Regional bureaucracy keeps 1,120 tourist flats in business despite Malaga city's veto

On 24 July, Malaga city's planning councillor Carmen Casero, announced that a total of 1,120 tourist flats in the city, which were registered after the newly-appointed regional government's new regulations governing holiday rentals, do not comply with the municipal regulations to have their own independent access and services. Malaga city hall has advised that these properties will not be able to operate as tourist rentals, urging the Regional Ministry of Tourism to cancel all licences and to remove them from the Andalusian Tourism Register. However, the procedure to fulfil such a request is neither immediate nor automatic. On the contrary, and therein lies the problem.

The process is running up against bureaucracy in order to safeguard the legal guarantees and to develop the whole cancellation procedure within the established legal framework, and that will take some time. In other words, these 1,120 tourist flats are still in business and will continue to be active for months. The tourism delegate for the Junta in Malaga, Gemma del Corral, states that it is not possible to specify how long these properties can continue being rented out given that it is necessary to go case by case and each case is different, plus each municipality has set different limitations. Del Corral explains that they are in constant contact with Malaga city hall to seek out and set up new tools to speed up the procedure for cancelling the licences on these tourist properties.

Any private individual who wants to use their property for tourist rental simply has to make a 'Declaración Responsable', an official document in which they are vouching for all being in order - they confirm that the property in question complies with the provisions of the Andalusian regulation governing this activity. Afterwards the inspection work verifies the reality or not of these responsible declarations, cancelling those that do not comply with the precepts of the law. However, since the Junta's decree of last February, which provides tools for any municipality in Andalucía to regulate and limit this tourism activity, some local councils are beginning to take action and are setting their own criteria. Unfortunately, the final step of cancelling any tourist licence for non-compliance with any additional municipal criteria is the responsibility of the Junta, and that involves more than just one step.

Del Corral points out that the first step is to receive the list of flats that Malaga city hall considers do not meet the requirements set out in the General Plan in terms of Tertiary Services, i.e. having independent access and services. It should be remembered that the limitation approved by city hall established that all those responsible declarations presented by the owners of dwellings for tourist use for their inclusion in the Andalusian Tourism Register, since the entry into force in February of Decree 31/2024, must comply with the requirement established in the General Plan for tertiary uses.

Specifically, Chapter 6 of the decree defines tertiary service use as that which has as its purpose the provision of services to the public, companies and businesses, which includes as detailed tertiary uses other than offices, leisure facilities, hotels, restaurants and bars, commercial and large retail outlets, and defines temporary uses by people, such as hotels, motels, paradors, guesthouses and residency homes. Malaga city council adds that this same chapter refers to the fact that "an activity in this group may be carried out in a building used totally or partially for housing, only if it has adequate access and evacuation elements independent from those of the rest of the building, as well as general electricity, water or telephone installations, also totally independent from those of the rest of the building".

According to Gemma del Corral, this list had not yet reached Andalucía's Tourism Registry by the middle of last week. Eventually, once the properties in question are known, a cancellation procedure must be initiated, which implies the opening of a period for allegations and counter-arguments to be submitted for consideration, which will ultimately determine how long these properties will remain in operation. Afterwards, it will be necessary to analyse each licence on a case-by-case basis until cancellations are concluded.

"It is impossible to say whether it will be a matter of a few months or more. It will depend on each case," she says. Del Corral further adds that they are working with the councils that have already proposed actions to limit tourist housing - as is the case with Malaga city, Torremolinos and Marbella - to get some tools in place to speed up this process.

In the meantime, the properties retain their licence number, which gives them the green light to market themselves on the main holiday rental platforms.