MALAGA is set to ban the building of new hotels and tourist apartments in residential areas for three years.
The announcement was made on Wednesday by city mayor Francisco De La Torre, with the ban expected to come into force later this month.
The decision aims to curb the rapid rise and spread of tourist accommodation in the city, which residents have blamed for hiking up rent costs and pushing locals out of these areas.
Urban planning rules will now consider tourist accommodation incompatible with residential land.
De La Torre says this is intended to ‘protect residential land,’ making it ‘solely’ for housing.
The city council confirmed the ban will not affect projects that have already applied for planning permission or are already progressing through the planning system.
However, the mayor has said he will scrutinise applications made in recent days to prevent a ‘last minute rush’, where developers race to get their applications in as quickly as possible to not miss the window.
“Those that appear to be falling short, just barely making it in before the door closes, will be reviewed by the Urban Planning Department to determine which can proceed and which cannot,” said De La Torre.
Stricter rules about turning commercial buildings into homes have also come into force.
In Malaga, around five shops or business units are converted into homes every day, according to the National Institute of Statistics (INE).
The new rule will mean that commercial buildings on major roads or public facing squares will no longer be allowed to become residential homes.
The announcement, however, has caused some backlash from opposition parties.
PSOE spokesperson Mariano Ruiz Araujo dismissed the ban as ‘too little, too late,’ accusing the mayor of allowing tourist accommodation in the city to spread out of control over the past few years.
Despite the criticism, the party confirmed it still backs the proposal, however will advocate for a more permanent solution to the housing crisis in the future.
Meanwhile, Toni Morillas from the coalition ‘Con Malaga’ has accused the party of changing the goalposts of the agreement previously discussed by councillors.
According to Morillas, the original proposal called for a five year ban, and applied to more than just residential land.
“It’s a complete swindle,” says Morillas. “Tourist apartments and hotels will still be able to be established and authorised on commercial land in the city, which means the impact of this measure will be very limited.”
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