head round prices is tricky even though in UK I am a property professional. Logic seems thin on the ground and I really get the feeling the Urban Myth about there being two prices ( one for those who know their stuff and one for gullible dreamers?) may have a grain of truth in it! I have a lot to learn before taking the plunge.

 

[bobley]

There are plenty of nice little houses in Pollença to choose from at a similar price to the port but I don't think you can go too far wrong. Tell you what, you buy a place in the port and we'll swap over next year for a trial period ;-)

Not sure about the pricing. I read (before we went in dec) that on the mainland you could offer 15-20% below asking. I mentioned this and it depends. If you catch a property maybe 6 months on the market still at it's original price then maybe 10% if they want to move but the two offers we put in and were accepted were at 5% off and we got all or some furniture at those prices.

There was a sweet little 2 bed place with several agents up for €300K but I was assured that we could've nabbed it for €250K (17% off).

You can get a lot of ground work done over the web but you cant beat getting over there and having a nosy. A lot of houses which look nice in the photos turned out to be little more than slums. There's one place (KNP06634 on Kensington) which looks lovely, and it's in a cracking location but it was wall to wall cat sh#t and mold when we went to look. The estate agent was so embarrassed it was almost funny - apart from she and I are both allergic to cats and spent most of our time standing on the roof talking...

 

[ricky230]

Thanks, interesting stuff. I agree I need to be there in person, but all of the groundwork is needed to be completed before going to the bother of flying out only to be disappointed. My experience is that local agents in Spain make GB agents look like paragons of accuracy by comparison, and that's saying something! We may just rent for a while and get used to things on the ground.

 

[Disorderly]

I’ve followed your conversation with great interest as we arrived in the Port today with the intention of finding a place to buy.

I Emailed a good number of the local estate agents with our wish list, and have had a very mixed response. Some clearly just threw together a random list of suggestions, others put a great deal of thought and helpful advice into their responses, whilst some have been as pushy as pushy can be, wanting to press us into viewings without advance property details.

So far I’ve selected the most promising three and have about 20 viewings to go at over the next three days. I suspect we may need to cast the net wider but it’s extraordinary how many properties are listed with multiple agents.

I’m going into this well prepared and with eyes very, very wide open so it will be fascinating to see how we get on.

I’ll let you know.

 

[Bircho]

I’ve followed your conversation with great interest as we arrived in the Port today with the intention of finding a place to buy.

I Emailed a good number of the local estate agents with our wish list, and have had a very mixed response. Some clearly just threw together a random list of suggestions, others put a great deal of thought and helpful advice into their responses, whilst some have been as pushy as pushy can be, wanting to press us into viewings without advance property details.

So far I’ve selected the most promising three and have about 20 viewings to go at over the next three days. I suspect we may need to cast the net wider but it’s extraordinary how many properties are listed with multiple agents.

I’m going into this well prepared and with eyes very, very wide open so it will be fascinating to see how we get on.

I’ll let you know.

It will be like shopping with the mrs in Meadowhall. You spend all day looking at loads of stuff and finish up buying the first thing you see

 

[ricky230]

That is very interesting. I'd be keen to see how you get on. Last time put there we contacted the agents and gave them our price range of up to £250000. After looking at a few I was bewildered and very suspicious about the Agents attitude. They were, to put it bluntly, full of "****" For example one young agent who was about 10, was keen to show us a town house near the steps in Pollensa. Nice enough house but needed work and was very very expensive. Turned out it has been offered with several agents for SEVEN YEARS, as our pals saw it originally and watched it ever since. That really set alarm bells ringing!
My view (and I stand to be corrected,) is that some families have a house they are really not bothered about selling, and place a silly price on it just in case a gullible buyer comes along and does not do due diligence.Or am I being cynical?
BTW what sort of thing are you after?

 

[Disorderly]

Thanks guys. I suspect you may be correct.....the first property we visited seriously ticked a lot of boxes. But a way to go yet.

We want a property in the Port with 3 double bedrooms and a roof terrace, with access to a pool. I’m amazed by how many agents think that a single room with bunk beds equates to a double!

Still, it’s a project we are very lucky to have. By the way, thanks to recommendations on this Forum, we met with Tony de la Cruz who we have no hesitation in asking to act as our solicitor. Once again this Forum has been a massive help.

 

[Tomir]

That is very interesting. I'd be keen to see how you get on. Last time put there we contacted the agents and gave them our price range of up to £250000. After looking at a few I was bewildered and very suspicious about the Agents attitude. They were, to put it bluntly, full of "****" For example one young agent who was about 10, was keen to show us a town house near the steps in Pollensa. Nice enough house but needed work and was very very expensive. Turned out it has been offered with several agents for SEVEN YEARS, as our pals saw it originally and watched it ever since. That really set alarm bells ringing!
My view (and I stand to be corrected,) is that some families have a house they are really not bothered about selling, and place a silly price on it just in case a gullible buyer comes along and does not do due diligence.Or am I being cynical?
BTW what sort of thing are you after?

A property may well have sold but remain on the agents registers. I sold one of my properties last summer it still remains on 2 agents websites after I have asked for it to be removed.

Selling a property in Spain can not be compared to selling in the UK. The market is different often being one of second homes. This means buyers are not around all the time but may be seasonal. The best time to buy is the start of the holiday season or the end. During the summer the number of property available to view become limited as often they are rented out. This means although a property may ( or may not) have been for sale for 7 years it is not the same as being for sale for 7 years in the UK. In terms of availability for viewing when added up it may well be that the property has only been available to view for a few months over the winter time.

It is important to leave the UK in the UK and look at buying property and the agents as different. Yes agents do have the same property but that is because they charge a high sales commission 5%. They share there property and there buyers to make sure they get a part of that commission. Neither the seller or the buyer would be aware of this.

 

[ricky230]

Thanks for that Tomir, interesting. I have a lot to learn obviously. On the one we saw in Pollensa however it hadn't been rented out it was too scruffy and unmodernised, clearly it was a try on. My concern is a lack of transparency; as a property pro in the UK I am mega careful before buying anything, so multiply that by 100 for Spain. But this Forum has people who know a lot more than me so I am very grateful for the replies as I try to get my head around this market.