The Balearic High Court has ruled that residents associations can have access to public documents so long as they are legally constituted and registered.
This is the case with the residents association in Son Espanyolet (Palma), which has made regular complaints dating back several years regarding five holiday rental properties operated by a company called Alzina Living S.L.
In 2019, the association cited the transparency law in requesting access to files related to these properties and the company from the Balearic tourism ministry. The ministry agreed to the request on the condition that some personal data were redacted. The information wasn't forwarded because the company took the matter to court.
The High Court has now established that the residents association was within its rights to request the information and that the ministry's decision to forward the information was legitimate.
In the court's view, there were no irregularities in the procedure and that a good part of Alzina's submissions "bore no relation whatsoever to the disputed legality of the resolution".