I am surprised that there has been no discussion on the new law on HUT (Habitatges d'Us Turistic). Has nobody heard about it. If you own or manage or advertise a holiday rental property in Catalonia (Costa Brava, Costa Daurada)you need to have a licence. You need to be registered. You need a 24 hour callout service. You need to be registered with the police and advise them of each new arrival. You need to declare the income. You need to have a cedula de habitabilidad.
It has been in Barcelona for over a year but now affects all of the region of Catalonia.
In short you need to move your butt NOW or face fines of between €30,000 and €90,000. It really is serious if you depend on the income.
You can get full information in a small book called Holiday Rental Law in Catalonia 2012 in Kindle for in Amazon.es for €6 euros or a breif outline in www.habitatgedusturistic.yolasite.com
Not all properties will get a licence so it is important to get moving. The closing date to be legal is 29th September this year.
New holiday rental law in Catalonia
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costa-brava
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- Joined: Mon Sep 20, 2010 11:57 am
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....I wish that law would come into effect down here too. It was supposed to be like that but our registration seems to be worthless and pointless, so why bother ?
It is becoming increasingly difficult here to compete with a certain faction. There are far too many jumping on the illegal bandwagon, moving out of their own houses for the peak season, taking the cream of the bookings, whilst they move in with friends. Each year sees many more of them. It is a recent phenomena.
I am not naive enough to believe they are declaring as we do and they certainly are not registered, nor do they have the maintenance/ advertising costs we incur because they only have to advertise for a brief but most financial beneficial period.
I know many are not registered because they are located in areas, urbanisations where they would not be able to obtain a licence.
I try to give our two on site rental houses all the comforts of home but it is not cost effective to reproduce all the goodies one would have in one's own property ie. three wall mounted big screen TVs in each house, ice making american freezers, top of the range cookers, cine surround, even one of their own cars for free use, and so on. ...... Rant over.
It is becoming increasingly difficult here to compete with a certain faction. There are far too many jumping on the illegal bandwagon, moving out of their own houses for the peak season, taking the cream of the bookings, whilst they move in with friends. Each year sees many more of them. It is a recent phenomena.
I am not naive enough to believe they are declaring as we do and they certainly are not registered, nor do they have the maintenance/ advertising costs we incur because they only have to advertise for a brief but most financial beneficial period.
I know many are not registered because they are located in areas, urbanisations where they would not be able to obtain a licence.
I try to give our two on site rental houses all the comforts of home but it is not cost effective to reproduce all the goodies one would have in one's own property ie. three wall mounted big screen TVs in each house, ice making american freezers, top of the range cookers, cine surround, even one of their own cars for free use, and so on. ...... Rant over.
A bit of an over generalisation there - many of us owners do declare our property income here in Spain and do incure advertising and other costs. For many of us its the only way to survive!fincafern wrote:....I wish that law would come into effect down here too.
I am not naive enough to believe they are declaring as we do and they certainly are not registered, nor do they have the maintenance/ advertising costs we incur because they only have to advertise for a brief but most financial beneficial period.
I know many are not registered because they are located in areas, urbanisations where they would not be able to obtain a licence.
I don't profess to own anything here apart from my own opinion.
..maybe a generalisation in Valencia, Joddle, I wouldn't know. I was speaking of my own area, not yours.
I walked into two shops in June, chatting with the owners who looked down and rather fed up, one of whom I knew fairly well. They were both moaning about packing and moving and had also decided to jump on the jolly band wagon this summer.
I wouldn't mind so much if they were not moaning about having to move out and pack their cases for 6 weeks
Please do not expect me to sympathise.
When I started out on our business venture there were only 2 of us within 4 miles or so, now there are over 70 and the majority have joined in in the past couple of years.
Whilst I do have genuine sympathy for those suffering from the credit crunch. there are some unscrupulous ones who just want more.
I wonder how they would like it if I set up the same type of shop next door to them ? It is exactly the same thing to me.
This is my only livelihood and I had to invest a great deal of money to obtain 3 houses.
The ones I speak of are not registered - there are only a couple of us who are.
