Walter Finch
THE Andalucia tourist rental sector is threatening legal action after being ‘unfairly scapegoated’ by various city councils.
Malaga, Sevilla and Cadiz have all recently promised to crack down on Airbnbs and tourist accommodation in their cities after a summer of protests.
Some of those have included Cadiz’s ban on holiday homes in the historic part of its city centre, Malaga’s stipulation that they have separate entrances, and Sevilla’s has requested the removal of 715 tourist apartments from its registry.
However, the Andalucian Tourist Housing Association (AVVA-Pro) pointed out that holiday rentals represent only 2% of Malaga’s property stock and 4.1% in the province – far lower than national and regional averages.
They also contribute €1.91 billion to Malaga province alone and €4.24 billion to Andalucia as a whole, notwithstanding the greater contribution the tourists who stay in them make to the economy.
AVVA-Pro President Carlos Parez-Lanzac also attacked the legality of the various measures to crack down on tourist housing.
Parez-Lanzac criticised the lack of consultation and proportionality in Malaga’s current measures, and warned of legal action to protect property owners’ rights.
“We hope that in Malaga there will be no legal proceedings and that the next steps will be taken in line with this.
“We are in talks to see what the approach will be and we are waiting to see if the work of the last four years on zoning and the establishment of quotas is imposed, on the basis that if the traffic lighting system indicates red zones, we will accept this decision of zero tourist housing, but also of all the activities that influence this tension.”
Perez-Lanzac argued that other factors, such as vacant office buildings and slow urban development processes, contribute significantly to the issue.
Instead, the association president came up with alternative solutions, including bringing in zoning and quotas for tourist flats, converting unused office buildings to residential use, streamlining urban development processes, implementing zoning and quotas for tourist rentals, utilising co-living and other new housing models, and increasing public-private partnerships for social housing.
