Government Gets Tough On Illegal Lets

Around two years ago the islands' regional government undertook a campaign to ensure the registration of certain categories of holiday lets. It was monumentally confusing. Much publicity was given to the fact that apartments were embraced in this initiative. They were not. The previous campaign dealt with "separate" dwellings, such as villas.

There were various impetuses behind that campaign - the quality and safety of lets, their registration for tax purposes, their classification as either a long-term residential or short-term holiday let (a property could not be both), and pressure from the hotels. There are similar impulses behind the latest drive announced in February, and this time the government has all property in its sights, and that includes flats.

The cynical view is that the real force behind all this is the hotel lobby (not as in foyer but as in hotels as a group of businesses). Hotels have, so they say, seen their occupancies affected by the volume of private lets. To this end, they may have a case, though one stops short of saying that the heart bleeds. They are also justified in saying that they meet obligations in terms of compliance in all senses - quality, safety and tax - something that may not be the case with private lets.

However, though the growth in private holiday lets has been significant over recent years, it is hardly a new phenomenon. Majorca's tourism has long been a mix of hotels and holiday lets. Indeed without the scale of private apartments and so on, the level of inward tourism would be considerably lower than it is.

There may be some lets that do not meet satisfactory requirements where safety and quality are concerned, but they are surely few and far between. It is hardly in the interests of owners to allow this. That some may not be declared for tax purposes could well be an issue, and if income is not being declared either in Spain or another country, then the government has every right to take an interest.

But the latest initiative raises several issues. Firstly, how do the authorities establish what properties are for holiday let? They intend to trawl the Internet and tour operators' and others' brochures, but in many cases it is far from easy to identify the location of a given property. Secondly, owners of flats are not always able to get the registration they might want. Where a flat is in a block, it becomes necessary for the block to fall under the registration requirements not just a specific flat. The system, in other words, places its own obstacle in front of the owner wishing to do the right thing. Thirdly, the tourist who takes a holiday let is typically a visitor who is likely to spend money in the wider economy. The past few years have seen a drop in tourism spend for a variety of reasons, but one has been the growth of the all-inclusive hotel. The government admits that spend has gone down. This is not the time to be looking to deter tourists who might otherwise bolster the local economy. Fourthly, there are plenty of visitors who do not want to stay in hotels and much prefer the flexibility either of a self-catering block or a separate apartment or house. The hotels may be calling foul but they are not exactly strapped for cash or for custom.

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