Crackdown on illegal holiday lettings

[Cameron]

quote:Originally posted by gusangus

The boletins actually state where they got  information from  the internet, With 75000 fines issued thats a lot of unhappy residents complaing about illegal lets.and if you follow the trend of boletins they are inspecting all the bars as well so who is complaining about them? .to get the number of any apartment all they have to do is acsess the land registry data base. which they have to anyway to find out if the complex is residential or turistic and enter the contact name that is given on the internet and the data base will come up with all relevant information date bought nie numbers etc etc  most properties on the internet have numbers or indentifying information on them, and as they are investigating law breaking the data protection act does not come into it as that would be withholding information and obstructing the process of law.

You better inform them at holiday lettings then as they seem to think otherwise.There has as i said before been no contact from any cananarian authorites to their site so i'm not sure how they managed to get anything worthwhile from the internet. Any ideas? Im well aware not all 75,000 have been identified the same way,but on a large comlex just one disgruntled resident or president can cause a lot of owners a lot of damage.And i've no doubt it's happening.

[gusangus]

cameron look here and scroll down to contact the owner on each property guess what it´s got the names of the owners the rest has previously been said http://www.holidaylettings.co.uk/caleta-de-fuste/

[Cameron]

If your property is deemed legal why not put your name up for contact?.

[Cameron]

quote:Originally posted by fifi

Cameron ive lost your email address. Can you send it to fifisplace@gmail.com please. Thanks.[]

sent it fifi

[fifi]

Great. Thanks. Very bad internet connection here today.

I saw this on another Forum and thought it was good....



If you like to take your holidays in a Residential apartment with all the comforts of home.... you now have to buy one.[][][]

[Stephen Turley]

Hi guys, this is my first post even though i have been a member for several years. So hello to you all

Just to let you know I was talking to Holiday lettings about our apartment today and their take on the issue is, that if you take your apartment off their web site because you are concerned about the licence issue then if you want to re-instruct you will have to produce a licence from that point on. When I mentioned to them that I only started advertising with them back in September and that they must have known then there was an issue, their reply was that they thought that it was only a concern in Tenerife at that time but now they are getting worried/concerned even over Fuerteventura.

Clearly they are worried about their own necks now

On a different note has Imagine closed I heard a rumour that they were looking for a buyer, also did Paddy's re-open.

Take care Steve

[Cameron]

Even if this rediculous purge on bonafide homeowners is eventually stopped it appears irrepairable damage has now been done. This must have a serious effect on people wanting or even able to holiday in the Canaries in the future. The big hoteliers must be rubbing their hands with glee, as any serious competition is gradually being eroded away... but then wasn't that always the intention ?.

How many licences exist in rural places.
Who knows how many even exist in the major resorts.
And if there's even half a dozen in places like El Cotillo i'd be very surprised.I hope the Cotillo Beach has got its act together now as it might be the only spot available soon. Not good news for naturists.Perhaps someone has some figures as the touristic department obviously have no idea. it'll be interesting reading either way.

Still through it all theres a couple of positives, all will be comfort and tranquillity in the old folks homes, and at least they are making the effort to promote the island more to homosexuals.

Ps - They have a similar purge on legallity in Portugal. But they are not idiots and are issueing licences in a controlled manner, in order not only to promote tourism with proper regulations but to provide a nice income in licence revenue and inspection fees.

Happy days

[fifi]

Welcome to the Forum Steve and thanks for the information.[]

Turismos website.http://www.fuerteventuraturismo.com/Alojamiento.aspx?selectedparent=4&selectedchild=null

There seems to be a definite need for more Rural properties. There are only 16 licensed and listed on the website.

[Cameron]

Thats interesting fi. 16 won't go far.

Someone posted a German website on here somewhere. Not only did the owners provide names for contact but the address of the place as well. Now thats what i call confidence. Or perhaps the krauts are exempt.

Just also been thinking, if its correct that 75,000 owners are in the process of being prosecuted and fined, and on average an apartment or bungalow has 4 beds in situ, that is a potential 300,000 beds no longer available. And if they carry on the persecution at the rate they are, they may well double it. Can the islands afford to lose maybe more than half a million beds that were previously on offer?. I doubt it, as to be identified and subsequently prosecuted they must all have been doing a reasonable amount of business. Food for thought maybe.

[fifi]

There are 7,500 fines being processed at the moment but  that is just the start of them. Time to recalculate there Cameron.[][][][]

[JayDee]

Can someone tell me if the Spanish Owners and those with residencia  who are letting their properties out are being persued in the same way, many of them still seem to be advertising, do they know something we don't?

[Cameron]

I thought it was a lot myself. Have a look at gusangus's post fifi. I was always told never to believe all i heard. I should have listened.[]

whats that, 30,000 with more to come.Its still a lot

[fifi]

quote:Originally posted by JayDee

Can someone tell me if the Spanish Owners and those with residencia  who are letting their properties out are being persued in the same way, many of them still seem to be advertising, do they know something we don't?

The law effects everyone in the same way JayDee. Unfortunately many people are unaware that this law even exists and also many people choose to continue advertising even when they do know about it.

[fifi]

quote:Originally posted by Cameron

I thought it was a lot myself. Have a look at gusangus's post fifi. I was always told never to believe all i heard. I should have listened.[]

whats that, 30,000 with more to come.Its still a lot

2010 Inspection figures Translated by Google...."In 2010 was held in the Canary Islands for 3,236 total inspection activities, of which 1,687 corresponded to the province of Las Palmas and 1,549 in the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife,"

Source....Government press release

I havent seen a similar press release for 2011 yet with the figures although the Tenerife lawyers have quoted 7,500 as being the amount being processed at the moment accross the Islands.

