Away from the centre of Palma, there are hardly any hotels, yet the number of tourists has been increasing in areas such as Arxiduc, Plaça de Toros and Pere Garau.
Jaume Garau of the Palma XXI association believes he knows the reason why. "The centre is saturated and so there is now tourist accommodation away from the centre. And when we see so many tourists staying in these areas, it is because there is a lot of illegal supply. All the legal places are full, so they go elsewhere: to illegal accommodation."
InsideAirbnb, the website that analyses Airbnb, reports the presence of a good number of tourist rentals in Bons Aires, Plaça Fleming, Arxiduc and Plaça de Toros. Included among these are apartments. In Palma the renting of apartments for tourist purposes is prohibited.
Last month, the Menys Turisme, Més Vida platform organised a protest outside a building on C. Arquitecte Bennassar. All the apartments were being let illegally to tourists. Joan Nadal of the platform's Palma Nord assembly says that it is a building in which ten families can no longer live because it is dedicated to tourists.
"We know that there are illegal tourist properties in our neighbourhood. They do not pay taxes and create nuisance for neighbours because of anti-social behaviour. Except for a few houses (which can be rented out legally) the rest of the buildings are apartments. We don't have exact numbers but there is a great deal of discontent among residents."
Helena Herrera, president of the residents association in the Plaça de Toros area, says: "We have located properties that are illegally offered as tourist rentals. We see young people entering the buildings with suitcases."
In September, Menys Turisme, Més Vida (now shortened to -Turisme +Vida) will resume meetings to decide action to fight for the city. The illegal letting is a contributory factor to what Joan Nadal says is "more and more housing precariousness due to high property prices".
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Charles Dalrymple-ChumleyHave I read this correctly? Gestapo? “Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!” Apologies to those too young or unenlightened.
JamesMy single point is that isn't wise, as a previous commentator suggests, to inform or report one's neighbours. It could end badly for you and the good intentions may come back to haunt you.
Why don’t they just enforce the existing laws? The ETV is a really strict system - but if it’s not enforced, then illegal letting us rampant. So, no insurance, a hideous time for neighbors, no tourist tax. Honestly, a child could spot illegal lets online. Where are the inspectors and prosecutions???
Jules OFrom Palma XXI’s web page (I confess I was lazy and used Google to translate to English): Palma XXI is a citizen association founded in 2016. With the character of an observatory on the past, present and future of the City, Palma XXI is a collective initiative to reflect and present proposals for the future with a historical perspective and citizen participation. Based on the need to understand the city's historical journey and constructive and destructive tendencies, our actions are approached from a diverse but integrated perspective (sociological, economic, cultural, political, urban planning, architectural...). Jaume Garau is the vice president: Degree in Social Psychology from the University of Barcelona and Master in Organizational Psychology from the London School of Economics. From 1983 to 2011 he worked in the management of the Social Services of Barcelona City Council, Palma City Council, Marratxí and Mallorca Council. He was President of the College of Psychologists of the Balearic Islands from 1988 to 1995. He was President of Interest and a member of the Board of Trustees of the Anesvad Foundation. He is a founding partner of Arca and in 2009 was named an honorary partner. He has also been a Deputy in the Parliament of the Balearic Islands.
Perhaps someone could enlighten me - what is Palma XXI, and is there any gravitas in the opinion of Jaume Garau? How is he qualified to make such a sweeping statement?
Charles Dalrymple-ChumleyIdiot.
Charles Dalrymple-ChumleyThis comparison to living conditions under Nazi Germany is abhorrent and unnecessary. Although you seem to know some history I question whether you learned from it at all. The heroes that should be celebrated are the ones in the world that speak up against injustice, not the ones that intimidate and punish them for doing so. My neighbor was illegally renting for years and my family's life was hell going through that. To infer that I shouldn't have filed a complaint as its somehow similar to a Nazi party informant is beyond comprehension.
Charles Dalrymple-ChumleyYou win the prize for the dumbest comment I've seen on here.
I'm still trying to understand the plausibility of how widespread the illegal lets are here - according to the government and the media. First, the risks are huge. Getting caught can literally bankrupt the perpetrators. Second, while I have plenty of criticisms of Airbnb, they are the only major platform that routinely demands proof of licencing with threat of listing removal - even though apparently they don't actually do anything with that information nor follow through with their threats (which is typical of Airbnb's dismissive operating character). Yet Airbnb gets all the blame, though no other major platform requires any such proof. Third - if the risks in getting caught are so incredibly heavy - €80k fine now... Then advertising on any of the major platforms or social media is just asking to be caught. How stupid do you have to be? You're a disaster waiting to happen. So, anyone with half a brain that rents illegally would wisely avoid publicly advertising. But then, where do they get the bookings? If nobody can find them, then it's got to be word-of-mouth. And that can only go so far. I doubt any of them are booked solid throughout the year, like those listed on the major platforms. More likely just a few days here and there. That's neither big money nor is it really contributing much to tourist "overcrowding". Don't get me wrong.. I have to obey the rules, and it's not fair that they don't, so I'm very much against illegal lets. I'm all in favour of shutting them down - for all the good reasons they should be (yet the government is apparently hugely dysfunctional at that), but I've been (legally) in this business for a long time, and it just doesn't seem to add up. (?)
Zoltan TeglasI think you’ll find that all the inspectors for this type of problem work for the local council and take the whole of August off work, that make sense 😂😂