The Palma federation of residents associations is the latest to join a nationwide confederation of residents associations that is presenting a common strategy to address housing problems.
The federation is therefore an adherent to the Barcelona Declaration, which is demanding the application of the national housing law, the regulation of seasonal and tourist rentals, an increase to the number of protected homes (the VPO social housing), and an end to the Golden Visa, the mechanism by which foreigners are granted residency if they purchase homes valued at over 500,000 euros.
The president of the federation, Maribel Alcázar, insists that there must be "an end to the market" which has created serious problems for renting in the whole of the city. Even in Son Gotleu, she notes, 1,000 euros are being demanded for apartments in a poor condition, while there are also illegal tourist rentals.
"When the problem spreads to the whole of the city, we have to put the brakes on and end speculation by foreigners who don't give a damn about residents and then offer places to tourists, for which they charge 200 euros a night. This removes affordable housing from the market.
"Limitations must be introduced and renting must be for citizens' living spaces. The market does not regulate itself. We are seeing it right now. Is housing a right or a commodity? We need institutions that protect the right to access housing."
As well as Palma, the nationwide confederation has associations from Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Zaragoza, Malaga, Cordoba, Murcia, Valladolid, Gijón, Seville, Vigo, A Coruña, Bilbao and Elche plus Menorca.
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Yet again no mention of the 60,000 Moroccans that have made Mallorca their home in the past 10 years. It is far more likely that these economic migrants are competing with locals for housing, education, health and public services than Golden Visa holders
Ulla JacksonUlla you are correct. There's a huge fear amongst property owners that tenants will stop paying after a couple of months and then say "sue me" to the landlord. And, as you may know, the due process of law can take up to two years before an eviction notice is served. There is, I'm told, a "how to squat" handbook in circulation which explains all the loop holes within the current legislation. It is perfectly possible for unscrumptious tenants to move from property to property and pay next to nothing for a two year stay in each property. And this is all because of the current law which is totally and wholly on the side of the squatter and bugger the landlords. It's wrong, everyone knows it's wrong but no one is doing narda about it.
You rent you property to a local, and if they don't want to move out, there is nothing you can easily do. I believe that's why property owners are reluctant.
It's all a case of supply and demand. You supply a place at 1000 Euros and see if there's a demand. If none, then you reduce it to 800 Euros. If still no demand, you further reduce and so on. The Council can't interfere in this commercial law of selection or else it will drive private landlords from the market which is the opposite of their desired effect. What it can do is to weed out the scammers and criminals offering rental properties that either don't exist or do not, purposely, match the pictures and descriptions on a website. But legislating the pricing of private rental property doesn't work. The more worrying thing in this article is the quote "we need institutions that protect the right to access housing." That sounds to me like authorised/approved squatting and real estate possession. We already have this to some degree but if the Council goes beyond and actually encourages it then large numbers of rental properties will disappear overnight from the market and home owners will strengthen their security measures. The only beneficiaries from such a measure would be the locksmiths and alarm companies.
Once you go down the road of them and us your well on your way to the Highway to Hell in your article you mention there are foreigners who don't give a damm well ! Palma is going through a generational change Drug´s Gangs unemployed Youths with no where to live social unrest and a lack of basic understanding and were all in this together Folk´s .