With buy-to-lets being all the rage back, many people come to Mallorca and think how wonderful it would be to buy a holiday home that they could use for a number of weeks during the year and then rent the property out during the rest of the year.
However, the tourist rental law in Mallorca is quite restrictive and only allows short-term rentals in very specific areas and types of properties.
Tourist rentals in Mallorca
A tourist rental is considered so when the whole property is rented out for short periods of time, of a maximum of a month. The law provides that all types of properties, including flats and terraced houses, as well as detached houses, semis and townhouses, will be able to obtain touristic licenses.
However, the Consell de Mallorca has devised a zoning plan, PIAT, where each zone determines whether touristic rentals can take place within a given area and if so, what types of properties are allowed to conduct such activity. Therefore, properties must sit in an area capable of sustaining touristic rentals for that type of property and, in addition, for flats and terraced houses, as long as the community of owners formally allows touristic rentals in their communities. In sum: whilst the law potentially allows all types of properties to conduct touristic rentals, not all parts of Mallorca are able to accommodate them. The restrictions aren't be based on property type, like in the previous law, but on the area where the property is.
Tourist rental types
Semi or detached villas can get an ETV365 licence, which has no expiration date and means that the property can be rented out throughout the year. The ETV365-Pluri licence is granted to buildings with more than one property and expires after 5 years. If the tourist rental is the owner's main living quarters, where they're registered in ('empadronamiento'), then they can get an ETV60 licence which expires after 5 years and allows for 60 days per year tourist rental.
There are other requisites:
- Only whole properties can be rented out as tourist rentals, never individual rooms. If they're located in a building where there are other properties, they must be agreed upon by the community of owners
- One owner can have up to 3 tourist rentals. 5 years must have passed since the owner purchased the property
- There are also energy efficiency requirements, with buildings constructed after 2008 requiring a D energy certificate (F before that)
- There must be at least 1 bathroom for each 4 guests
- Houses must display a sign with the licence number, which must also be visible in all promotional materials, including online
- Third-party insurance of at least €300,000
- 24-hour contact number
- Offer a minimum of tourist services and facilities such as regular cleaning, provision of sheets and towels, maintenance, fire extinguishers and any other services that may be deemed necessary
Registrations for a tourist rental licence can be made online.
Tourist rental zones
Seven different zones, with different levels of restrictions, have been devised. You can find a map here.
- Exclusion zones (small areas scattered around the island), where no touristic rentals of any kind are permitted – grey on the map.
- Rural protected areas, where no touristic rentals of any kind are permitted – green on the map.
- Rural common land, where rentals are permitted in detached houses, and also for 60 days within a given year on any kind of property as long as it is the owner’s permanent residence. No touristic rentals permitted in flats – yellow on the map.
- Population centres in the interior, where touristic rentals are permitted across the board –blue on the map.
- Population centres in the interior with intense touristic pressure, where only 60 days are permitted within a given year on any kind of property as long as it is the owner’s permanent residence – purple on the map.
- Coastal areas where touristic rentals are permitted across the board – orange on the map.
- Coastal towns with heavy touristic pressure, where only 60 days a year touristic rentals are allowed for any kind of property as long as it is the owner’s permanent residence, and only 30 of those can be in July and August – red on the map.
The city of Palma was given the faculty to determine its own regulation of touristic rentals and it only allows touristic rentals in detached houses sitting on urban land. Therefore, flats and apartments are excluded.
Please, bear in mind that laws may change. Check with a local lawyer and/or take a look at the current regulations before offering your property as a tourist rental.