Controlling tourist rentals is urgent

PalmThere isn't a week that goes by without us talking about tourist rentals. And it's normal. It has become a ubiquitous activity. Studies, analyses, and diagnoses are made, but when it comes down to it, nobody knows in detail how many properties are on the market. This is because, with the number of systems and platforms, both official and domestic, that technology offers, it's practically impossible.

Who controls that a so-called investor who has bought two apartments in Santa Catalina or Ciutadella posts an advertisement on social media, or sends photos through WhatsApp groups? This phenomenon is the main social and, therefore, economic problem that the islands have. With practically full occupancy, people can't make ends meet.

The equation is simple. Tourist rentals (legal or illegal) are so profitable for owners that thousands of properties fled and have not returned to the conventional rental market. And the properties that remain, by sheer law of supply and demand, are unaffordable.

We must urgently return the vast majority of apartments and houses to their function as homes, and let's not even talk about those that also operate outside the law. Proposals like that of Coalición por Mallorca, to reduce the number of places, or that each person can only have one tourist rental, are entirely appropriate.

This is why tourist inspections are also very important. And it's not enough to carry them out, but to process the files. Let's not have it happen like in Environment, where hundreds of cases have expired. And it's perfectly normal for the president of the Consell de Mallorca to want results. In Ibiza, they have shown that by insisting and allocating resources, illegal supply is at least withdrawn. We'll talk about degrowth another day.