Blue Monday (For Holiday Lets)

Don't like Mondays? Well, if you are the owner of a holiday property in Mallorca that you rent out illegally, you will like the one coming up even less. Because on Monday, the brave new world of the Balearic Government's reforms to the tourism law will be presented, and among them will be a beefing-up of dealing with the so-called "oferta ilegal".

No one should of course be surprised by what is to be contained in the revised law. It has all been well publicised well in advance. There will be all the stuff about relaxing procedures and rules, so that, among other things, condohotels can be created. But it's not all about being more flexible. Oh no, not where holiday lets are concerned. The government will be paying - and mark its ominous words - "special attention" to the "illegal offer of dwellings and tourist apartments, applying tougher sanctions and mechanisms to monitor directly this irregular activity".

Don't say you hadn't been warned that the heat was to be turned up higher. Whether it will be turned up to maximum remains to be seen. There has been a tendency for tough talking but for relative inaction, save for the odd raid here and there and the dishing out of thirty-grand fines. But running parallel to legal reforms, certain organisational changes are being put in place, which might just have the effect of making the tough talking translate into tougher action.

These changes, and I have noted them before, include the establishment of an interdepartmental committee to support tourism developments and the formation of the "mesa de alcaldes" (literally, the mayors' table), which is designed to improve co-ordination between town halls and the tourism industry. They are very positive and welcome changes. However, they can also be seen as a means of improving the flow of information to tackle aspects of the tourism industry that the government doesn't wish to be supported, e.g. holiday lets. Consequently, various mechanisms of government can become part of those "mechanisms to monitor directly this irregular activity".

I can predict, with a reasonable amount of certainty, that, once the penny drops among the holiday-let-owning population (either living in or not living in Mallorca) that the government is planning more of a crackdown, pens and keyboards will be taken up and letters fired of. They will say, as they always have said, the same things. As with the other "burning issues", such as all-inclusives or expat voting, the arguments will be the same and they will achieve precisely nothing.

Did people seriously believe that a change in government was going to result in a fairer crack of the whip for the holiday-let sector? A change in government to one so aligned with the powers that be within the industry, i.e. the hotels, and the main hotel chains at that? A change in government to one that had flagged up its commitment to condohotels, a move that effectively allows the hotels to operate their own private holiday accommodation?

There is no opposition to the government or to the hotels, and the government and the hotels know this full well. Where would it come from? Property owners themselves? Are you kidding? It was all very well thinking that a Majorcan Holiday Property Owners Association could be created and wield some influence, but it was a non-starter. And non-starter, unless I am missing something, it has indeed been. Its website seems not to have been updated since a first announcement and a call in the spring of last year for people to join and to make donations; its Facebook page also seems to be inactive.

But who was going to take the risk of making themselves known in attempting to lobby the tourism ministry? They may as well just stick a damn great sign up outside the apartment saying "this property is being rented out illegally, please come in and fine me".

It's not as though I am not on the owners' side. I am. And I fully appreciate all their arguments and the fact that undermining the holiday-let sector is absurd. But the arguments will cut no ice, as the tourism industry is a closed shop and one that turns illegality to its advantage - when it suits. Did you know, for instance, that there are 120 or so hotels and related accommodation that have applied to have rooms regularised that are illegal? And did you know that the government is pretty much applying an amnesty? All in the interests of improving tourism, you see.

Nope, you certainly aren't going to like this Monday, a real blue Monday, black even, for the holiday-let market.


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.