The Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sports of the Government of the Canary Islands has delivered the new decree of holiday rental to the seven councils and 88 municipalities, represented by Fecam and Fecai, with the aim that these administrations can study the regulations and make arrive your proposals.
The Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sports, Isaac Castellano, the Deputy Minister of Tourism, Cristóbal de la Rosa, and the Director General of Tourism, Candelaria Umpiérrez, led these meetings, which will also be held with industry representatives such as FEHT, Ascav , Ashotel, Asofuer, Asolan and Excelfuer, among others, as well as administrators of farms and other agents involved.
“The objective of the standard is to provide the necessary tools so that local administrations can avoid distortions in the rental market in their respective islands and municipalities,” explained Isaac Castellano, who added: “The will of the Government of the Canary Islands is to guarantee the right to the housing of all the citizens of the Islands, without demonizing the vacation rental, which has proven to be a sector that, when it meets the legal and quality requirements, promotes tax collection and employment ” .
In the same line said the Deputy Minister of Tourism, Cristóbal de la Rosa, who explained that “corresponds to the Government of the Canary Islands improve the management of tourism, in this case the rental of housing for tourist use, set conditions that are considered essential to be done with quality, legal security and respect for the rights of tourists, who rent the house, residents of the area and society as a whole. De la Rosa added that “it is necessary to emphasize that tourism management can not be understood apart from the planning of the territory and urban planning, the latter being powers of town councils and councils, respectively.”
For its part, the Director General of Tourism, Candelaria Umpiérrez, said that another unrenounceable objective is not to promote unfair competition: “We want digital platforms to be held responsible for the accuracy of the information they offer and that give their space to homes that do not meet the legal and quality requirements. ”
According to the Government of the Canary Islands, the modification of the decree, which is adapted to the judgments issued by the Supreme Court in December 2018 and January 2019, states thatUntil the territorial and urban planning instruments are adapted, insular and municipal ordinances regulating the territorial and urban aspects of the implementation of this type of tourist accommodation can be approved.
Likewise, the regulation establishes basic guiding principles for planning instruments based on four pillars: developing new types of tourist accommodation to increase the quality and competitiveness of the destination and the growth of the local economy and the archipelago ; harmonize the expansion of this tourist offer with the development of the rest of the economic sectors, with the achievement of a social balance that satisfies the needs of residents and tourists, as well as with the infrastructures, services and existing equipment; make compatible the use of holiday homes in order to protect the environment, sustainable development and the efficient use of land and other natural resources;and, finally, respect proportionality and non-absolute character in the implementation of the use of holiday homes to help ensure the quality of life of the resident population, their social welfare and the preservation of the signs of cultural identity, favoring integration of the activity in the economic, cultural, social and environmental environment of each island, municipality and nucleus.
The modification of the decree also proposes certain parameters that can be used in insular planning to set territorial standards in the implementation of the holiday home, such as the relative area of land destined for tourist use and residential use, the adequacy of the infrastructures, the distribution balanced use, impact on equipment, impacts on environmental sustainability, social, economic and referred to the territory, population densities and ratios of public housing.
Among other novelties,it is forbidden to rent the protected homes, the general requirements are reinforced to be able to allocate a residence to vacation home, the digital platforms are required to publish the registration number in the General Tourist Register of the Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands that has been assigned and establishes the need for the operators of vacation homes integrated in buildings subject to horizontal property regime to make available to the community of owners a telephone number of attention, in 24 hours, in order to be able to report incidents that may occur and that affect them.
It also raises the need that, in case of hiring staff, they must comply with labor standards, social security and prevention of occupational risks applicable to workers, as well as the collective agreement that is applicable.
