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The steps taken so far by Malaga council to limit holiday rental properties in the city are just the first steps towards a much more in-depth regulation of tourist accommodation currently in use around the city, which the 'Urbanismo' municipal urban planning department is already working on. This was revealed on Thursday last week by the department's head, José María Morente, during a presentation held at the Mediterranean Real Estate Exhibition, which took place at the Palacio de Ferias y Congresos until Saturday.
Morente pointed out that the city council is working on the regulation of tourist housing, flats and hotels, in order to promote above all "hotel facilities of four stars and above." He said: "We want to encourage tourism with high purchasing power, where Malaga has a shortage of hotel accommodation."
As such, the municipal government team is working not only on putting a stop to tourist flats, of which there are already over 13,000 registered in the city, but also to regulate the proliferation of tourist apartment complexes in complete or partial buildings, even if with independent access, which in recent years have proliferated not only in the city centre but also in surrounding districts.
As SUR has learned, Urbanismo is already working on the study of this regulation, although it is not yet clear how it will be articulated or what effects it could have. Therefore, it is possible that there will be areas in which these types of accommodation will be limited and others in which they will be favoured, depending on the tourist model that is being sought and the search for a balance with the landscape for residential living in Malaga.
However, according to SUR's findings, this is a much more decisive step than the measures approved and announced thus far to curb the growth in tourist flats. In fact, it is an action that is wholly in line with the intention expressed in recent days by Malaga's mayor, Francisco de la Torre, to prohibit any new holiday rental housing in the city. This is also on top of what is already required of holiday rental properties: that they have independent access and supplies from the building in which they are located.
The other point to note is that approval is still pending for a modification of Malaga's city's urban development plan (PGOU), which will prohibit the registration of new tourist flats in 43 areas of the capital where these exceed 8% of the residential stock. However, the effect of this measure will depend on the pressure levers activated by the Junta de Andalucía to prevent the registration of new holiday rentals in these saturated areas.
José María Morente feels strongly that housing is one of the main challenges facing the city, together with the improvements that can be implemented in terms of mobility, and he described the strategies that are being promoted by Urbanismo to provide solutions to these challenges. He mentioned the project accelerator unit (PAU) that has recently been created within his department. This is a new ordinance to streamline the procedures for building permits and the simplification and clarification of urban planning regulations.
Morente also reported on the strategies being promoted by the city council to encourage new growth in the city to accommodate more housing, as demanded by developers. He mentioned the possibility offered by the city's new infrastructure plan, which is currently being processed, to reduce the external charges that developers have to finance for the construction of infrastructure in those sectors where the construction of subsidised housing is planned.
"Land is needed and the role of the project accelerator unit is going to be key in this," remarked Morente, who is confident that the new urban development law in Andalucía - known as LISTA - offers mechanisms to favour the economic viability of urban developments. As such, he pointed out the possibility of making "adjustments" in some sectors being considered in the current PGOU because such adjustments will be allowed by this law.
With regard to the demand from businessmen in the real estate sector to shorten bureaucratic delays, Morente gave assurances that "today, with the legislation we have, it would be possible to shorten the delays by pushing forward the cases." He concluded with this comment: "There is a pending task. The Junta made an effort when it unified all the sectoral reports in 2012. The state has still not done this task."
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