Spain-Holiday: No licence = no listing

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Marks
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Spain-Holiday: No licence = no listing

Post by Marks »

At least in the Valencian community. Part of an email I have seen today:

From today onwards it won't be possible to renew or create a new advert in case it doesn't have a license.

You have until the 15th of July to inform us about the status of your licence and/or your intention to apply for it. If we don't hear anything from you before that date, your advert will be taken offline until we receive the licence.
Some guests just need a sympathetic pat. On the head. With a hammer.
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roxytoo
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Post by roxytoo »

Marks where did you see that?
Marks
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Post by Marks »

Email to someone I know who lists but has only just been able to apply for the tourist licence.
Some guests just need a sympathetic pat. On the head. With a hammer.
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Mouse
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Post by Mouse »

I wish more sites did that. It would dramatically reduce the numbers advertised.

Mouse
x
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roxytoo
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Post by roxytoo »

I think booking.com does too
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Casscat
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Post by Casscat »

I think ALL listing sites should be compelled by law to verify that the properties they are advertising are legal. The big boys bang on about how all the ridiculous control measures they have put in place are there to protect the owner and guest, but these are weasel words. There is no money in it for them to ensure the legality of the properties they host on their sites and they will only insist upon verification once they are stung with big fat fines by the authorities, as has happened with Airbnb in Barcelona.
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fincafern
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Post by fincafern »

Well said, Casscat.
I have been asking Spain-holiday for some time when they will consider doing this. We have always posted our licence numbers on our advert.
I nearly lost my legal business a few years ago due to competition from illegals undercutting my charges and offering free cars. I am very proud of Spain-holiday for taking this step to improve the system. The guests must be protected from scammers and Spain-holiday also work hard at this with a tiered contact system.
They are an innovative company and deserve to succeed. Not an easy thing to do with giant companies to compete with. Let us hope these follow suit soon.
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joddle
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Post by joddle »

fincafern wrote:Well said, Casscat.
I have been asking Spain-holiday for some time when they will consider doing this. We have always posted our licence numbers on our advert.
I nearly lost my legal business a few years ago due to competition from illegals undercutting my charges and offering free cars. I am very proud of Spain-holiday for taking this step to improve the system. The guests must be protected from scammers and Spain-holiday also work hard at this with a tiered contact system.
They are an innovative company and deserve to succeed. Not an easy thing to do with giant companies to compete with. Let us hope these follow suit soon.
Absolutely right - getting a licence is pretty easy anyway so there is no excuse for a genuine person. I have used SH for many many years now and will continue to do so.
I don't profess to own anything here apart from my own opinion.
COYS
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Post by COYS »

Casscat wrote:I think ALL listing sites should be compelled by law to verify that the properties they are advertising are legal. The big boys bang on about how all the ridiculous control measures they have put in place are there to protect the owner and guest, but these are weasel words. There is no money in it for them to ensure the legality of the properties they host on their sites and they will only insist upon verification once they are stung with big fat fines by the authorities, as has happened with Airbnb in Barcelona.
I'm not in Spain, so excuse the gatecrash, but I couldn't agree more. It's all well & good spending gazillions on putting all of the competition out of action but very few spend the time & money on actually verifying genuine licensed owner/rentals. Too focussed on listing density & not on listing quality. Wherever you are renting, this could & should be your gap in the market so it's a thumbs up for SH all the way from Greece.
This time next year Rodney, we'll be millionaires.
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Clauss
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Reply from Spain-Holiday.com

Post by Clauss »

Hello everyone,

Spain-Holiday.com has gone all in for a legalised industry.

The hotel industry uses the fact that there are many unlicensed holiday homes to condemn the holiday rental industry and to manipulate the opinions of politicians and the media. Whether you are a big or small player within this wonderful industry, bare this in mind and go all in for a legalised holiday rentals supply side. A legalised industry will also deter short focused owners who are not serious about their business.
At Spain-Holiday.com, we work with the authorities on a daily basis to legalise our supply in several regions across Spain. We regularly update our clients through our online news site “RentalBuzz”, where we condense and simplify the Spanish legal text to its core. https://www.spain-holiday.com/rentalbuz ... -and-legal

We are a Spanish registered company and we pay our taxes here, thus, we have a keen interest in what goes on in Spain. Many of the larger holiday rental sites are registered in Switzerland, where until now they have been untouchable. In recent months, the Spanish authorities have targeted these companies and they will soon be required to follow the same path as Spain-Holiday.com. I wish these companies would be more proactive.

Spain-Holiday.com is a member of several lobby organisations which work to increase the awareness and credibility of this industry and I would strongly recommend that you join your local organisation. Spain-Holiday.com is a member of Fevitur, which is the main holiday rental organisation in Spain. Remember that these are non-profit organisations, joining fees are very low and the impact is positive. Check out this article for a list of lobby organisations which we have been in contact with: https://www.spain-holiday.com/rentalbuz ... ssociation

With all that in mind, we really appreciate that someone (you) values the effort we put into this everyday.

