Last Saturday ( December 22 ) was published the Judgment ruled by the Supreme Court annulling Article 3.2 of Decree 113/2015 ( of the Canary Government ).
Our clients will remember that this is the Decree that regulated vacation rentals in the Canary Islands and that the article in question was the one that prohibited the same in the so-called tourist or mixed areas (Residential – tourist), thus restricting the rental to residential areas.
The recent ruling establishes that such restrictions are contrary to the principle of Free Enterprise as set forth in the Spanish Constitution and in European Law. The ruling adds that the restrictions imposed by the article lacked any justification and were discriminatory.
The ruling, which creates jurisprudence, will support the more than 300 applications and legal proceedings that this firm has filed on behalf of our clients in recent months. All these applications and our claims, which have already won in the first instance in the Contentious-Administrative Courts, must also be upheld in those cases in which the Cabildo Insular de Lanzarote has decided to file an Appeal. The strategy recommended by this firm has turned out to be the correct one.
The practical consequences of this ruling are enormous with respect to the tourist areas of Playa Blanca and Puerto del Carmen, and with respect to the mixed zones (Costa Teguise). We therefore urge those owners who wish to regularize their situation to contact this office as soon as possible.
This matter is, in our opinion, of the utmost urgency and should be urged before the Canarian Government brings forward the new Decree regulating vacation rentals, given the suspicion that it will impose new restrictions that will have to be – once again – duly challenged in the Courts.
Therefore, we have an open window (we do not know for how long) to legalize or to urge the appropriate procedures to carry out a regulated vacation rental, as long as, of course, the rest of the legal requirements in force are complied with.
For further information, please contact this office.