The government keeps dropping hints as to what may end up in its holiday rentals' legislation. While the draft text was approved by the cabinet, there is still plenty of scope for amendment during the parliamentary process, and the latest suggestion is for a limit to the number of days that owners can offer their "habitual" residences for holiday rental purposes.
Monday is the deadline for political parties to present their proposed amendments, and the limit on the number of days is something that Palma's soon-to-be mayor, Antoni Noguera, has spoken about. Més, in particular, are responding to this Palma request, which is where the idea has come from. By limiting the number of days, it is thought, the increasing shortage of properties to rent by residents will be addressed.
The limit proposal is in addition to another amendment that the government parties have already made, which is that an owner or an agency would be able to offer only a set number of properties for holiday rental. The thinking behind this is to prevent rental being controlled by a small number of businesses.
The number of days being mentioned would be 60, although 75 is another number on the table. If this were to be approved, it would follow similar limits that now exist in, for instance, Amsterdam.
The legislation will, after all, not solely deal with holiday rentals. It will in effect be a reform of certain aspects of the 2012 tourism law. Changes being envisaged are to allow hotels and establishments in the "complementary sector" to increase in size but without, in the case of hotels, adding more places. The possibility of doing this, which was in the 2012 law, will be removed, as also will be provision for building new golf courses.