A CRACKDOWN on tourist rentals is hitting a Costa del Sol hotspot as their alarming rise strangles long-term rents.
Manilva has suspended tourist housing licenses in stressed areas for the next three years in order to favour access to long-term housing.
Coming into place in coastal and urban areas, the change aims to regulate licenses and plan controls which improve housing for residents.
Currently Manilva has 2,809 registered tourist accommodations and 14,877 beds – a situation that has arisen due to the ‘lack of hotels’ and the ‘growth of housing developments’ designated for tourists, says the Councillor for Urban Planning, Juan Carlos Morejon.
The new order, which was originally presented in March, was approved on Thursday.
It is hoped that through banning property owners from designating their buildings for touristic use, they will instead list them as primary residents allowing for more long-term rentals which will improve the situation for locals.
Morejon has also made reference to the lack of hotels in Manilva stating that the area needs more ‘hotels that lend this quality service’.
More hotels would not only free up more urbanisations that are currently used for tourist housing, but also provide new jobs.
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While this new suspension of tourist housing comes into play in Manilva, the Consistorio will develop and put into play a ‘planning tool’ with which it intends to establish ‘minimum parameters’ and ‘adjust them in areas where these licenses are executed’.
Tourist housing will continue to be permitted in Manilva Pueblo but a similar measure is already being considered for San Luis de Sabinillas if pressure from tourist housing continues in the area.
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