The government will act as a rental agency. | Archive

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In parliament on Tuesday, Balearic housing minister Marta Vidal said that the government is adopting measures contrary to the national housing law, which has led to the withdrawal of thousands of apartments from the rental market.

Under discussion was the government's Safe Rental programme. Vidal maintained that this will ease the rental market and she explained that the government will itself rent empty homes from owners at market prices and then sublet them at prices 30% below the average for a given area.

"If we put a portion of the 100,000 empty homes on the market, thousands of apartments will come up for rent. This will ease the situation because there will be more supply and prices will drop."

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Vidal acknowledged that this may be perceived as an "interventionist" measure, her party (Partido Popular) having consistently criticised the last Balearic government and the current Spanish government for its interventionist policies.

However, she insisted that there are interventionist measures that "work" and that this scheme will be "non-coercive".

Among the opposition parties, Cristina Gómez of Podemos noted that they had made a similar proposal for a government rental agency, while Josep Castells of Més per Menorca voiced his support for the scheme and asked for it to be extended to large property owners, e.g. banks.

The government will enter into agreements with estate agencies and property management companies which will be placed in charge of the day-to-day operation of the scheme. The rental period will be up to seven years.