The president of Ashotel, the association of hoteliers and holiday apartment complexes, Jorge Marichal, are demanding greater regulation of holiday homes, in the Canary Islands, since the current ones allow "virtually anyone" to take advantage of it and let their property to tourists.
In an article titled ‘Tourists in our houses and residents in our hotels’, Marichal says that the land destined for tourist accommodation (hotels and apartments) is planned exclusively for this use, hence, its price is higher than that of land for residential complexes, and is subject to “an endless number of rules” that must be complied with.
It highlights that there are no major obstacles so that through municipal urban planning, areas destined for holiday complexes can be regulated, taking into account, for example, indicators of social demand for housing, however, they claim that "municipal ineffectiveness and cowardice, in many cases makes it impossible."
But the worst, says Marichal, is "illegal tourist exploitation" which is when owners of apartments on a holiday complex bypass the principle of exploitation (the company that manages and has the licence for rentals) and do it themselves, something that the Tourism Regulation Law de Canarias (1995), does not allow.
Marichal said: "for years we have been witnessing a shameful increase in units that leave tourist exploitation, not for private use, which the law allows its legitimate owner to live in it, but carry out holiday rentals themselves which is not allowed.”
He claims that owners are also avoiding the weight of the law by “lying and falsifying information to the public administration as to the use of their apartment, or saying it is only for family and friends, which is also not allowed. A rental is a rental”
“Once again it seems that the administration does not act or does so insufficiently to tackle a problem that, although it is difficult to eliminate completely, is not difficult to limit by severely sanctioning those who lie in a responsible statement”, he said.
Marichal said that he is in favour of holiday homes as long as the same regulations as the rest of the sector are complied with, and where their existence does not mean "the destruction of employment and the loss of identity of our towns and cities".
He underlines that in addition to the threat to the hotel and non-hotel sector, it is also a threat to the availability of housing for residential use, aggravated by inflation, criticizing the shortage of public housing in the Canary Islands and the delay in drafting or, where appropriate, approving new plans.
