If your investment portfolio as part of your pension plan is to include a holiday home in Marbella or anywhere else at the Costa del Sol, you have only 3 more months to register it if you are planning to rent it out for monetary gain until your retirement and relocation. The Andalucian government has decreed that fines up to 150,000 euros will be applicable for owners who fail to register their properties.
Many owners who are letting their homes as tourist accommodation have up to now been cheerfully ignoring the new law, but this new decree shows the Junta is running out of patience and wants this legal loophole closed once and for all. It’s not just villas or apartments that are being targeted, but also rooms let out to tourists by owners living at the Costa del Sol. If you were hoping to make a little extra money this summer, taking advantage of record tourist numbers expected to visit Spain this year, you have to register the room you had planned to let out as tourist accommodation.
The 3-month period commences as soon as the decree is officially published in the Official Bulletin of the Junta de Andalucía (BOJA). The decree aims to stamp out unfair competition, following complaints from hoteliers, but also targets owners and landlords who let sub-standard holiday accommodation to tourists.
Owners must register their holiday rentals with the Registro de Turismo de Andalucía after which they will be given a whole year to comply with the new requirements set out by the Junta’s regulations.
According to Junta estimates, there are ca. 80,000 unregistered properties, which offer tourists around 400,000 beds. No wonder the region’s hoteliers were anxious for this legal loophole to be closed without further delay. Javier Fernandez, the Head of Andalucía’s Tourism Board, said he was confident that the register would be in operation by May and that all properties would be registered by the start of the summer season proper. Fines are said to reach a maximum of 150,000 euros per property.
Tourist accommodation is now classified as properties built on residential land which habitually offer accommodation as holiday accommodation in exchange for money, either via travel agents or websites or other intermediary companies and holiday accommodation organisers, using reservation systems. The new decree does not apply to properties for which no money exchanges hands, rental contracts for more than 2 consecutive months for the same tenant and properties in rural areas, as the last two are already covered by separate decrees and regulations.
The new regulations differentiate between complete properties, which are rented out wholly to tourists and can sleep up to 15 people, and properties where the resident owner lets out rooms, which are not permitted to have a capacity of more than six people.
Owners who are about to register, but are worried what impact registration will have on their savings should be aware that the new regulations require tourist accommodation to be of the same standard and quality found in hotels, B & Bs and guesthouses. There must be evidence of an occupancy licence and there must external ventilation, air conditioning, household linen, first aid kit, suitable furnishings and kitchen equipment, where properties with kitchens are rented out.
Although the Junta initially responded to complaints by the hotel sector, angry tourists making their feelings about sub-standard accommodation public online with their negative testimonials are also behind this new decree. The government feared that a flood of negative comments on popular travel sites would be very damaging in the long-run. Poor standards of hygiene, furnishings and service are just some of the complaints voiced by tourists who opted for private accommodation and booked with owners directly or used popular websites that offer holiday accommodation in privately owned homes at the Costa del Sol.
If you are thinking of purchasing an apartment or villa in Marbella that must be rented out for part of the year to cover running costs, you should familiarise yourself with these new regulations first before making an offer on a property. Transforming a second-hand home into hotel-standard tourist accommodation may not come cheap.