Dylan Wagemans
OPENING a tourist flat in Spain will now require the approval of at least three-fifths of the community of owners and neighbours.
The government has brought this new law into use to ’empower’ residents and curb the use of homes for tourists during a time of housing crisis.
In many areas in Spain, house prices are rising uncontrollably and, in certain towns, it’s harder to find a house to live in than to find a temporary holiday accommodation.
The move comes in light of the upcoming mass protests in 40 major Spanish cities this Saturday.
Find out HERE where the protests will take place.
Many citizens will take to the streets to rise up against the housing crisis currently gripping the country.
Under the slogan ‘Down With The Housing Sector’, the protests will be the largest against the housing sector in over a decade.
The regulatory change requires that in order to put a holiday rental home in a building, the ‘express approval’ of 60% of the neighbours is necessary.
Many neighbourhood associations welcome this change. The goal is to bring the owners into the part of the decision making process.
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The owner participation mechanism existed before, but with this change, owners will have more to say about what happens in their building.
A simple vote between the owners can decide whether a holiday flat will be allowed or not.
The proliferation of tourist flats in Spain is problematic, especially in large cities.
Between August 2023 and the same month in 2024, the number of holiday flats in Spain grew by 16,6%.
In total, there are 396,883 homes with this use, of which half are concentrated in Andalusia (88,435), the Valencian Community (71,186) and Catalonia (58,708).
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Another big problem is that many of these designated tourist flats don’t have a license.
In Madrid alone, some 14,000 flats would be illegally rented according to the city council.
Both the Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and the Minister of Housing, Isabel Rodríguez, have said in recent months that Spain needs “less Airbnb and more housing”
