What is the exact position about apartments in 2018

[P&C@29]

I think that we are not welcome in PP unless we stay in an apart hotel or a hotel,and I for one believe the peoples of Italy, Greece, and Croatia plus many more countries will be thankful that they can look forward to more tourists as Mallorca stops private rentals. ( oh dear shot in the foot)

 

[Pocket_Buddy]

We were talking to our Spanish friends who live and have businesses in PP. They are concerned about the rental situation and how it will affect businesses too of course. It's so sad to read the posts from such lovely people who have come to PP for so many years who are upset by all the problems and uncertainty at the moment. The friends said that a similar situation happened about 20 years ago but not anywhere as extreme with renting/suggesting licences. They feel as many of their family and colleagues that with elections next year (they thought were on) they hope that things would change. A word of caution..... beware also to any owners renting apartments regardless and taking a change not following the "rules" that the inspectors have been out around PP and knocking on doors. A number of people have been caught out.

As a family we've been coming to PP since 1988 (I was only 3 years old). I might not own property there but it really feels like home to me. The hotel have been going up an up for a while now, which made us try renting an apartment, it was the perfect solution for us, eating out in different restaurants but also being able to cook properly when my sister would need to stay in whith her little girl.
This year, is the first year that as a family we all wont be coming. My Dad an I, will be bringing my Nephew out to celebrate the end of his exams, but instead of our usual 2 weeks, we will only be staying for 1 week.

 

[Harters]

This link suggests that government inspectors are likely to be out and about in the near future. It also suggests that adverts for properties are going to be required to include the licence number in the advert (although it doesnt indicate how the Spansih government is going to enforce that with, say, a British owner living in the UK (and presumably paying taxes there) advertising on an American owned website such as Tripadvisor.)

Tax dodgers beware! Inspections of tourist rentals to begin in May | Olive Press News Spain

 

[graham]

The inspectors are out already. There are two working in Bellresguard who send most of their time there.

 

[Bekki]

As mentioned earlier this month they were out and about around Easter holiday fortnight. The agent who looks after the apartment for us says he and his colleagues have seen no decline in bookings. Family and friends is what people are doing now predominantly. We only have family and friends in the apartment until hopefully things change.

 

[favie]

no decline in bookings

Interesting Becki......I have seen many apartments online almost booked out, some fully booked for the summer with a lot of "family & friends" still coming, so things may not be so bad after all in terms of a good season.

 

[animagic21]

Anyone want to be my friend? My husband & I are really nice!!

 

[Bekki]

I know you both very well and you are lovely PP friends

 

[Pocket_Buddy]

The inspectors are out already. There are two working in Bellresguard who send most of their time there.

I think that just sums up what they are trying to stop. Bellresguard is the perfect example of competition, yet of little or no interest to people needing somewhere to rent for working (the reason given to stpping rentals of apartments).

 

[Pocket_Buddy]

I know you both very well and you are lovely PP friends

I think I really need to make some PP friends too

 

[Harters]

with a lot of "family & friends" still coming,

But if the national government move, as mentioned in the article I linked to upthread, is to require the licence number to be included in any adverts, how will the, ahem, "family and friends" get to know about apartments?

I think that regulation could become the real killer.

 

[bobley]

But if the national government move, as mentioned in the article I linked to upthread, is to require the licence number to be included in any adverts, how will the, ahem, "family and friends" get to know about apartments?

I think that regulation could become the real killer.

I could rent the heck out of my house if I plugged it enough through my friends and then they tell their friends on facebook etc. As long as they never say the word rent at any point and they keep their secrecy settings tight then who's to know.

As it stands I just want my friends to go and stay occasionally so I can say to the insurance that it's in regular habitation.

Also, many apartment rents will be repeat business. After a few years of coming back to PP I'm sure plenty of folks get on friendly terms with their landlords.

 

[Harters]

Deleted (posted twice)

 

[Harters]

As long as they never say the word rent at any point and they keep their secrecy settings tight then who's to know.

But you only need one person who doesnt understand the issue to say "rent", and you could be in deep do-do.

FWIW, we're "friends" with someone who owns two apartments in Tenerife, on a residential complex. When we visit, we are always reminded that, if anyone asks, we are to say we are friends of hers. Which could become a bit tricky with the licence issue, as her "friends" find out about the place through Holiday Lettings and actually, ahem, "make arrangements" to visit through a rental company in the UK. If the Holiday Lettings adverts have to carry the licence number, then our "friend" is probably well and truly snookered.

 

[bobley]

We've covered ourselves quite safely. The first picture the wife put up on the sideboard in our living room was one of our wedding group photos. If you cant point yourselves out in that photo then you cant stay ;-)

 

[Harters]

We've covered ourselves quite safely.

Yes - but you said if you wanted to rent the heck out of the house, you could plug it through your friends, who would then tell their friends. It was that point I was addressing with my "you only need one person" comment. If you are genuinely only renting to friends and family , then there is no problem - but you know, as well as I know, that for many owners "friends and family" is a complete fraud (one of which I've taken advantage of for many years - I have not even got a clue what my "friends" last name is)

 

[bobley]

If I wanted to indeed - but I'm happy to confirm that I dont want to.

 

[mike_dublin]

Two more articles - as confusing as ever ...

https://majorcadailybulletin.com/ne...n-number-holiday-rental-properties-falls.html

...What he had meant to say, and he clarified this later, is that the government can only take sanctions against an owner if publicity or marketing is touristic (e.g. uses terms such as tourist or holiday) and there isn't the necessary holiday rental licence. If the owner of a holiday home cannot rent out to private individuals, he went on, the Balearic tourism legislation would be challenged by the national government as it would contradict state law, i.e. the tenancy act...

https://majorcadailybulletin.com/ne...ls-saturated-areas-will-for-whole-months.html

... The sixty-day rule is to apply to newly licensed holiday rentals in parts of Majorca deemed to be saturated. These include specific resorts - Arenal (in Llucmajor), Magalluf, Paguera, Palmanova and Santa Ponsa - and certain towns such as Alcudia, Pollensa and Soller. ...

 

[bobley]

Best bit of those links are the comments beneath.

The situation is ridiculous and appears to be getting worse by the day.

 

[mike_dublin]

All clear? or not? ...

https://majorcadailybulletin.com/ne...ove-short-term-lets-are-not-for-tourists.html

Owners of properties who rent out for a few days or a couple of weeks without having a holiday rental licence will be obliged to demonstrate that the letting is not for tourism purposes.

The tourism director-general, Antoni Sansó, explains that although the ley de arrendamientos urbanos (tenancy act) does indeed allow for letting contracts to be for as short as a day, if the letting implies tourism marketing, the government will act as it has powers to do so under tourism legislation.

... Owners would need to prove otherwise and that they are not involved in tourism marketing.

As an example, says Sansó, if ministry inspectors receive a complaint from a neighbour regarding a regular change of tenants in a property without a holiday rental licence, the inspectors will act. ...

If the property is let without a licence for a month or more, so long as there has been no publicity suggesting a tourist/holiday let, then there is no infringement of the tenancy act. ...

...

At a meeting in Muro more than a month ago which generated a good deal of confusion, Sansó appeared to imply that a Balearic interpretation of the tenancy act, a national law, could constitute a violation of that law. The interpretation, or rather the stated case in the Balearic legislation of less than a month, does not exist in the national law.