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Local government expects law on short lets to pass this

year

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Canaries plan to enlist police to enforce new rules

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Locals, hotels angered by spread of holiday home listings

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Homeowners' association says law would end most rentals

By Corina Pons

SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Spain April 16 (Reuters) - Soon

after Maria Rosa Sanchez reported her neighbour for renting her

building's rooftop in Tenerife as a campsite on Airbnb ( ABNB ),

police officers carried out an early morning raid and local

authorities opened an investigation.

The closure of the campsite, which offered tents for 12

euros ($13.03) a night, is a foretaste of a new hard line

towards illegal short-lets on Spain's Canary Islands, where

listings on platforms like Airbnb ( ABNB ) and Booking.com have soared.

A draft law expected to pass this year toughening the rules

on short lets follows complaints from locals priced out of the

housing market and from hotels facing taxes and sustainability

rules skirted by companies investing in short term rentals.

Authorities worldwide are grappling with similar issues:

Canada, Australia and Italy are among many countries which have

tightened the rules around short-term rentals to protect local

communities.

Canaries tourism head Jessica de Leon told Reuters

enforcement support for the islands' 35 inspectors is the key to

success of the new rules.

"We are going to empower (the police) so that they can act

when fraudulent behaviour is detected in homes," she said,

adding that the plan could involve 1,300 people, which would

include all of the islands' police forces.

New-build properties will be barred from the short-let

market, and property owners with a permit will have five years

to comply with requirements that include authorization from

neighbours, according to a draft of the bill.

"The first step is to contain the growth, the second is

to clean up (existing listings)," said Canaries director of

tourism, Miguel Rodríguez.

MADRID PLANS NEW HOLIDAY HOME REGULATIONS

Other parts of Spain have already passed similar laws, but

without such an emphasis on law enforcement. Barcelona's 70

inspectors are sometimes accompanied by police, according to the

mayor's office spokesperson, while Madrid region has eight

short-let inspectors and the city's 65 general planning

permission workers have no police backup, their spokespeople

said.

Of 17,000 short-term rental apartments in Madrid, only 600

were inspected between January and November 2023 and just one

was sanctioned, according to a government report seen by

Reuters. Another 835 hosts stopped renting before being

sanctioned, Madrid said.

"What is needed is mass inspections," said Madrid lawmaker

Pablo Padilla, who favours the Canary Island formula.

A spokesperson for the city said it would announce new

holiday home regulations this month, without giving details, and

ruled out using police as inspectors.

The Canary Islands decided to toughen its rules after the

number of short lets exploded in recent years.

El Cotillo, a former fishing village on Fuerteventura, has

as many holiday home beds as residents.

"In a few years' time, there may be practically no people

living there," said researcher Raul Hernandez from La Laguna

university, who co-authored a study showing more than a quarter

of short-let premises belong to companies.

The archipelago's seven islands had a record 220,000

short-let beds in March, a 40% increase from 2022 and more than

the combined population of Lanzarote, La Gomera and El Hierro,

according to official data.

SITTING EMPTY

The local holiday home-owners association, Ascav, said the

stringency of the proposed rules would eliminate 90% of

short-term listings and are unconstitutional.

It proposed creating a tax for all holiday accommodation

providers to fund solutions to solve the housing problem.

It also said 200,000 homes were sitting empty on the

islands, blaming rent caps to protect long-term tenants from

inflation.

Asked for comment, the Ministry of Housing did not address

the figure but said it had a transformation and rehabilitation

plan and was working with regional governments to act on tourist

rentals "to find a solution to this problem".

Booking.com said it works with authorities in the Balearic

Islands and Seville to remove unauthorised listings, which will

be mandatory in Europe by year-end.

"Airbnb ( ABNB ) has worked with governments across the world to

balance the benefits of home sharing and housing concerns,"

Airbnb ( ABNB ) said. "We will continue working with the Canary Islands

to discuss a way forward that works for everyone."

The islands' authorities prosecuted the foreign owner in

Maria Rosa Sanchez's building under existing rules because she

had not registered them as bedrooms and she faces a fine of

30,000 euros, the local mayor's office said.

The owner herself declined to comment. Sanchez said the flat

is now rented to a long-term tenant.

"The police come from time to time to check the rooftop has

not been rented out again," she said.

($1 = 0.9210 euros)