Rosa Dávila, the president of Tenerife’s Cabildo, said yesterday that her institution, along with the Cabildos of Gran Canaria, Lanzarote and Fuerteventura, have requested “a moratorium” on new holiday rental licences from the Canarian Government.
This is a result of the avalanche of new holiday rental applications which followed the announcement of the new Canarian law on rentals. The new law will make it far more difficult to register a vivienda vacacional.
Doris Borrego, the president of Canarian Holiday Rental Association (ASCAV), said she was “astonished” at the news, and claimed that the Canarian Minister of Tourism had caused the rush of applications when it announced the law last year.
She pointed out that at least half of the new licences have been awarded to “large owners of housing developments, other properties in unbuilt projects or tourist complexes that are partly or entirely registered and have been requested “just in case” the owners want to operate them as holiday lets.
Borrego said that this was exactly why ASCAV had proposed a one-year moratorium on holiday rentals several months ago, all owing the new law to address the situation of Canarian families.
Borrego claims that the main cause of shortage of residential rentals is a national Housing Law that does not protect owners and has eliminated 40% of rental housing due to a lack of legal security.
