Aptur insists that unregulated holiday rentals are not liable for tourist tax

The situation regarding apartments was always going to create controversy and confusion, as the regional government pressed ahead with the tourist tax legislation prior to reform of the tourism law which will bring in new regulations. The tourism minister, Biel Barceló, had at one point last year said that the tax would have to wait until the holiday rentals' issue was tackled by legislation. This didn't happen.

Aptur has all along been insisting that unregulated properties cannot have the tax levied on them. The government's own legal regulator, the Consultative Council, had also warned the government that the text of the law for the sustainable tourism tax needed amendment in order to reflect this.

The government nevertheless maintains that the tax has to be paid, Barceló citing instances of rentals for a period of under two months which are not covered by provisions of the national law on urban leasings (commonly referred to as the tenancy act). The government adds that the decree which led to the tourist tax legislation established the requirement for unregulated apartments to be subject to the tax, as the government's aim is to regulate them.