Brits heading to Spain have been warned that another region is set to “crackdown” on tourists, making them less welcome. Following complaints in popular spots like Lanzarote, Tenerife, Majorca, and Barcelona, Alicante is the latest EU holiday hotspot to tighten its rules.
Alicante Council has stopped issuing new licences for tourist apartments for two years. Urban Planning councillor Rocio Gomez said this time will be used to update the laws governing holiday rentals and “purify all those homes that do not comply with the regulations”.
The council’s decision to halt new licences for tourist flats could last up to two years, with most councillors voting in favour. Gomez said each area will be assessed to determine a suitable number of vacation properties per neighbourhood.
A public registry will also be created to list all properties that comply with the regulations, aiming for a “competitive and quality market”. This move comes after a study on tourist housing by the council and Estrategia y Organisation SA (EOSA).
Carmen Robledillo, a spokesperson for the Vox party, has called for a crackdown on holiday lets through “eradicating tourist apartments with more inspections” and demanded tougher measures by “closing and sanctioning illegal ones”. According to an EOSA report, there are 4,108 tourist apartments in Alicante, constituting 2.31% of total housing stock, from which 3,292 lack proper licensing, reports Birmingham Live.
Robledillo criticized the ‘disastrous policies’ which have led to ‘a decrease in residential housing for long-term rental or sale’.
A Compromis councillor, Rafa Mas, one of the two left-wing members who abstained during the vote, commented that: “Our neighbourhoods are being occupied and speculators are making housing more expensive.”
Meanwhile, Manolo Cope from the EU-Podem party, who cast the sole opposing vote, lambasted the approved moratorium as ‘fictitious’ and suggested it might ‘regularise the situation of many homes that are currently illegal’.