I still stand by what I said and hope the law comes down here, sooner rather than later.
I walked into two shops in June, chatting with the owners who looked down and rather fed up, one of whom I knew fairly well. They were both moaning about packing and moving and had also decided to jump on the jolly band wagon this summer.
I wouldn't mind so much if they were not moaning about having to move out and pack their cases for 6 weeks
Please do not expect me to sympathise.When I started out on our business venture there were only 2 of us within 4 miles or so, now there are over 70 and the majority have joined in in the past couple of years.
Whilst I do have genuine sympathy for those suffering from the credit crunch. there are some unscrupulous ones who just want more.
I wonder how they would like it if I set up the same type of shop next door to them ? It is exactly the same thing to me.
This is my only livelihood and I had to invest a great deal of money to obtain 3 houses.
The ones I speak of are not registered - there are only a couple of us who are.
I still stand by what I said and hope the law comes down here, sooner rather than later.
There seems some sort of proposals about combating unregistered lets in the whole of Spain.
http://www.hosteltur.com/130700_nueva-l ... rural.html
The Galician law for all vacation accommodation, other than whole lets, is strictly covered. However we have noticed an increase in unregistered properties in these buinesses.
It is such a shame that whilst the Xutna de Galicia has some teeth they are not so keen on using them.
Given this I just wonder how this new proposal will be implemented and how effective it will be.
http://www.hosteltur.com/130700_nueva-l ... rural.html
The Galician law for all vacation accommodation, other than whole lets, is strictly covered. However we have noticed an increase in unregistered properties in these buinesses.
It is such a shame that whilst the Xutna de Galicia has some teeth they are not so keen on using them.
Given this I just wonder how this new proposal will be implemented and how effective it will be.
Never try to out-stubborn your guests.
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SunflowerHouseBCN
- Posts: 6
- Joined: Mon Aug 20, 2012 7:14 am
- Location: Barcelona
- Contact:
Thank you for the heads-up
I did not know this and will try to get my paperwork in order immediately... it is September 27th!!!
Sunflower House - Barcelona
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/214708
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/214708
Good luck, Sunflower.
Even the British Embassy is warning our fellow compatriots now to abide by host law or maybe expect trouble in the future. I think this is the first time I have seen them report on it.
This will logically go hand in hand with the new austerity measures being introduced here.
The trouble is, it has gotten out of hand recently and that combined with the c.crunch has made it disproportionate.
I am sure everyone here is fine but if you know someone who isn't, maybe give a gentle, kind nudge to prevent possible future disaster. It doesn't end with just a massive fine, they close them down too, for good. It isn't expensive and it isn't rocket science.
http://ukinspain.fco.gov.uk/en/news/?vi ... =796729682
Even the British Embassy is warning our fellow compatriots now to abide by host law or maybe expect trouble in the future. I think this is the first time I have seen them report on it.
This will logically go hand in hand with the new austerity measures being introduced here.
The trouble is, it has gotten out of hand recently and that combined with the c.crunch has made it disproportionate.
I am sure everyone here is fine but if you know someone who isn't, maybe give a gentle, kind nudge to prevent possible future disaster. It doesn't end with just a massive fine, they close them down too, for good. It isn't expensive and it isn't rocket science.
http://ukinspain.fco.gov.uk/en/news/?vi ... =796729682
I have a VTAR in jaen and a Casa Rural in Valencia. When I phoned the Tourism office in Almeria to enquire into the process of registering an 'Apartamento turistico' in a local village - the individual I spoke to told me 'well I rent an apartment there and I haven't registered it'.
After a series of visits to the tourism office and endless paperwork - I receive a letter from the head of the tourist office giving authorisation for rental as long as I did not advertise the property!!
It needs more than an effort on behalf of the owners, the authorities also need to pull their finger out and make it a streamlined, simple process and well enforced.
After a series of visits to the tourism office and endless paperwork - I receive a letter from the head of the tourist office giving authorisation for rental as long as I did not advertise the property!!
It needs more than an effort on behalf of the owners, the authorities also need to pull their finger out and make it a streamlined, simple process and well enforced.
