Santa Cruz de Tenerife, 17 Mar. (Europa Press) –
The Canarian Government has granted approval on Monday, during the Governing Council, to the decree-law implementing urgent measures concerning the requirement to adhere to tourist use, aiming to address the issue of residential purposes in tourist areas, similar to law 2/2013, dated 29 May, relating to the tourist renewal and modernisation of the Canary Islands.
In this context, the Canarian Minister of Tourism and Employment, Jéssica de León, clarified that with the introduced modifications, “the processing of sanctioning procedures without a firm resolution and those undergoing review that have not concluded the administrative route will be suspended for a maximum duration of three years from the enactment of the Decree-Law.”
Interested parties, she added, must submit a request for the “change of use” to their local council, which must then be communicated to the Ministry. The aim is “to grant this additional three-year period for councils to carry out the essential specialisation of uses in tourist areas, a fundamental principle” established within the regional tourist, territorial, and urban legislation from the Guidelines Law of 2003, as reported by the Canary Government in a press release.
Such specialisation, she noted, “should have been executed over the past 22 years but takes on particular significance” from Law 4/2017 regarding land and natural spaces in the Canary Islands, according to the councillor. She added that the “failure to comply with this legal obligation has led to the initiation of numerous sanctioning proceedings.”
“Within three years, municipalities will need to specialise the uses and individuals affected by this situation will experience increased tranquillity, enhanced legal certainty, and should engage with local administration urging the specialisation of uses, in line with the proposed law on the sustainable management of tourist use of homes,” she stated.
Another aim of this initiative is to explicitly abolish the replacement of owners who do not adhere to the tourist use requirement, which directly contravenes the principle of exploitation unit, deeming it an “unfeasible mechanism due to its procedural and disproportionate complexity.” Thus, the Administration will continue to adhere to the law while providing greater legal certainty to citizens.
Over the past year, the Ministry of Tourism and Employment of the Canarian Government has promoted the Law of Sustainable Planning of Tourist Use of Housing to regulate holiday rental activities and has initiated the process to draft the future Tourism Law of the Canary Islands. It has also made progress in new regulations modifying the Autonomous Regulation of Active Tourism and will for the first time govern camps, camping, and other unique establishments within the islands.
