Cort estimates that Palma has more than 15,000 illegal tourist homes.

PalmPalma City Council and the Consell de Mallorca have estimated that Palma has more than 15,000 illegal tourist rental homes, accounting for almost half of the island's illegal rentals.

Mayor Jaime Martínez held a press conference after the signing of a collaboration agreement between the City Council and the Consell de Mallorca to strengthen the fight against illegal rentals in Palma and achieve more comprehensive prosecution from different areas. The Mayor's Office for Comprehensive Housing and Anti-Employment Assistance of Palma City Council will work in collaboration with the Local Police and the City Council's Urban Planning Department.

The objective is to address the problem from "the three pillars of tourism": tourism itself, urban planning, and public order, as outlined by the Island Councilor for Tourism, José Marcial Rodríguez, who noted that illegal rentals are often linked to excessive tourism, uncivil behavior, and other factors. The addition of these two workers to the municipal office aims for greater specialization and exclusive dedication, and does not prevent the rest of the Consell inspectors from also analyzing complaints in Palma.

The agreement between the two institutions has an initial duration of four years, and although it will include specific campaigns, it is an initiative that "is here to stay," Martínez emphasized. In addition to the daily work with joint inspections and direct complaints to the municipal housing office, there will be a monitoring committee that will meet weekly or biweekly to analyze the evolution of the phenomenon and identify areas for action.

"We will not tolerate illegal activities that disrupt coexistence and endanger the sustainability of tourism," the mayor stated. Along the same lines, the president of the Mallorca Council, Llorenç Galmés, lamented the "poor image" that illegal tourism gives to the island and the "problems of coexistence between Mallorcans" that it generates, and therefore advocated for "eradicating intrusion and unfair competition" and "protecting tourism in Mallorca."

Galmés recalled that the island institution's 2025 summer campaign plans more than 3,000 inspections against illegal tourism, three out of four of them focused on vacation rentals. With the new regional tourism decree, fines for unregulated tourist rentals range from €50,000 to €500,000, as Rodríguez pointed out.

The regional minister emphasized the changing trend in accommodation advertising, which is moving away from traditional vacation rental platforms and increasingly moving to social media, where it is more difficult to detect and monitor them.