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Buildings in the area of La Malagueta, where there are numerous tourist flats. Sur
Could this be the beginning of the end of the proliferation of holiday lets in Malaga?
Tourism

Could this be the beginning of the end of the proliferation of holiday lets in Malaga?

A recently commissioned consultancy report will serve as a basis for establishing a mechanism for their regulation and limitation by areas of the city, depending on the number in each zone

Tuesday, 7 May 2024, 12:16

Three months after a Junta de Andalucía decree came into force which authorises city and town halls to limit the number of holiday accommodation in the region, Malaga city has started work to regulate this type of property.

Malaga city hall started to look into the issue two years ago but never introduced any kind of regulation. Now Mayor of Malaga Francisco de la Torre has the backing of the Andalusian government, despite the fact that others have argued that it was not necessary to wait for the regional decree to implement the limitation of holiday lets.

The city hall has contracted a Seville-based consultancy specialising in housing and urban planning to produce a "document analysing the impact that the implementation and proliferation of properties for tourist use (VUT) is having on the housing market, the publics' access to housing, rental prices, etc.", according to the name of the contract with the co-operative Espacio Común.

This consultancy firm is the same one that carried out the 'municipal housing and land plan 2023-2027' for the municipal housing institute (IMV), which was presented a year ago by the mayor. On this occasion, it has been contracted to carry out a complete and detailed study of the current situation of holiday accommodation in Malaga, which will serve as a basis for establishing a mechanism for regulation and limitation by areas of the city depending on the number of holiday lets in each area.

As SUR has learned, Espacio Común COOP has a deadline of two months, meaning it should be ready by summer. It consists not only of making a detailed report of the holiday lets that currently exist in Malaga city, based on the data available in the official registers of the different public administrations, but also of providing the city hall with a technical proposal for possible regulation depending on the numbers in different areas of the city.

Another aim of the study is to analyse the numbers of holiday lets by sectors or neighbourhoods, establishing three types of zones depending on whether they are low, medium or high. This will help the city hall to define what type of limitations will be applied in each of these areas, although the definition will not only be given by the consultants but will have to be coordinated and accepted by the municipal authorities.

Three types of areas depending on the numbers of holiday lets

As SUR reported in August 2023, Malaga city hall is studying a modification of the regulations of its General Urban Development Plan (PGOU) in which two types of housing will be identified: permanent or habitual residence, and temporary or transitory residence. According to what has been considered up to now for this modification of the PGOU, the intention is to establish three types of zones depending on the concentration of tourist or temporary residence properties.

The city hall is considering a type of zone in which there is no limitation whatsoever for the implementation of more tourist accommodation another in which they may not exceed 50 per cent of the surface area of the building in which they are located or be above the second floor, and a third in which, due to the excessive proliferation of these properties, they may only be opened on the ground and first floors of the buildings, and must have direct access from the street, independently of the rest of the building.

The result of the study will be key to defining how holiday accommodation will be limited in Malaga, whose numbers in the official registers continue to rise. In many cases this rise is motivated by the fear among homeowners that new regulations will be brought in which will prevent them from registering their properties as holiday lets.

The plan could still take several months to come into effect due to the usual series of reports and prior approvals that the bureaucratic process involves.

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surinenglish Could this be the beginning of the end of the proliferation of holiday lets in Malaga?