Your Private Chancer

Here we go again. Another attempt to purge Mallorca of illegal tourist lets. The Balearic Government, says “Ultima Hora”, is to introduce a campaign of inspection and control for ALL the residential tourist “offer”. The capitalisation of “all” is important. The last crackdown, not so long ago, was hampered by confusion and obfuscation. It was thought that apartments were included then, but they weren’t; the documentation made it clear (or rather unclear) that it applied to separate premises, such as villas and “viviendas unifamiliares” (which translates as single family homes). This could have been interpreted as including flats as well, but the bit about separateness suggested not. This time round, the intention would appear to tackle all forms of property. I wish them luck. It will be a huge task.

Under the previous campaign, owners had to register properties as being either for residential purposes (long-term lets) or for holidays; they had to be one or the other. The impetus behind that campaign, and this one will be no different, was three-fold: quality and safety, pressure from the hotels, and non-declaration of income. Whilst there is undoubtedly a degree of self-interest on behalf of the hotels, which might benefit from the volume of such lets being reduced as a result of the campaign, one has to have some sympathy. The hotels are subject to controls and to compliance. They have an argument when they point to unregistered properties that escape controls and taxes. There is another side to this, and that is that the growth of the independent tourist market is catered for, in part, by holiday lets; indeed, one could argue that they have helped to boost this aspect of tourism, bringing in additional wealth-generation and not only to the owners of the properties. The typical holiday-let client is a spender in other words; something not to be deterred at any time but especially not now.

One is tempted to ask whether the rise in the private-letting sector has necessarily deprived hotels of bookings. It has given them additional competition, and so be it, but the hotels claim that, while the number of tourists has been rising, the percentage increase in numbers booking hotels does not match this. There may be something in this. On 27 September last year, I pointed out that, while the number of visitors to the Balearics in August had gone up by 6%, hotel occupancy rates for the same month had gone down by 2%. Having said that, the hotels should not be given a clear run. They want a level playing-field in terms of compliance. Fair enough. But the holiday let offers an alternative; not everyone wants to stay in a hotel. There again, the latest campaign is not about stopping holiday letting (at least one sincerely hopes not and isn’t just kow-towing to hotel muscle), but about eradicating unlawful practices – also so be it. The spend that the private-let market brings in is no excuse to turn a blind eye to a dodgy boiler or a false income statement.

The Internet has been crucial in the expansion in the number of tourist lets. Accordingly, it is to be a key source for the inspectors. This, in itself, raises an issue. Click on a site and there may be hundreds of properties, many just with small photos and a general description. They don’t necessarily come with complete address information. So how do the inspectors know where the property is? Are they going to approach the sites themselves, many of whom share properties in any event? Would they have the right to demand information from the sites? And under which jurisdiction? With the tour operators and with certain agencies, it will be easier for them to identify the properties, but in many cases it will not be.


QUIZ
Yesterday – Love. Today’s title – adapted from what song, and who wrote it?

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