Canaries celebrates the annulment of the single registry of vacation homes that forced the removal of thousands of advertisements

The Government of the Canary Islands has celebrated this Thursday the decision of the Supreme Court (TS) to declare the nullity of the single registry of short-term rentals promoted by the State, recalling that it had already warned of its "unjust and disproportionate" nature.  

In a statement, the regional Ministry of Tourism and Employment has pointed out that this Supreme Court ruling "confirms" its warnings that this registry created "legal uncertainty" and constituted an "infringement of powers" over the autonomous communities, the central issue on which the high court's decision is based.  

Canarias has insisted that this decision by the State corresponded solely to political interests and not to a demand from Brussels, and that, therefore, what it did was generate an administrative duplication that has now been declared null by the Supreme Court.  

From the regional Executive, "warnings had been issued about the lack of clarity regarding the requirements demanded of owners, the existing doubts about which types of accommodations should be registered, and the absence of information on the coordination between the future state one-stop shop and the existing regional systems," the Ministry of Tourism detailed in the statement.  

Furthermore, both the island councils and the tourism sector itself had warned of the administrative collapse resulting from the double registration and the material difficulties in complying with the deadlines set by the central government, the Ministry pointed out.  

With this ruling, they said, "the rule of law triumphs and arguments coinciding with those defended by Canarias and even anticipated by the Council of State itself are put forward," although they lamented "the lost time" due to, in their opinion, the lack of dialogue with the State on the matter.  

"From the first moment we warned not only that it was an illegal measure, but also unjust and disproportionate," the Executive stressed, based on the fact that it entailed high costs in many cases that "small owners" who were excluded from tourist activity could not afford.  

Canarias had denounced the "legal uncertainty"

It had also shown its concern about the legal uncertainty generated by the obligation to register homes in the state registry, a requirement that, as warned, contradicted Spanish mortgage legislation and could exclude thousands of owners from marketing platforms, especially in the green islands and rural areas. 

The Government of the Canary Islands has reiterated that, although it shares the need to order and regulate the vacation rental activity, it has pointed out that any regulation must be built from "dialogue, consensus, and respect for regional competencies." 

With the decision of the high court, the Canary Islands hopes that the State will now open a new stage of "constructive dialogue and legal rigor" in this matter.