Thanks guys

Claus Sorensen
ceo
www.spain-holiday.com
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Casscat
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Post by Casscat »

Claus I just wish that everyone would follow your lead. The likes of HomeAway, Airbnb, Holiday Lettings etc. are motivated by pure, unadulterated greed. They can absorb the fines they incur for listing illegal (unregistered) properties because for them the fines are small beer in relation to their earnings. What they conveniently ignore is the fact that many of their advertisers are deliberately trying to defraud the tax authorities in their home country and the country where their property is located. No holiday rentals site should be condoning tax evasion, even if casually by claiming that they just host listings and the reporting obligation is nothing to do with them. They know that many of their advertisers are illegal, and collusion is also an offence. In most countries facilitating tax fraud is punishable by imprisonment. I'd like to see a few CEOs of the big boys dragged through the courts. Rant over :lol:
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CSE
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Re: Reply from Spain-Holiday.com

Post by CSE »

Clauss wrote:Hello everyone,

Spain-Holiday.com has gone all in for a legalised industry.

The hotel industry uses the fact that there are many unlicensed holiday homes to condemn the holiday rental industry and to manipulate the opinions of politicians and the media. Whether you are a big or small player within this wonderful industry, bare this in mind and go all in for a legalised holiday rentals supply side. A legalised industry will also deter short focused owners who are not serious about their business.
At Spain-Holiday.com, we work with the authorities on a daily basis to legalise our supply in several regions across Spain. We regularly update our clients through our online news site “RentalBuzz”, where we condense and simplify the Spanish legal text to its core. https://www.spain-holiday.com/rentalbuz ... -and-legal

We are a Spanish registered company and we pay our taxes here, thus, we have a keen interest in what goes on in Spain. Many of the larger holiday rental sites are registered in Switzerland, where until now they have been untouchable. In recent months, the Spanish authorities have targeted these companies and they will soon be required to follow the same path as Spain-Holiday.com. I wish these companies would be more proactive.

Spain-Holiday.com is a member of several lobby organisations which work to increase the awareness and credibility of this industry and I would strongly recommend that you join your local organisation. Spain-Holiday.com is a member of Fevitur, which is the main holiday rental organisation in Spain. Remember that these are non-profit organisations, joining fees are very low and the impact is positive. Check out this article for a list of lobby organisations which we have been in contact with: https://www.spain-holiday.com/rentalbuz ... ssociation

With all that in mind, we really appreciate that someone (you) values the effort we put into this everyday.

Thanks guys

Claus Sorensen
ceo
www.spain-holiday.com
Well done, however I see no license numbers for any property here in Galicia.http://www.laymyhat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=27486 I am off to add a link to the D.O.G (the offical bulletin)
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Marks
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Post by Marks »

SH email today:

As previously notified, after the 15th of July you run the risk of being taken offline without any further notice. This is according to government regulation if you have not applied for the license.

What to do?:

• Find help by reading the article on RentalBuzz, https://www.spain-holiday.com/rentalbuz ... -community and follow the simple procedure.
• Once you have completed the procedure, send the application form or the obtained licence number to support@spain-holiday.com
• Our Support team will directly update your advert with your licence number. You won’t find any specific box in your account to add the number yourself, we can only add it for you to ensure that the licence number is the correct one.

In your region, each holiday home needs to be registered. Any person managing more than 3 holiday homes are considered to be agencies or property managers and they will receive one single number to advertise with (normally starting with EGVT). This number must be mentioned on each advert. Please also provide us with this number and we will add it on all your adverts.

Do you need help to apply for your tourist license in Alicante?

Spain-Holiday.com will soon be able to offer you a Tourist License Consultancy Service to help you ensure that your tourist licence application is correctly filled out and sent to the right authorities. This service aims to give you peace of mind organising the application and paperwork for the tourist licence for your holiday home in Alicante.

If you are interested in receiving more information about this service and to be notified when it is available please contact us by email at consultant@spain-holiday.com
Some guests just need a sympathetic pat. On the head. With a hammer.
costa-brava
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Post by costa-brava »

Wow! Wow! Wow!
Marks wrote, "Spain-Holiday.com will soon be able to offer you a Tourist License Consultancy Service to help you ensure that your tourist licence application is correctly filled out and sent to the right authorities. "
What an incredibly fantastic service!
How many times have we all tried to answer people's questions about where they can get this service?
I cannot imagine that there is any agency that is more competent or better informed than Spain-Holiday.
Of course there are local agencies but SH have been in on this one from the beginning.
I have no idea how much they'll take for this service but I really like the idea.
One of the key factors is that if you ever fall foul of the authorities it is important to show that you initiated the process of becoming legal.
Good luck Marks and all the SH team. I hope it works out well.
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roxytoo
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Post by roxytoo »

Theres still loads of properties on there without a license, I thought the cut off date was 15 July. Some say its pending, a lot say nothing at all...............
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