Tourism inspectors posing as illegal holiday let clients

The Council of Mallorca, which has had responsibility for holiday lets since a delegation of powers by the Balearic government in January last year, is increasing its inspectorate from 15 to 21. While the inspectors have a range of tasks, a key one for the Council is the rooting-out of illegal accommodation.

To this end, inspectors will now be posing as clients of illegal lets that are identified on bookings' websites. They will be using credit cards to make reservations. Once they have details, they will visit the properties in question and initiate proceedings for what is classified as a very serious offence against the legislation that governs holiday rentals; the fines can range from 40,001 euros to 400,000 euros.

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In addition, the Consell will have a new email account for complaints that are specific to Palma (lloguerturisticpalma@conselldemallorca.net); neighbours can inform the Council of suspected illegal lets.

For the Council, the government and Palma town hall, the proliferation of illegal lets is felt to contribute to the lack of places to rent for residential purposes and to driving up the prices of that accommodation which is available for the residential market.

The Council hasn't said if it intends adopting the same tactic for illegal lets in the rest of Mallorca.