[Cameron]

when i said 30,000 i meant beds.

[fifi]

Would they be single beds or double beds that you are referring to?[][][][]

Just joking....I know what you mean Cameron.[]

[Cameron]

bunk beds actually. []

[Cameron]

Thank you for putting it right gusangus. Wasn't sure if it was wishful thinking or just a slip of the zeros

[emmi]

Sorry if I have missed something but what is the situation regarding an individual private house NOT on a complex.?

[fifi]

Hi Emmi,  private villa owners can – in theory at least – apply to the Cabildo to register their property as touristic. This would require, however, the granting of a touristic licence.

But since the moratorium on touristic licences has been in place over the last several years, the only licences granted are for the construction of high-end hotels.

[sezalot]

Forgive me but (for the avoidance of doubt):
- I've recently rented a private villa for my family over Easter (our first visit to Fuerteventura) and I'm assuming that there's no risk to us (from the apparent 'crackdown on illegal letting'). However, from reading this thread, I'm lead to believe that the owner could possibly incur a fine should they not hold the requisite 'touristic licence'.
- If we enjoy our visit and think that we may want to invest in a holiday home on the island, then it's unlikely that a 'touristic licence' will be granted as a private villa isn't a 5* hotel.

Please let me know (preferably before the 4th April) if I've got it wrong.

Thanks in advance.

[fifi]

Hi Sezalot, there should be no risk to you other than the possibility of not being covered by the owners Public Liability Insurance.

 There is a chance that licenses will be issued in the future. If 15,000 signatures are obtained on the petition which is being organised at the moment, the Government will have to look into the matter and hopefully change the law.

 Hope you have a great holiday. There are some great bargain properties at the moment.[]

[sezalot]

Thanks Fifi

[fifi]

An update on the villa situation....


It is rumoured that there may be changes in May. This is still unconfirmed.  If the Moratorium is lifted, the only villas that will be able to be registered will be those that are built on land classified by the relevant local Ayuntamiento as touristic.

The land classification,  will be determined by the local authority, not the Cabildo, nor the Government.  This means that even if the moratorium is lifted, villas on land which is not classed as Touristic could not register.

This is one reason legislative change is needed to enable villas to register as touristic. At some level, the Ayuntamientos need to be prepared, or made to, change the plot designations, and it remains to be seen through negotiations how best that legislative change can be achieved.

[Stephen Turley]

Hi guys

I have been speaking to the solicitors today and they have informed me that because i rent an apartment on one of the Oasis complexes even though it still is licenced to have touists etc i cannot let an apartment to anyone who may enquire about holiday lets. This I find hard to believe even though we were sold the apartment with a contract that guaranteed 48 weeks a year holiday rental.

Apparentely once our apartments and that includes lots of peoples were handed back to their indivdual owners the licence became invalid from the Oasis group, anyone who now lets their apartments is breaking the law.

Now as I am sure you are aware most people who bought these apartments from Oasis with guaranteed rental contracts were looking to let these as holiday homes, because thats what they were advertised as.

Now before some of you guys may, hopefully not, say thats just the way it is, I would like to point out that it does seem very harsh that even though the complexes have these licences everybody else is stuffed so to speak. I wonder how this would play out in a court. As it wasn't the people who bought these apartments fault they are just doing what the Oasis group should have done for them if you see what I mean.

I fully appreciate that the Canary Islands licence is there for a reason, but these are tourist resorts and apartments and as I am led to believe if you are on one of these holiday resorts you dont stand a chance of getting a licence as the complex already has one. Talk about unreasonable YOU COULDN'T MAKE IT UP.

By the way thanks Fifi for saying hello, Do you guys all live in Fuerty as we are out in June and it would be nice to meet up for a beer if there are any places still left open Ha Ha

Kind regards

Steve

[Cameron]

They should take a leaf out of Portugals book. I spoke to a relative who owns out there and he said that you can apply for a licence immediately if you don't have one, only drawback being that it could take up to 2 years to obtain. However the authorities are a little more realistic out there and you can start renting immediately the licence has been applied for whatever the outcome. Apparently they keep bringing out silly laws and when they realise how obstructive they are tend to rescind them. A few years ago he received a letter from his lawyer saying it was now compulsory to have a legal representative in portugal and it would cost i think he said about 200 euros annually. He's been paying it for the past 4 years. Now recently he has been sent a letter from same lawyer saying that due to EU regulations this tax is illegal and therefore unenforceable. Drawback now he has to claim back the money from the tax authorities which is proving extremely difficult. Don't know what the moral of the story is but make of it what you will.

I'm fed up of talking about it now. I just hope the canarians find some common sense from somewhere, but i'll not be holding my breath.

[fifi]

Form to join the Illegal letting lobbying association here.... http://www.janetanscombe.com/news/form-to-join-alotca.html

I will post the link to the online petition as soon as I see it.[]

[fifi]

Island Connections article.... http://www.islandconnections.eu/1000003/1000009/0/36028/tenerife-article.html

[fifi]

Oh dear....the former Prime Minister Zapatero is finding it difficult to find a house to rent for his family holiday.[:0][]http://canarias24horas.com/lanzarote/zapatero-busca-casa-para-pasar-el-mes-de-agosto-en-lanzarote.html


If I had his email address I would tell him why that is.[][][]

[andi]

Inspired post Fi......after he stays there I wonder if we can trace the particular villa and talk to the Spanish press about his clandestine holiday activities?[]