In recent weeks, the sector of short rentals to tourists (Viviendas Vacacionales) is at the center of a bitter controversy that pits local municipalities and the Tourism Sector against each other in a tug-of-war that is unlikely to see a winner and vanquished any time soon.

It all started in 2018 when the Tourism Sector was democratized with the opening to private short rentals to tourists by owners of apartments on the islands not intended for personal residence;

from that moment on, in fact, hundreds and hundreds of applications for Vivienda Vacacional licenses have flowed in from all those who somehow had a property available, generating a great deal of confusion and, above all, opening the doors to a hyper-competitive and poorly regulated market, targeted by industry improvisers, sub-tenants and handymen who have ruined a potentially very thriving sector from the start.

After a few years, the situation stabilized with the establishment of new, more stringent rules that set very specific requirements for obtaining a Vivienda Vacacional license and for operating it, causing many people to give up this activity in a superficial and non-transparent way, the pandemic then did the rest.

Still there are, however, a few thousand Viviendas Vacacionales that quietly operate online on the well-known tourist booking portals without complying with the laws on fiscal , bureaucratic and management matters, making urgent intervention by the Authorities in order to put an end to this unhealthy management of the sector.

The current tug-of-war is based precisely on the absence of a definitive, clear and precise regulation of the short-term rental sector, especially concerning the location of the Complexes-Buildings in which it is possible to rent to tourists, whether in exclusively tourist areas or also in “residential” areas, the need or not for condominium authorization to apply for the license, a cap on prices per night that has caused residential rental prices to soar as a result as well.

If in fact it is known that the tourist has a larger portfolio than the resident, the problem is that property owners on balance prefer to rent by the night rather than long term given the absolutely larger revenues and lower risks of default than renting by permanent residence making the 3 percent of properties intended for long term disappear throughout the Canarian archipelago.

For this reason, on the one hand, municipalities are pressing for the implementation of a new regulation of the sector that is causing a severe material shortage of properties for residents to rent combined with insane prices of those few available without tourist exploitation, on the other hand, industry associations such as Ascav, strongly affirm the importance of the multimillion-dollar turnover of the short-term rental sector and push for the sanctioning of the free disposition of their real estate and the free exploitation of the same according to the preference of the owners while pointing instead to the municipalities for the ABSENCE OF AN ACTUAL AND VALID URBANISTIC PROJECT THAT ALLOWS NEW PRIVATE AND PUBLIC RESIDENTIAL CONSTRUCTION while also placing a ceiling on the prices of long-term rentals.

In fact, one cannot blame the owners of tourist properties alone for the absence of homes for residents, Viviendas Vacacionales, a deeper and more lucid analysis of the Islands’ real estate offerings must be done to understand the critical issues and remedy them.

The situation is quite complicated and even affects the labor sector by generating a severe shortage of personnel who, due to the high cost of rents, forgo work experience on the islands or a potential relocation by opting for less expensive and more economically livable destinations speaking.

A first step will be taken next June when new measures will be introduced throughout Spain on the agenda of Minister of Tourism Reyes Maroto at the European Union Congress in order to give greater transparency to the Viviendas vacacionales sector and by extension to the entire real estate sector.