Canary Islands plans law to crack down on short-term holiday lets amid housing shortage
The Canary Islands plan could involve 1,300 people, which would include all of the islands' police forces.
Spain's Canary Islands, where listings on platforms like Airbnb and Booking.com have soared, is planning a draft law to toughen the rules on short lets following complaints from locals priced out of the housing market.
Authorities worldwide are grappling with similar issues: Canada, Australia and Italy are among many countries which have tightened the rules around short-term rentals to protect local communities.
Canaries tourism head, Jessica de Leon, said enforcement support for the islands' 35 inspectors is the key to success of the new rules.
"We are going to empower (the police) so that they can act when fraudulent behaviour is detected in homes," she said, adding that the plan could involve 1,300 people, which would include all of the islands' police forces.
New-build properties will be barred from the short-let market, and property owners with a permit will have five years to comply with requirements that include authorisation from neighbours, according to a draft of the bill.
"The first step is to contain the growth, the second is to clean up (existing listings)," said Canaries director of tourism, Miguel Rodríguez.
Other parts of Spain have already passed similar laws but without such an emphasis on law enforcement.
Barcelona's 70 inspectors are sometimes accompanied by police, according to the mayor's office spokesperson, while the Madrid region has eight short-let inspectors and the city's 65 general planning permission workers have no police back-up, their spokespeople said.
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