Informative guide on obtaining a permit for the tourist marketing of properties in Mallorca

One more year, the tourist season in the Balearic Islands is fast approaching, and once again, several clients asked us about the possibility of offering their properties for tourist rent.

With the intention of clarifying the operation of the procedure, the Direcció General de Turisme published, last summer, a guide to the tourist marketing of housing, as well as a table summarizing the main points to be taken into account.

At VR Abogados we translated and reproduced both documents in this post, which you can also find in the original Spanish, as well as translated into German by our team of professionals.

As usual, do not hesitate to contact us or to visit us in our office in Palmanova. We will be happy to answer any of your questions.

Information guide on the procedure for submitting a declaration for the start of a tourist activity (DRIAT) for the tourist marketing of a property in Mallorca.

Applicable from the moment in which the zoning regulations of the Consell de Mallorca and the Palma Town Hall come into force.

 

1. Identify the type of housing in accordance with tourism regulations. It can be a dwelling in a single-family building or a dwelling in a multi-family building.

 

A) Housing in a single-family building (housing located in a building that has a single dwelling):

1. Detached single-family homes or chalets (whether or not they share a plot with others).
2. The single-family dwellings between unique dividing walls on the plot.
3. Semi-detached single-family homes as long as they do not share a plot of land.
4. Dwellings corresponding to a building in which there is a single dwelling and one or more premises intended for other uses with separate entrances (e. g. building in which the ground floor is commercial premises and the upper floor a dwelling).

B) Dwelling in a multi-family building (dwellings located in buildings with two or more dwellings that share accesses or common elements):

1. Dwellings located in apartment buildings in which there are other dwellings.
2. Semi-detached buildings (the same building with several dwellings that also share a plot).
3. Semi-detached houses that share a plot (we would be in front of the same building with two houses that also share a plot).

 

This typology will determine whether the property can be marketed INDEFINITELY (cases of the letter A, except assumption 1 if it shares a plot with another construction or assumption 4 if there are several owners in the building, given that they will be subject to horizontal property), or with the limit of FIVE RENEWABLE YEARS (in general, the cases of the letter B), although it will also be subject to this limit if it follows the “main housing” modality.

 

2. If your property is in a multi-family building (option B), unless everything corresponds to the same owner, it shall be subject to the horizontal property regime in accordance with Law 49/1960, of 21 July, on horizontal property.

Single-family dwellings sharing a plot with others (option A 1) and single-family dwellings sharing a building with premises destined for other uses if they are of different owners (option A 4) will also be subject to horizontal property.

In all these cases, the community of owners MUST explicitly allow tourism marketing, via statutes or via agreement of the board of owners.

The horizontal property regime is applicable to buildings in which there are privative real estate elements and common real estate elements with other owners, whether or not they have granted the constitutive title, and also to real estate that shares common elements with other real estate (in accordance with what is determined by Law 49/1960): for example, a block of flats, semi-detached buildings, semi-detached or single-family buildings that share the same plot, independent buildings that share other common real estate elements with other buildings (e. g. a swimming pool)…

In these cases, in order to carry out tourism marketing, it will be necessary that the statutes or articles of association do not prevent uses other than those of satisfying the permanent need for housing. If they do not prevent them, or there are no statutes or articles of association, an agreement will have to be obtained from the board of owners in which the majority of these, which at the same time constitute the majority of property quotas, accept the possibility of tourism marketing, so that the provisions of Article 17. 7 of Law 49/1960 apply. This agreement must be registered in the Land Registry.

 

If the statutes expressly allow for the possibility of tourism marketing, no such agreement is necessary.

 

3. You must go to the respective town hall to obtain a certificate accrediting that the property in question (depending on its type) is located in a suitable area. The certificate would have to specify which form of tourism marketing can be carried out: only two months (main housing modality) or for the whole year.

If you wish to market the property in which you usually live (two months under the main housing modality), you must also obtain a census certificate. The two months must be whole months and the months intended to be marketed must be indicated. The communication of changes of these months must be done in the month of January.

 

4. In case both modalities were allowed (two months or the whole year), you must decide which one you wish to practice.

 

5. Confirm that the home meets all other applicable requirements:

– The dwelling has a minimum age of five years at the time of filing the DRIAT, during which its use has been private residential.

– The owner has the certificate of habitability or a similar document issued by the Consell Insular.

