The future Canary Island law on the use of tourist homes will give owners five years to adapt to the new regulations once it comes into force.
The initiative, which is still in public exhibition since last Wednesday, will modify the Canary Islands Land Law and foresees fines of between 15,000 and 150,000 euros for those who continue to operate a holiday home without the enabling title. In addition, it prohibits advertising on digital platforms of "substandard housing" or other unauthorized accommodation and advertising without informing of the registration number.
Among the points to highlight, the new regulation states that owners who already have a holiday home "duly authorized" will have five years to comply with several requirements. After that five-year period, they will have three months to submit a new responsible declaration to the Island Council, assuring that they comply with "each and every one" of the requirements. Its submission in due time and form will imply the automatic extension for another five years. Failure to do so will imply the cessation of activity.
The concession will end after ten years, and the activity must cease automatically, unless the tourist use of the home has been enabled in accordance with the new regime established by law.
The Canary Islands Government also contemplates that the owner of the home can prove in a "reliable" manner that they should not lose the enabling title of the home and can request a single extension of five more years. While this issue is being resolved, they may continue to operate the property until the Island Council issues a resolution.
A tourist license in exchange for a residential home
Among the notable initiatives of the future new law, in the first five years of its entry into force, owners of vacation rental homes may request the Island Council of Lanzarote to extend it up to 20 years, in exchange for renting out another home that has been uninhabited or used for another purpose in the previous five years.
So other homes will be presented as "compensation", which must meet a series of requirements, such as not being under public protection, disqualified or in bankruptcy. In addition, it must "be of the same quality and surface area" as the one that will be dedicated to tourist use and be located in the same population center. If it is in another population center, but in the same municipality, two homes must be offered for residential rental for each tourist license to be extended.
The rental price of this home in "compensation" may not exceed 30% of the average income or the average income of households in the municipality of reference, if so, the Island Council could deny the extension. During that period of time, the owner may not have the residential home unrented for a period longer than six months during a calendar year, because if not, the use of the vacation home will be rendered ineffective.
It must also include the prior documentary verification that the responsible declaration that was submitted in its day was not "inaccurate, false" or omitted any essential data. After all this, the administration will have three months to notify the extension, if not given, it will be understood as estimated. In addition, newly built homes may be offered in exchange for extending vacation licenses up to a maximum of 20 years.
From blocks of vacation homes to a hotel
The future new law also includes a transitional provision for residential buildings of collective homes that have been fully exploited as vacation homes for years. In this way, they may urge the city councils to replace the residential use with the exclusive tourist use and become hotels or apartments.
That urban planning must include "quality standards" that guarantee "the minimum environmental impact", from water saving, noise, light and waste management pollution, to density, equipment, infrastructure and eco-efficiency, and that must be applied in the two years following its reopening in the new modality.
From isolated houses to vacation homes
The future new regulations also contemplate that detached single-family homes that have been used for vacation use in recent years may ask the city councils to modify the urban planning to go from being individual homes to villas.
This would imply that the plots are reclassified from residential to tourist use, if the requirements allow it. At the same time, they must comply with the Regulations of the Tourist Accommodation Activity.
