The Council of Majorca yesterday gave definitive approval of the zoning for holiday rentals by agreeing the principles of the PIAT plan for intervention in tourism areas. Under the regulations, it will be possible to register apartments as holiday rentals for the first time. This will, however, depend on the zones, as will the number of days per annum. In the majority of cases where localities are defined as "saturated", future licences for any type of rental property will be restricted to sixty days and to an owner's main place of residence.
With the approval, which is to be made official when it appears on the Official Bulletin (which should be today), the moratorium on new rental licences is lifted. There will in all be some 30,000 holiday rentals places (beds) which can be registered, subject to the various conditions set out in the government's legislation. Initially, 20,000 of these are to be available for registration. The remaining 10,000 will wait for what may be as long as two years. This is because aspects of PIAT need to be fully defined. As such, therefore, the agreement on PIAT yesterday is an initial one.
The opposition parties, the Partido Popular, Ciudadanos and El Pi, all voted against the plan. They complained in particular about the lack of dialogue by the land department and the councillor, Mercedes Garrido, who has been in charge of the zoning.