At a Tuesday meeting with representatives of town halls and builders' and developers' associations, President Prohens announced that the government will be permitting the conversion of large apartments and houses into apartments with a minimum size of 60 and 90 square metres respectively.
One of the measures to be incorporated into the Balearic government's emergency housing decree, these conversions will have the category of VPO protected housing or they will be made available at prices to be agreed by the government. This effectively amounts to the same thing in terms of setting affordable prices, the difference with VPO being that these are ultimately government properties.
The range of prices will be between 102,000 and 240,000 euros if they are for sale or between 385 and 900 euros if they are for rent. Prices will depend on the municipality. The same prices will apply to apartments to be created by increasing the height of buildings and by conversion of commercial premises and hotels.
The decree is due to be approved later this month. It will be in force for two years, and work will have to be carried out within three years of the decree being approved. For potential purchasers, the newly created properties will have to be their habitual place of residence. Town halls will have the powers to give authorisation, while communities of owners will also play a role. In the case of buildings that are already inhabited, authorisation from communities will be necessary in order to add more floors. In no instance will an increase in height be allowed to exceed the height of the tallest building on a street.
At the meeting, Prohens said: "Access to housing is a social problem. It is a health problem due to the lack of health professionals. It is a problem of citizen security, because there are no security personnel, and it is a problem for competitiveness due to the lack of professionals in all sectors."
She stressed that the decree will entail zero cost for the administration and zero consumption of land, while it will respect town halls' autonomy to decide.
5 comments
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Donald JumpYour way if thinking to me is "the UK way". I believe their aim is for local citizens, not refugees. Still there is no way they will push this through as many locals buy properties instead of savings. Aiming at non residents on the island is a cheap option and will affect many Spanish, from the mainland, too.
Ulla JacksonIf the government says jump the population will ask how high. Remember the lockdowns and the fake vaccine the pushed into people's arms. If the people didn't kick up a fuss about this, there is nothing they can or will do when daddy government asks for the keys of their holiday home for north African and fake war Ukraine refugees.
RishAnd what should be done about them, the foreigners properties? They are free to use them as see fit, unless you want to take a communist view.
There are a lot of derelict and abandoned properties. There is no way of finding out who owned them. No way or purchasing them either. There are also a lot of holiday properties owned by foreigners, locked up and used for 2-3 months a year. something needs to be done about this.
Start with that bloody eye sore the Endsa building.