On Tuesday, the Balearic Parliament is due to approve a decree measure for reducing fines for illegal holiday lets by up to 80%. In order to qualify for this reduction, owners will have to make their properties available to the government so that it can rent them out for a period of five years. Prices would be in accordance with the government's guidelines for limited-price housing or social renting.
Under the decree, fines will increase to a maximum of 500,000 euros (from 400,000) for the most serious offences. Penalties will range from a warning to €5,000 for the least serious; €5,001 to €50,000 for serious; and €50,001 to €500,000 for the very serious.
The very serious category will include repeat offences, illegal lets on protected rustic land, and the renting out of properties subject to a government price-restriction regime, e.g. VPO homes.
A further feature of this decree is that town halls and island councils will be able to involve local police forces or the state security forces (Guardia Civil, National Police) in tourism inspections. For instance, if the police raid an illegal party and suspect that the property is being rented out illegally, they can forward this information to the relevant authority that is responsible for imposing sanctions.
Through agreement between the Partido Popular and Vox, parliament is also scheduled to approve a ban on the issuing of new licences for apartment holiday rentals and the validation of some 90,000 holiday rental accommodation places (beds) that had been set to disappear under measures adopted by the previous government.
The reintroduction of these 90,000 places into the accommodation pool has been harshly criticised by opposition parties, the hoteliers, the association of travel agencies and groups such as the Forum for Civil Society.