The regional government’s minister for land, energy and transport, Joan Boned, has announced that the government intends to regulate the renting of properties via a new law under which owners will have tax penalties for only renting properties in summer and tax bonuses for renting all year.
Boned says that the new housing policy will regulate “all the conditions that are revolving around the need and problems that exist, which are changing a great deal”.
“There is a large stock of housing that is closed for eight or nine months. This stock is available for two to three months a year, so that there is insufficient supply for the demand that there is. This should be regulated. We must find ways of preventing this situation.
As to steps that will be taken in this regard, Boned says that once it is known how many properties there are in this situation and the legal contracts, tax measures could be taken.
The UPyD party is one that has reacted to the government proposal. Its Balearic candidate for Congress, Natalia Prieto, has described it as a “Venezuelan” measure and has said that “it is unacceptable that those who govern do not know the law,” by which she was referring to a respect for private property.