The Spanish government yesterday approved a decree for urgent measures in respect of housing and rental. This specifically has to do with holiday rental activity and involves amendments to two key national laws - Arrendamientos Urbanos (the tenancy act) and Propiedad Horizontal, which governs the regulation of apartment blocks.
These amendments have arisen following various meetings involving the the holiday rentals working party, the hotel sector, regional authorities, the municipalities and provinces federation, consumer groups, residents associations and others.
The national tourism minister, Reyes Maroto, said that measures contained in the decree will provide a further step in regulating holiday rentals and in helping regional administrations to "mitigate the difficulties of control" and give "more capacity" to residents' communities to limit holiday rentals and apply conditions to them.
An amendment to the 1994 tenancy act refers to the exclusion of the activity of holiday rental from the scope of the application of law on "temporary ceding of use". Another amendment makes clear that there has to be three-fifths support of owners in residents' communities.
Bel Oliver, the secretary-of-state for tourism, observed that the decree is a response to demands from regional administrations to avoid loopholes and that it is a step forward in solving the problem of holiday rentals.
