Banks, property companies and private individuals have 3,184 flats which have been vacant for two years or more. Under Balearic legislation, these flats will have to be made available as social rented accommodation. The government's draft for the regulation is now open to public consultation. Submissions regarding its contents can be made over the next three weeks.
Owners with more than ten flats which have been unoccupied for at least two years will have to register them with the government's housing agency, Ibavi, and to make them available for rent. The registration is mandatory, and the public will be able to formally denounce owners to the government for failing to abide by the regulation.
In addition, there will be an obligation to collaborate with utilities providers, town halls (on matters such as registration), notaries and property administrators, who will have to be informed if an apartment is occupied or not.
The government's decree will set minimum levels of electricity and water consumption in making assessments of whether a property is vacant or isn't. The government calculates that the monthly rent for the 3,184 flats will be around 450 euros. There are currently 2,800 requests for accommodation.
As well as these flats, the government's housing census suggests that there are 71,255 homes which are unoccupied in the whole of the Balearics, more than half of them in Palma.