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The executive committee of the Canary Islands Federation of Municipalities (Fecam) yesterday approved the four demands that the institution will continue to defend during the parliamentary process of the vacation rental bill, which, to date, despite “ongoing dialogue with the Ministry of Tourism,” has not been incorporated into the text.
These demands seek, on the one hand, greater municipal autonomy and, on the other, greater legal certainty for property owners and municipalities when applying the law. They argue that some issues are not sufficiently clear and others are not considered necessary because, in their opinion, they duplicate procedures and overburden municipal services, as reported by Diario de Avisos.
One of the main issues Fecam emphasizes is that municipalities should have the freedom to set vacation home limits in each locality based on its characteristics. “It doesn’t have the same impact in municipalities experiencing depopulation or in the Green Islands, where they are providing an economic boost and contributing to population consolidation, as in others where vacation homes compete with residential properties and impact prices and the shortage of properties,” said Fecam president Mari Brito, who defended this as one of the reasons why municipalities should be the ones to set the limits based on their planning and needs.
Regarding the consolidation of vacation homes, Fecam proposes that municipalities, before consolidating their use, verify, if possible electronically, that the responsible declaration is current. This measure aims to simplify and avoid duplication.
Another disagreement concerns the expiration of the vacation home permit when the property is transferred, which is contemplated in the bill to prevent speculation. Fecam requests that the transfer be allowed in the event of the owner’s death or a lifetime donation.
The last of the demands concerns vacation homes located on tourist land. “We agree that the principle of unified operation should be maintained, but we ask that marketing be managed independently while the new regulations of the Tourism Law, which the regional government is already working on, are approved, and that they be managed again as non-hotel products (tourist apartments), to avoid the abrupt exit of some 25,000 homes from the market,” stated the president of Fecam.
