The socialist area of ​​the Spanish Government refuses to approve a state regulation of homes intended for tourist rental. The main party of the Spanish Government assumes that the proliferation of this type of lease is one of the gaps that the Housing law will face. However, the control of this type of property, generally located in the center of large cities or in places with a large influx of visitors, is an autonomous competence and the Ministry of Transport does not have the possibility to set a national legal framework, he explains the PSOE

The socialist position comes in response to a transactional amendment to the Housing law that Podemos proposed yesterday to limit the tourist accommodation places that can be offered in a tense area to 2% of the inhabitants. The move, which caused surprise to ERC and EH Bildu because the negotiators closed the law last week, will not have any recourse due to the conflict of powers it would raise. According to the Ministry of Transport, there will be no changes “to give all the security and legal solvency to the law”.

The Housing Law does not provide for measures to prevent owners, trying to avoid the price regulation that some autonomous communities will impose in tense areas, withdrawing their properties from the residential rental market in order to use them for tourist rentals. It was one of the most intense debates in the negotiation.

In the Housing law it is foreseen, in the fifth additional provision, to create a “working group for the regulation of use contracts other than housing”. But tourist rentals will be excluded, they explain to the Spanish Government. It only affects the cases of leases by rooms and for the season.

For some time, tourism entrepreneurs have been warning that, after the pandemic and the recovery of tourism, the proliferation of this type of rental is one of the most important problems for the sector. At the end of last year, the Exceltur employer demanded a specific regulation to “order the resurgence of uncontrolled growth”. In the same vein, the Spanish Confederation of Hotels and Tourist Accommodations (Cehat) spoke out, warning of a possible transfer of flats from residential leasing.

The Ministry of Industry, which is responsible for tourism, does not have a precise database on the number of tourist rental homes in the country, although, during the Reyes Maroto period, get to work in an audit. Exceltur, for its part, presented concrete data in the Revitur report: between 2010 and 2019, tourist places in the twenty main cities have increased from 346,921 to 788,136. 82% of the growth is due to tourist homes.

With the Housing law already closed by the PSOE, the PP has on the horizon the presentation of an appeal before the Constitutional Court. “All the scenarios are open”, pointed out yesterday the campaign spokesman, Borja Sémper, when he was asked if he will follow the advanced line for some autonomy, like Madrid, to go through it.

The people will vote against the rule and yesterday they focused on the transactional amendment that will be included in the opinion. The spokesperson indicated that it will make it more difficult to “evict tenants and tenants who stop paying” for owners of more than five homes. The amendment prevents vulnerable tenants from being evicted without a conciliation act. A scenario which, according to the PP, is a “bargain” for the occupations, will generate legal uncertainty, make it difficult for the owners to recover the flat and encourage neighborhood conflicts.

The PP recalled its line of action based, in the words of Sémper, on guaranteeing “unemployment within 24 hours, toughening penalties, giving advice through town halls to owners, enabling a 24-hour assistance telephone and encouraging special units against illegal occupation”. Distinguishing, he emphasized, between non-payment of rents or mortgages of vulnerable families.

Thursday’s plenary is also scheduled to vote against Junts per Catalunya, which denounced the invasion of powers.