In the first week of the online process becoming available, nearly 4,500 worried landlords have applied in Andalucía to register their properties as holiday lets. From luxury villas in Marbella to glamorous Puerto Banus’ apartments, the new decree has forced landlords to “come clean” and register their properties. The new regulation came into force on 11th May, forcing everyone renting out or hoping to rent out residential properties to tourists to register such properties and adhere to certain legal stipulations.
Legalising residential Holiday Lettings
While elsewhere in Marbella hoteliers and tourism-related businesses are celebrating the arrival of the new Caminito del Rey ticket reservations, private landlords involved in residential lettings to tourists have used the build-up to the new holiday season to hurriedly complete their online applications without which they cannot legally rent out their residential properties.
The famous Caminito del Rey gorge walk is scheduled to attract more interest and tourists than ever. The time slots made available to the end of June, 50,000 to be precise, have mostly sold out already, with only another 8,000 remaining to be snapped up by tourists eager to brave the walkway that clings to the steep walls that line the narrow El Chorro gorge on either side. It’s only possible to reserve spaces until 30th September via portal www.caminitodelrey.info, and enthusiasm among international thrill-seekers has not waned so far, if the initial reservations are anything to go by.
Local landlords letting out properties to tourists are often trying to entice holidaymakers with “specials”, such as the El Chorro gorge walk or tickets to concerts or other tourist attractions, so they snap up available tickets early for later distribution to their guests.
Raising Accommodation Standards across Andalucía
Quite apart from the new application process for the El Chorro gorge, local landlords must now get used to a different way of letting out to tourists. The new Decree aims to ensure that accommodation standards are raised across the Andalucía region. From now on tourists should be able to expect consistent standards in what is offered by private landlords.
Even if properties are just marketed online or via traditional tour operators and travel agents and haven’t attracted interest yet, they must be registered or their landlords are breaking the law.
Malaga Province accounted for more applications than any other region in Andalucía. While Malaga Province’s landlords made applications for 1,379 properties, only 251 did so for Cadiz, 189 registered in Seville, 87 in Cordoba, 68 in Granada and 65 in Almeria. In Huelva 50 applications were received, while Jaén saw only 11 applications.
In total, 4,486 applications have been received so far, since many landlords had applied for their properties to be registered before the 11th May deadline. A little over 2,000 properties are now fully registered and their owners may legally run a holiday lettings business from their residential properties.
However, the new decree doesn’t apply to all rental properties. Properties in rural locations are excluded, because they are already covered by a different decree. Properties were no rent is paid are exempt. Properties let out for two or more consecutive months are also exempt.
Where the owner has purchased three or more properties in the same building or owns several apartments in a group of buildings for example, a different decree also applies. Here Decree 194/2010 applies, which covers Tourist Apartments.
If you are planning to purchase a home in Marbella or Puerto Banus at the Costa del Sol, and hope to let it out for part of the year to cover your mortgage and maintenance costs, you can apply for registration online via this link: https://ws072.juntadeandalucia.es/ofvirtual/auth/autcertjs.