In the province of Girona, there are nearly 43,000 homes for legalized tourist use, but the sector estimates that there may be around 4,000 flats and houses outside the law. The Associació Turística d’Apartaments Costa Brava-Pireneu de Girona (ATA) calls on the town councils to be more involved in combating this phenomenon, which damages the image of the destination and has a negative impact on the municipal coffers, since they no longer receive income from the tourist tax.
“Councils should be the first concerned that there are no illegal flats in the municipality”, says the president of the association, Esther Torrent, who criticizes that “most councils do not act to prevent this fraud”. And they don’t act, many times, for lack of means. The data shows that complaints are coming in trickles. Those processed by the ATA in relation to trespassing were around twenty at the start of the summer campaign.
Among the councils most active in the fight against trespassing is that of Lloret de Mar, which was a pioneer in Catalonia in approving an ordinance that sets a limit on the number of homes for tourist use that could be in the area municipal, 3,300. It also sets a quota for each of its zones and has an inspection body that enforces the rule and prevents the proliferation of illegal accommodation.
At the moment, thirty cases have been opened in Lloret de Mar this summer, of which five are because they do not have the plate that identifies that the house is for tourist use. Not having complaint forms, the owner not responding or complaints from neighbors about incivility or noise are other problems that have been detected.
The City Council is focusing on the development of Roca Grossa, which concentrates 600 of the total of 3,288 tourist licences. In this area, far from the center, there are a lot of large capacity houses with swimming pools, the object of desire of many young tourists. The Councilor for Tourism, Frederic Guich, recognizes that it is the “most saturated area”. The percentage of homes for tourist use is at the limit, with 9.37% of the total.
Next summer, the City Council plans to monitor all the illegal offers that are advertised through different internet portals. A strategy that is already being followed in Begur, where periodically a municipal technician reviews the websites where these illegal accommodations are advertised.
The Councilor for Promotion, Andreu Peñalver, states that the frauds are very varied: some invent the registration number, others advertise assuring that they will not be charged tourist tax… The Council also does pedagogy among the real estate companies that manage these properties to eradicate trespassing.
