The regulation of vacation rentals in neighborhood communities has stirred up controversy in recent months. Now, the draft Law on Sustainable Planning of Tourist Use of Housing, published this Wednesday by the Ministry of Tourism of the Government of the Canary Islands, aims to provide a response to the situation.
The Canary Islands Executive, through the drafting of this law, has indicated that tourist exploitation will not be authorized in homes subject to horizontal property when prohibited by its constitutive title or the statutes of the community of owners.
Thus, if the title or statutes do not address the matter, an agreement of the board of owners will be necessary, where the possibility of exploiting the homes for tourism is "expressly" accepted. This agreement will not have to be carried out if the statutes already allow tourist accommodations.
Therefore, tourist accommodation will be allowed on the ground floors in the planning where they can be used as homes. Meanwhile, on the first floor, the urban use of tourist housing with common access to other residential homes will be allowed when the usable area, added to the rest of the non-residential uses of the building, is equal to or less than 250 usable square meters.
On the upper floors, located above the previous ones, "a tourist dwelling" will be allowed with common access to the rest of the dwellings, provided that none of those located below are intended or projected for residential use. Meanwhile, its surface area must be equal to or less than 250 meters.
On the upper floors, when they have independent access and are always below those intended for residential use, the surface area must be less than 250 meters. In addition, one tourist dwelling will be allowed for every ten habitual dwellings, with the limit of its usable area added to the rest of the uses being equal to or less than 500 meters.
On the other hand, the regional Executive has also tried to settle the controversy of the creation of vacation homes in buildings dedicated to tourist establishments, that is, apartment blocks. In these cases, the properties are considered "accommodation units" and not homes.
