Malaga set to ban new tourist flats in these 43 areas of the city from start of November

Jesús Hinojosa

Malaga

Wednesday, 23 October 2024, 15:07

Malaga city council will ban new tourist flats in 43 areas of the city from the start of November as it moves to put the brakes on holiday rentals, a problem that many people believe adds to a shortage of housing for locals.

Next week, the council is set to approve a modification to the urban development masterplan (PGOU) which will prohibit the registration of new holiday rentals in 43 areas of Malaga city. According to a study carried out, these areas are considered saturated with more than 8% of these accommodations concentrated in these residential districts.

The council wants to apply the prohibition immediately, without waiting for the change to go through the PGOU procedures, with planning councillor Carmen Casero announcing the prohibition will be implemented from the start of November.

This can be implemented provisionally, although it is not definitively approved, for one year, extendable for a further four years. The management of the regulation will be carried out by the regional ministry of tourism. Casero said the Junta de Andalucía will have to put in place the necessary mechanisms so that no new holiday rentals can be registered in the 43 areas.

These are the areas in Malaga's city centre: El Ejido, La Merced, Lagunillas, Capuchinos, El Molinillo, the Ensanche del Centro, La Goleta, San Felipe Neri, la Trinidad, Conde Ureña, Cristo de la Epidemia, la Victoria, Ventaja Alta, Campos Elíseos, Cañada de los Ingleses, La Malagueta, Perchel norte, Plaza de Toros Vieja, El Candado, El Chanquete, beaches of El Palo, Camino del Colmenar, Peinado Grande, Santa Paula-Miramar, Baños del Carmen, La Viña, Las Acacias, Pedregalejo beach, Torre de San Telmo, Pinares de San Antón, Martiricos, Malaga 2000, Torre del Río, Torres de la Serna, Pacífico, Santa Isabel, Tabacalera, Guadalmar, La Cizaña and the suburbs of Puerto de la Torre.

In the rest of the city's neighbourhoods, the limitation approved by the city council last June - only allowing homes that have a separate entrance to be used as holiday lets - will remain in force, with retroactive effect from 22 February, so that tourist flats registered since then that do not have independent access from the residential building in which they are located will be cancelled.

The council has already sent more than 1,500 cases of holiday rentals registered since February that do not comply to the delegation of the regional ministry of tourism, with the Junta notifying the homeowners of the cancellation proceedings. Homeowners are able to contest it and launch an appeal.

Casero pointed out that this initiative is based on "objectivity and proportionality" as a result of the study carried out. Tourist flats currently account for almost 75% of the holiday accommodation places offered in Malaga, and 65% in the city centre, more findings in the study showed.

In addition, the study pointed out that the economic profitability of tourist flats is "significantly higher than conventional rentals". According to the town planning councillor, the average occupancy of a tourist flat is 76%, and offers an average profitability of 138 euros per day and per occupant. According to the council, "neighbourhoods with greater residential tourist pressure lose a greater number of people and grow in smaller numbers"; and that "rental prices are higher in neighbourhoods with a greater presence of tourist housing".

The study also pointed out that a reduction in the availability of empty dwellings has led to the establishment of tourist flats in the main housing stock, and that it is more difficult for residents in areas with a higher proportion of tourist flats to access housing.

The modification of the PGOU that will be approved in the council meeting this month has divided the city into three zones. A first zone of the 43 saturated neighbourhoods in which the concentration of registered tourist housing is higher than 8% (therefore no new tourist flats will be allowed); a second of 32 neighbourhoods in which registered tourist flats is equal to or higher than 4.53% (which is the average presence of tourist flats in the city); and a third of 296 areas that shows a ratio lower than 4.53%.

For the second and third zones, the effect of the modification of the PGOU is going to be the same as that which already exists with the instruction of last June. In order to be able to operate, tourist flats will need to have independent access from the building in which they are located. However, the city hall will check if spaces in zone three move to zone two because of an increase in the percentage of tourist flats, which will be reviewed once or twice a year.

Casero said this part of the modification of the PGOU will be passed on to the Junta "with an explanation of the areas in which not even one more tourist dwelling can be allowed". "These responsible declarations will be null and void and it will be the Junta that will have to respond to these un-permitted registrations," said the councillor, who pointed out she does not know the procedure the Junta will follow to prevent new tourist rentals from being registered in the most saturated areas. "I imagine that the Junta will establish its administrative procedures to act quickly, but I don't know what mechanisms they are going to implement," she said.