Alex Trelinski
BENIDORM can now penalise owners of illegal holiday rental properties after the formation of a five-person inspection team.
It follows Valencia City as the second municipality in the Valencian Community to have powers to impose and collect fines.
Money raised will stay in the city as opposed to being transferred to regional government coffers.
READ MORE:
- Benidorm will fine and keep money from owners of unlicensed tourist flats
- Alicante’s plan to check that tourist flats are legal and to keep all of the fines is delayed
Tourist accommodation in Benidorm has risen from 3,569 in 2019 to 4,748 last year but no figure has been released in regard to unlicensed properties.
The boosted inspection team includes Policia Local officers.
Benidorm council will produce a quarterly report over inspections and money raised.
The authority will be able to punish law-breaking home owners, based on agreed regional tariffs which allow for fines of up to €600,000 for very serious transgressions.
So far, around 12,000 unlicensed holiday lets have been discovered in the Valencian Community and ordered to be removed from online advertising platforms.
The region has instigating procedures to deal with another 7,000 properties this month.
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