The European Commission proposes a regulation that will allow municipalities and communities to restrict short-term rentals if they can demonstrate prior harm of at least three years to housing access.
Spanish administrations wishing to limit tourist rentals will have to first demonstrate, with verifiable data, that this activity has harmed the availability or affordability of housing for at least the three previous years prior to the restriction. This is one of the conditions set by the Affordable Housing Regulation proposal presented by the European Commission on September 9, as reported by La Provincia.
The text does not impose a cap on residential rental prices. Its aim is to create a common legal framework so that the Government of Spain, autonomous communities, and municipalities can intervene in areas where housing has become a problem without conflicting with European internal market rules.
The proposal allows for three courses of action: restricting short-term rentals, acting on vacant homes, and limiting certain non-residential uses of properties. In all three cases, the measures can only be applied when there is a situation of pressure on the market.
It will not be sufficient to prove that a city has housing problems. The administration must justify the relationship between the activity it wishes to limit and the deterioration of access to housing, and demonstrate that there is no less restrictive measure that can achieve the same result within a reasonable timeframe. A total ban on tourist rentals, therefore, remains the most intense option and would have to pass this necessity and proportionality analysis.
The proposal directly affects the Canary municipalities, where the tourist pressure on residential rentals is high. The regulation would allow municipalities to establish measures on short-term rentals that do not take place in the host's primary residence, which opens the door to limiting tourist-use properties in pressured areas.
The text still needs to go through the European institutions before coming into force. Until then, local administrations will not be able to apply restrictions under this new framework.
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