Balearic Islands will punish illegal rentals

palma de mallorca - The Balearic Islands will be more closely monitoring the illegal rental of homes to tourists from Tuesday. Homeowners on the Spanish island group can count on fines starting from that day, which can rise to 40,000 euros, Spanish media reported Sunday.

Real estate agents, intermediaries and digital platforms like Airbnb and HomeAway must even pay up to 400,000 euros when renting rentals that are not intended for rent to tourists. The law on the Balearic Islands is not new. Already in 2012 the illegal rental was forbidden, but the authorities failed to check compliance.

To further dump the illegal rental there is a website on which Spanish citizens can report illegal activities. For tourists, the Ministry of Tourism has developed an app where they can quickly see if a holiday home has a legal or illegal status.