On 1 July, European regulations governing short-term rentals will come into force in Spain, including a single register for short lets and it is feared that the new regulations could exclude 70% of the current supply and cause losses of 13.737 billion euros for the economy between July and December, according to a warning issued on Monday by the Spanish Federation of Tourist Housing and Apartment Associations (Fevitur).
“Families who have booked an apartment or holiday home are likely to be left without accommodation, as a large part of the legal supply cannot be registered in the Single Digital Window system and will disappear from the platforms,” explained its president, Silvia Blasco, in a statement.
The organisation believes that the new system will lead to an increase in the black economy and a rise in illegal housing. The estimated losses amount to 8.57 billion euros for the Spanish economy in July, August and September, and a further 5.167 billion euros in October, November and December. Fevitur insists that this is a new system that encroaches on the tourism powers delegated to the autonomous communities.
Its president pointed out that the autonomous communities already have their own tourist registers, complaining that, far from complementing these tools and improving current processes, it is perceived as ‘a centralising instrument that duplicates existing structures and adds unnecessary complexity to the system’.
The federation has also criticised the ‘arbitrariness and lack of uniformity’ with which different property registries are applying the criteria for registering tourist accommodation, ‘already duly registered in the autonomous communities’. Therefore, these registers point out that there is no uniform protocol and that different situations are arising in each territory, even leading to additional procedures being required or registrations being denied without sufficient justification.
Fevitur said that this new framework has been promoted without ‘sufficient’ dialogue with the sector and the autonomous communities, ignoring the knowledge and experience accumulated by the associations and operators that ‘actively participate in the regulation and professionalisation of tourist rentals in Spain’.