– The owner has an energy certificate with an F rating for buildings prior to 31 December 2007 or a D rating for subsequent buildings.

– The dwelling has an individual water meter registered with the utility company (except in the case that there is no supply in the area).

– The dwelling is not and has not been subject to the official protection regime or to an assessed price.

– The dwelling has at least one bathroom for every four people.

– The dwelling meets the minimum score determined by the ratio in the Annex 6 of Decree 20/2015, as determined by Article 107 of such decree.

– It is only allowed to submit a DRIAT for the commencement of the activity of marketing of tourist stays  when the owner of the dwelling is NOT also the owner of three or more properties already marketed to tourists.

– You must meet the requirements set out in Articles 39, 40, and 41 of the initial approval of the Plan of Intervention in tourist areas (PIAT) of the island of Mallorca which are as follows:

 

• Article 39. Temporary conditions

 

As a measure to rationalise the seasonality of tourist activity, in accordance with the provisions of Article 50.21 of the LTIB, in mature and saturated areas (ZTM 1) it establishes a time limit on the marketing of tourist stays in residential dwellings that are registered as from the initial application of the PIAT in such a way that the activity can only be carried out during oneof the two months of the high season: July or August. This condition must be indicated when the corresponding DRIAT is submitted.

 

• Article 40. Conditions of landscape quality

 

From the entry into force of the PIAT, the houses that are registered for the commercialization of tourist stays must try to preserve the traditional landscape and fulfill the minimum conditions of quality:

 

a) In landscaped areas, if necessary, try to use autochthonous plants with low water requirements and that the general configuration adapts to the Mediterranean landscape of the surrounding area.

b) To have a space to hang clothes hidden from the visuals from the public space or, failing that, to have a clothes dryer.

c) To have a storage space for waste hidden from the visual from public space.

d) Avoid the disposition of elements on the façade that are dissonant with the rest of the building in which the dwelling is located, such as: finishes, carpentries, awnings, canopies, advertising posters, etc.

e) In rustic soil, the enclosures of plots must comply with the conditions of landscape integration determined in the instruments of territorial and urban planning.

 

• Article 41. Environmental quality measures

 

From the application of the PIAT, homes that are registered for the marketing of tourist stays must comply with the following environmental quality measures:

 

a) Consumption and management of the water cycle:

– They must be connected to the sewerage system of their nucleus or zone, and if it does not exist, they must have watertight septic tanks approved according to current regulations.

– They must incorporate systems to reduce the flow of showers and taps.

– They shall incorporate double flush systems in the toilets.

– When they have a system of irrigation of landscaped zones this must be of low consumption.

 

b) Energy efficiency measures:

– Have a minimum energy rating of class B in buildings after 2006 or class C in single-family dwellings prior to 2007 (the deadline is 1 August 2020 to achieve this rating or the one definitively established by the PIAT).

– Have a heating and/or cooling system with minimum energy efficiency A++.

– In the case of isolated single-family homes, they must achieve a minimum of 70% generation of DHW (domestic hot water) by means of solar panels, whenever possible, or by other alternative renewable energy installations in subsequent buildings in 2006 or 50% in buildings prior to 2007.

– In single-family homes, a recharging point for electric cars must be available, or the existence of a public access recharging point within a radius of 500m must be justified.

 

c) Other measures:

– For properties located on rustic land, the part of the plot not occupied by the building or by the rest of the construction elements must be maintained in a natural state or in agricultural, livestock or forestry use.

 

6. You must go to the Consorcio Bolsa de Plazas (c/ Montenegro, 5, Palma) to buy the tourist places (you must comply with the total number of places determined by the property’s certificate of habitability).

Places have different prices depending on whether it is:

– A dwelling in a single-family building (ETV). 3500€/Place

– A dwelling in a multi-family building or subject to horizontal ownership (ETVPL). 875€/Place

– A dwelling in a single-family or multi-family building, but that will be marketed under the “main housing” modality (marketing of a maximum of two months per year in which the people who regularly live in the property are allowed to stay with the tourist visitors) (ETV60). 291,67€/Place

 

Exception to the purchase of spaces from the Consorcio: in case of dwellings that are not located in multi-family buildings or subject to horizontal ownership, or of dwellings marketed under the main housing modality, the spaces might be purchased from other properties in Majorca that have cancelled their status, provided that the spaces had been obtained for a fee.

