Tag: fine

Tourist Sector Hits Back At Airbnb, HomeAway & Niumba

18 May 2015 – Expansión

The sector is demanding a stronger institutional fight against the intermediaries. The Government says that each region is responsible for its own response.

The main Spanish tourism companies have teamed up in an offensive with the aim of limiting the power of the proliferation of unregulated tourist rental accommodation, which do not pay taxes and do not meet the safety, hygiene and space requirements and other guarantees offered by legal accommodation. The sector wants to curb the platforms (websites such as Airbnb, 9flats, Wimdu, Rentalia, Niumba and HomeAway, amongst others) that make money by acting as intermediaries. And to that end, it has been pressuring the Spanish Government for some time to prohibit them, since they think that the autonomous communities are not fulfilling their regulatory duties.

Over the last few months, the tourism association Exceltur, whose members include prestigious companies such as NH, Melia, Iberia, American Express, Hotusa and Globalia, has been holding conversations with the Secretary of State for Tourism (who reports into the Ministry for Industry, Energy and Tourism). Exceltur thinks that the Executive “could do a lot more” to regulate the operations of these rental companies, which it considers are unfair competition and which threaten its business. The main trade association for Spanish hoteliers, Cehat, estimates that between 2010 and 2013, the number of customers staying at these establishments increased by 300%, and it calculates that the number of foreign tourists who use them represents more than 20% of the total.

To support its position, Exceltur has commission the consultancy firm EY (Ernst & Young) to conduct a study analysing the impact that this illegal rental accommodation is having on the tourism sector as a whole, not just on the hotel segment. To date, EY has prepared a report about the consequences for the Balearic Islands if this rental accommodation continues to grow at its current rate over the next ten years. According to its calculations, the hotel sector would lose between 5,000 and 13,000 jobs and forgo a gross added value of between €211 million and €529 million.

Regional jurisdiction

The Government says that tourism is a regional jurisdiction, and so the Central Administration cannot do much beyond trying to standardise the regional regulations as much as possible. Moreover, the upcoming regional and general elections are likely to scupper any attempt at reform.

To date, the regions that have endeavoured to do the most to regulate tourist rental accommodation are Madrid and Cataluña, although the former received a blow from the National Competition and Markets Commission (CNMC) in March when it ruled that the Madrid law (which only allows accommodation to be rented provided the minimum stay is five days) is a barrier to free competition.

Meanwhile, the Catalan Generalitat requires intermediary websites to ensure that each property offered for rent has a kind of identification number plate to accredit it as accommodation with its license in order. Last summer, Cataluña imposed a fine of €300,000 on the web portal Airbnb for allegedly failing to comply with that standard.

On an international level, cities are taking a variety of decisions. Thus, for example, New York has declared war on tourist rental accommodation, with coordinated teams of tax inspectors, police and lawyers; and the town hall of Amsterdam has just approved an agreement with Airbnb, which requries the platform to coordinate the collection of the tourist tax that is applicable to the activities of its users.

The so-called “collaborative economy” represents a real headache for legislators, both in Spain and across Europe. In Spain, Article 16 of the Law for Information Society Services (2002) states that intermediaries (such as Airbnb, Uber and others) are not liable for the possible unlawfulness of the people they host, unless they have specific knowledge thereof. Meanwhile, the European Commission is drafting a directive that may ease restrictions on the European market and facilitate the activity of these platforms.

Original story: Expansión (by Yago González)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Cataluña Will Fine Banks That Do Not Lease Out Foreclosed Homes

11 March 2015 – Expansión

The Generalitat will impose fines of up to €90,000 on banks that have homes (on their balance sheets) resulting from mortgage foreclosures and the assignment of deeds in lieu of payment, which are in a poor condition and as a result, are not leased out. The 72 municipalities with the highest demand (for housing) will be forced to transfer affected homes to the Generalitat, which, after refurbishing them, will lease them out for a maximum period of ten years. This is one of the measures contained in a law introduced to address urgent housing measures, which the Government of Artur Mas (CiU) announced yesterday.

The text also empowers the Generalitat and the town halls to exercise ‘their pre-emptive rights and rights of first refusal’ for all of the homes that have resulted from mortgage foreclosures and the assignment of deeds in lieu of payment, that the bank wants to sell. The objective is to prevent packages of properties ending up in the hands of international funds and evicting the tenants from those homes.

Original story: Expansión (by A.Z.)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Regional Government of Andalucía Fines BBVA €1.62m

20 January 2015 – Inmodiario

A €60,000 fine for each one of the 27 protected homes not offered up to the municipal registry offices.

In Andalucía, banks and the Sareb are still being fined for not providing their empty subsidised homes to the municipal registry offices.

The partial suspension of the eviction law a year ago by the Constitutional Court following the presentation of the appeal by the central Government, has not impeded the processing of claims in any way, which are ending with the imposition of million-euro fines, which are all being appealed by the affected entities.

Now, it is BBVA’s turn. Its total fine amounts to €1.62m; €60,000 for each one of the 27 accredited homes that were not offered up to the respective Town Halls to be made available to citizens affected by evictions.

The apartments are located in the provinces of Granada (seven), Cádiz (six), Almería (five), Huelva (five), Málaga (two) and Sevilla (two).

According to the Ministry, these homes have not been offered up to the municipal registry offices, which establish the selection mechanisms for the foreclosure of properties under public protection and set the socio-economic requirements for access to them under the principles of equality, openness and accountability.

The fine levied on BBVA follows those levied on two other financial institutions for the same reason: Banco Popular was fined €5.82m for 87 homes and Sabadell was fined €120,000 for two homes. In addition, the Ministry is still investigating potential fines against five other financial institutions, for a total of €3.48m: Building Center (€1.56m for 26 homes), Unión de Créditos Inmobiliarios (€780,000 for 13 homes), Banco Santander (€660,000 for 11 homes), Servihabitat (€360,000 for 6 homes) and Anida Operaciones Singulares (€120,000 for 2 homes).

Furthermore, the Ministry of Development has fined Sareb (the entity known as the bad bank) €120,000 for obstructing the Government’s measures to ensure the social function of its subsidised homes. And it is investigating another case against Sareb amounting to €11.7m for the breach of article 20m, after it allegedly failed to place 98 homes at the disposal of municipal registry offices.

The law that contains the measures to ensure the social function of housing was not challenged by the central Government in its entirety but some precepts were appealed, such as the power to fine financial institutions for leaving homes empty for more than six months and the authority to temporarily expropriate the use of homes to avoid the eviction of families at risk of exclusion.

Original story: Inmodiario

Translation: Carmel Drake