"It's impossible to put an end to illegal tourist rentals": an inspector speaks

Palm"It is impossible to put an end to illegal tourist offerings." This is how forceful an inspector from the Consell de Mallorca, who wishes to remain anonymous, is in conversation with ARA Balears. She knows firsthand the work done by the 26 inspectors of this island institution, who monitor both regulated and unregulated offerings. According to this source's account, it is much easier to detect infringements by licensed owners than to penalize those who operate outside the system. "It's not easy at all to prove there's illegal offering," she points out: "They are very clever." In this regard, she warns that, although fines have been toughened, her perception is that "very many procedures expire.

According to the most recent official data, published in August 2025, 39.5% of tourist apartments offered on platforms are not registered or do not have a license number in the official registries. Of the average of 20,204 properties analyzed each month for a year by the Consell, 7,978 were illegal, representing 42,342 tourist places. On April 10, the president of the Consell, Llorenç Galmés, announced that this year Airbnb has removed nearly 8,000 advertisements for illegal tourist rentals in Mallorca. Despite this, this inspector insists that "it is not possible to put an end to illegal tourist rentals" strictly through institutional control: "They do everything to bypass it".

What is the usual inspection process?

What is the usual inspection process? The Tourism Law of the Balearic Islands establishes the functions of inspectors. In the case of regulated establishments, they must undergo an inspection supervision visit to obtain the permit. Since they are registered, it is feasible to monitor their compliance with regulations. On the other hand, this source, who works on the ground, insists that properties offered without a license are difficult to track. "We look for them through complaints, or by seeing advertisements for tourist stays that are not registered with us," she explains.

Two by two

Once a potential illegal tourist apartment is located, inspectors organize to visit it. Since 2025, they do so in pairs. However, its owners "know all the steps very well," he asserts: "Initially, it is difficult to identify which apartment it is exactly, because the advertisements do not specify it." Thus, it is necessary to go to the building and try to speak with the president of the staircase or locate if there are tourists entering and leaving an apartment.

"We have even made visits in the early morning"

Inspectors have flexible hours to be more effective. "We have gone as far as to make visits at dawn," this source points out. In this regard, he assures that owners "do everything" to evade controls. According to his account, they post ads at strange times, "like at sunset or on weekends." "Sometimes, if there is a complaint about possible activity, we have gone as far as to look for the ad at sunset," he points out. Apart from traditional platforms, more and more ads are being posted on social networks or on websites that are not Spanish: "Lately, it's done a lot on Facebook".

Without control of the procedure

If a dwelling is identified and operates without registration, then an infraction report is drawn up and sent to the sanctioning department. From then on, inspectors lose control of the procedure. "The Law of Administrative Procedure states that we are not interested parties in the process," he explains. However, he says he is aware that the process is "very protective" and, therefore, often becomes time-barred. As ARA Balears explained, the Consell de Mallorca collected three million euros in sanctions imposed for illegal tourist rentals between 2024 and 2025, while the total fines that the institution has imposed in these two years exceed 10 million euros.

As ARA Balears explained, the Consell de Mallorca collected three million euros in sanctions imposed for illegal tourist rentals between 2024 and 2025, while the total fines that the institution has imposed in these two years exceed 10 million euros.

"There is no communication with the councilor"

According to this source, there is "no communication" with the insular councilor for Tourism, Guillem Ginard, although he admits that he met with the department's workers at the end of the year. Consulted by this publication, sources from the insular Ministry decline to make any comment on this information and insist that it is a personal perception that does not represent the department as a whole.

On the other hand, this inspector claims for more resources to carry out her work. "The monitoring program they gave us [from the Talk & Code company] worked at first, but now less so, as it is often limited to detecting regulated offers that do not comply with regulations, but not all illegal ones," she points out. In the same vein, she considers that an investment in technology is necessary to detect potential fraud. Regarding formulas such as the hiring of private detectives, she considers it ineffective, because "they cannot draw up the infraction report, and the inspectors' visit must be done anyway".