Fight against illegal holiday apartments: Mallorca attracts the reins!

Fight against illegal holiday apartments: Mallorca attracts the reins!

Mallorca, Spanien - The Balearic Island of Mallorca is faced with a serious problem due to the flourishing tourism and the associated holiday apartments. Popular holiday accommodations such as holiday apartments and fincas are highly in demand, but the number of illegal holiday accommodations is rising rapidly. These offers in particular burden the housing market and create unfair competition. Deswesten now reports that the Spanish government is now planning measures to increase the growing number of inserates on platforms such as Airbnb to counteract.

It is particularly alarming that estimates are said to have over 65,000 unsubstantiated advertisements on Airbnb, of which around 7,000 are located in Mallorca. The island council sees the government's measures as necessary support in the fight against these illegal rentals. Especially in urban centers, the population suffers from a lack of living space and overcrowded quarter, which are additionally stressed by unregulated holiday rentals.

illegal holiday apartments and their consequences

statistics show that around a third of the apartments offered on the Balearic Islands are rented without valid license. The authorities in Mallorca have already taken their own measures against these illegal advertisements and also identified illegal offers such as tents, boats and temporary huts. Nevertheless, the situation remains tense and a comprehensive solution is necessary to end the gray areas in the holiday apartment market.

In order to ensure the legality of the holiday apartments in the long term, a digital dossier was handed over to the regional government with important data via the offer situation. This could be a first step towards transparent regulation.

reactions of platforms and legal challenges

Airbnb has announced that the extinguishing campaign does not accept. The company sees the measures as illegal. The discussion about the responsibility of mediation portals is a hot topic. The island council recently took Airbnb with a penalty of 125,000 euros, since it was demonstrated that illegal apartments in Palma have been still being offered since 2018. Mallorca newspaper emphasizes that the Spanish constitutional court confirmed the ban on illegal renting in February 2023.

In contrast to other platforms, Expedia immediately removed the illegal offers, while Airbnb did not respond to the notification in November 2022. The island council perceives the fine imposed as a mild, especially in the light of a previous, much higher penalty of 300,000 euros, which was imposed against Airbnb in 2018 and was later canceled by the administrative court.

The business strategies of Airbnb and other platforms are still closely observed by the Balearic authorities in order to ensure that the local laws are complied with. It remains to be seen how the situation will develop, both for the providers and for the governments that try to protect the housing market and create fair conditions for everyone.