Laurence Dollimore
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RENTING your Spanish home to tourists can be a profitable endeavour, especially if located in a popular holiday destination.
But as the number of Airbnb-style lets continues to surge, regional governments are beginning to crackdown on the trade.
It comes amid a wave of anti-tourist protests in Barcelona, Mallorca, Sevilla and elsewhere, with locals blaming the industry for a rise in rental prices and the so-called ‘touristification’ of their cities.
On Thursday, the Junta de Andalucia published a new decree in a bid to regulate tourist rentals.
They will not apply retroactively to homes already operating as tourist lets, and will not come into force until they are published in the official Boletin, in around a year’s time.
Below are the main points of the decree.
As always, if you want to rent out your property, you must obtain a licence from your local authority and register the home with the Tourism Department. In Andalucia, renting without a licence can see you fined between €2,000 and €150,000, depending on the gravity of the infraction.
If you live in an urbanisation, the majority of your neighbours must be in agreement with your plans to rent out to tourists.
Your local city council must authorise your holiday let, which will be denied if your property is on public protected land.
READ MORE: Expat couple buy an entire abandoned village in Spain – these are their plans
The decree also states that you cannot deny access to housing for reasons of race, sex, religion, opinion or other personal or social circumstances.
Padlocked boxes or similar gadgets which allow visitors to access keys with a code, must not be placed in the public domain, i.e. on the street outside.
Each room must be at least 14sqm while the home as a whole cannot be less than 25sqm.
If more than five people are staying at the property, there must be at least two bathrooms, rising to three if there are more than eight guests.
Bedrooms and living rooms must have direct ventilation from outside or from an interior patio space.
You must have air conditioning installed if you are renting out in May, June, July and August.
The home must be cleaned before the guests arrive and when they leave.
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Your guests should only enter the home from 3pm on the day of arrival, and leave by 11am on the day of departure.
The property must be ‘sufficiently furnished and equipped with appliances and fixtures necessary for immediate use and according to the number of places they have’, this includes ‘a television and channel information, power outlets in all rooms and basic supplies.’
Kitchens must have two stoves, an oven or microwave and a fridge. Gusts must also be supplied with crockery, cutlery, glassware, pans, pots, a corkscrew, scissors, can opener and drainer.
Blenders, toaster, juicer and coffee maker must also be made available.
In the bathrooms, there must be a toilet, sink and bath or shower, hand soap, gel, shampoo and two towels per person.
Bedding, wardrobes and hangers for clothes must also be available.
Single beds must be at least 80 by 190cm, while doubles at least 135 by 190cm.