 

7. You must submit the DRIAT to the Direcció General de Turisme, duly completed and signed along with the following documentation:

 

a) ETV (single-family dwelling)

1. Accreditation of personal ID (copy of the DNI, NIF…).
2. Payment of the corresponding administrative fee.
3. Accreditation of representation (if applicable).
4. Modernization Plan according to Annex 6 of the Decree 20/2015, 17 April, implementing Law 8/2012, with a minimum of 70 points.
5. Municipal Certificate of Suitable Zone and Determination of the modality (indefinite or main housing).
6. Proof of acquisition of tourist places from the Consorcio Bolsa de Plazas.
7. Only in exceptional cases of single-family dwellings subject to horizontal property (those which share a plot of land or immovable elements with others), the provisions of point b) of the following point.

 

b) ETVPL (housing in a multi-family building or subject to horizontal ownership)

1. All of the above.
2. Statutes or instruments establishing the horizontal property which expressly admit the possibility of tourist marketing of the dwellings, or, where there is no constituent title or statutes or these do not prevent tourist marketing: agreement of the board of owners in which there is a favourable majority (in accordance with Article 50.7 of Law 8/2012 in the terms of Article 17. 7 of Law 49/1960).

 

c) ETV60 (dwelling in a single-family or multi-family building under the “main housing” modality)

1. Everything established in point a) for ETV.
2. If applicable, statutes or articles of association of the horizontal property that expressly admit the possibility of tourist marketing of the dwellings, or, in the event that there is no statute or articles of association or these do not prevent tourist marketing: agreement of the board of owners with a favourable majority (in accordance with article 50. 7 of Law 8/2012 in the terms of article 17. 7 of Law 49/1960).
3. The owner’s census certificate, who will be the marketing person.

 

DRIATs will not be admitted without attaching all the documentation mentioned in this point.

 

8. Remember that the presentation of the DRIAT without complying with the requirements and/or without the mentioned documentation may be subject to administrative penalties.

 

9. Remember that, in addition to the above, during the exercise of the activity you must comply with the following points:

– This tourist marketing consists of the temporary assignment of the right to use the entire dwelling for days or weeks for a maximum period of one month. Exceptionally, in the case of dwellings marketed under the main housing modality (ETV60), the coexistence of the owner with the clients is allowed.

– You must offer tourist services provided for in Article 51 of Law 8/2012 of July 19, about tourism in the Balearic Islands, as well as the rest determined by tourism regulations.

– All regulatory requirements relating to business activity, labour legislation if you have hired personnel, and taxation must be met.

– Information on persons staying in the dwelling must be sent to the General Directorate of Police (Dirección General de Policía).

– The users must comply with the customs of coexistence and public order, and, if appropriate, the internal rules of the communities of owners. The marketer must ensure that this is done. In the case of communities of owners, the rules of the internal regime must be informed in writing, and the user must sign the receipt of the information.

– The registration number of the dwelling must be made public on a permanent basis through the tourist offer channel and must also be given to the client at the beginning of the stay.

– It is not allowed to produce contracts for individual rooms nor to allow the staying of users who have signed different contracts. Exceptionally, the owner is allowed to live with the customers in the main housing modality (ETV60) (not compulsory).

– You must have an insurance policy in force under the terms of Law 8/2012 (Article 50.16) and Decree 20/2015 (Article 107).

– Properties located in fire risk prevention areas must take the measures referred to in point 19 of Article 50 of Law 8/2012 (municipalities or councils can inform you whether the housing is in these areas).

 

10. Remember that tourist marketing in multi-family buildings, in dwellings subject to horizontal ownership, or in dwellings marketed under the main hosuing modality, is for a maximum period of FIVE RENEWABLE YEARS (provided that all the regulatory requirements continue to be met when the term is met, and tourist places are provisionally re-purchased).

 

Main applicable legislation: Articles 49 to 52 of Law 8/2012 of 19 July on tourism in the Balearic Islands; Articles 106 (points 3, 4, 5, 6 and 8) to 109 of Decree 20/2015 of 17 April, issued pursuant to Law 8/2012; provisional zoning agreements of the Consell de Mallorca and the Palma City Council.

 

Note: this document is an informative note with no legal value. In case of discrepancy between this and the regulation, the regulation applies.

 

For more information on the procedure and applicable law, please visit the following link:

http://www.caib.es/govern/sac/fitxa.do?codi=3433885&coduo=165&lang=es (info. available in Spanish and Catalan).