Owners of apartments on tourist complexes are fined for using them as residence

The Government of the Canary Islands has issued six sanctions against the owners of apartments on tourist complexes that aren’t renting them as holiday homes, but are using them to live in themselves, as a second residence, or are renting them as long-term lets instead.

These fines are the first six of a legal conflict derived from the 2013 Tourism Law that works in the same way as people renting apartments to tourists for holidays on residential complexes, as it goes against the declared use of the property.

Sources from the Ministry of Tourism informed the EFE news agency that these are files processed between the years 2020, 2021, and 2022, whose protagonists have received sanctions ranging from 2,253 to 9,015 euros for "very serious" infractions of the Canary Islands legislation, which requires, since 2013, that properties on tourist complexes be used for holiday rentals and not residential use.

Only owners who can prove that they have been using their apartment residentially before 2017 are exempt from this obligation, an exception that was introduced because of historic ownership on older complexes, particularly in Gran Canaria, where owners bought apartments in complexes in areas such as Puerto Rico as cheap residences several decades ago.

On the opposite side of the argument are exploitation companies, who manage rentals on holiday complexes, who want the Canarian government to apply the law and prevent the "residentialisation" of tourism areas.

They say that not only does it degrade the destination, but also that there is a mismatch of expectations between those who make an apartment and those who come to a complex to spend a few days on holiday for leisure or partying.