Tag: legal proceedings

Meliá & the CIO Group Bury The Hatchet

22 August 2016 – Expansión

Meliá and Compañía de las Islas Occidentales (CIO) – the Canary Island-based family group that brings together tourism, industrial and service sector companies – have put an end to the legal battle that has been raging between them since 2008.

The hotel chain owned by the Escarrer family has reported in a statement that CIO has acquired all of the shares that Meliá still owned in that group’s companies. Specifically, the company chaired by Francisco Javier Zamorano has acquired 5.03% of Inversiones Hoteleras Playa del Duque from Melía, along with the 8.42% stake that the hotel chain owned in Inversiones Turísticas Casas Bellas.

Inversiones Hoteleras Playa del Duque is the owner of the Gran Hotel Bahía del Duque (pictured above). Meanwhile, Inversiones Turísticas Casas Bellas owns and manages 40 five-star luxury villas at a complex that also houses a spa, mini-golf course and other facilities in the Playa del Duque urbanisation, in the town of Adeje (Santa Cruz de Tenerife), according to recent information filed with the Commercial Registry.

The business relationship between the two groups began in 1993, when Melía was chosen to operate Gran Hotel Bahía del Duque. The problems first arose in 2008, when CIO pushed Meliá aside from the management of the property. CIO defended its decision on the basis that Melía had opened a hotel complex in the same tourist area, which competed directly with Gran Hotel Bahía del Duque, given that, in its opinion, that represented a “clear conflict of interests”.

Meanwhile, Meliá initiated arbitration proceedings, which concluded that the Mallorcan chain had not breached any exclusivity agreement and that, therefore, the decision (to remove Meliá as the hotel manager) was improper and Meliá should receive €1.29 million by way of compensation.

Following that ruling, the company chaired by Zamorano understood that CIO would be automatically entitled to repurchase the shares that Meliá still owned in its companies, and that the dividends received for those shares would be returned, and so, it decided to appeal to the courts. Now, eight years later, and following Meliá’s exit from the CIO companies, the groups have definitively buried the hatchet.

Original story: Expansión (by R.Arroyo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Bank Of Spain: Home Evictions Down By 20%

21 July 2016 – El Mundo

A total of 17,939 homes were evicted by court order in 2015, up by 11.3% compared with 2014, of which 77% related to primary residences. Nevertheless, only 902 of those properties were occupied, which represents a 20.1% decrease compared with 2014, according to data from the Bank of Spain, which shows that the aforementioned increase was concentrated in the eviction of empty primary residences (35.7%).

In addition, the issuing bank states that 82% of the mortgages that gave rise to forced evictions of occupied homes, both primary residences and others – corresponding to 1,112 properties, down by 18.2% – were originated in or before 2007.

The lower level of activity in terms of evictions is also observed in the data relating to law enforcement involvement in property evictions. In this way, only 14 such interventions were recorded in 2015, down by 44%. Of those, less than half were carried out in primary residences.

If we add together the legal and voluntary proceedings during 2015, there was a 3.8% decrease in the total number of homes handed over, to 36,929 – i.e. 0.57% of all mortgages – which in the case of primary residences amounted to 2.4%, with 29,327 properties.

More than half of the homes handed over were done so voluntarily

The number of voluntary home hand overs decreased by 14.8% last year, to 18,990, with a reduction of 20.1% in the case of primary residences. Thus, voluntary home hand overs accounted for 51.4% of the total.

On the other hand, there were 16,175 “daciones en pago”, down by 12.4% compared with 2014, which accounted for 85.2% of all voluntary home hand overs. Of those, 81.5% related to primary residences, down by 19.9%.

Other data provided by the Bank of Spain indicates that the total number of mortgages granted for house purchases amounted to 6.3 million at the end of 2015, down by 1.1% compared to a year earlier.

Original story: El Mundo

Translation: Carmel Drake

Colau Announces Fines Of Up To €600K For Unlicensed Tourist Flats

29 June 2016 – Expansión

Yesterday, the Town Hall of Barcelona announced that it will impose tougher fines in its attempt to eradicate illegal tourist apartments. The sanctions will amount to €30,000 in the case of individual apartment owners and up to €600,000, in the case of virtual platforms promoting unlicensed apartments against which legal proceedings have already been started. The fines will not affect individuals who rent out a room in their homes, but will apply to those who rent out entire homes and do not have the necessary tourist licences, issued by the Generalitat.

Legal proceedings were launched against Airbnb last year and yesterday, that company issued a strong statement against the municipal regulations, which it described as “disappointing” and “archaic”, given that, in its opinion, “they protect traditional companies and leave no room for individual (entrepreneurs)”.

The main trade association in the sector, Apartur, predicted that the plan “will not work at all”, given that (for it to be successful) it would have to be accompanied by the lifting of the veto that prevents the legalisation of new tourist apartments. Apartur represents 210 companies, which own 7,000 of the 9,600 legal tourist apartments in the city.

The fight against illegal tourist apartments is one of the battle horses that Ada Colau set herself when she was elected mayoress of Barcelona, just over a year ago. The Town Hall said yesterday that in the last year and a half, it has performed 2,505 inspections, of which 2,701 have concluded with the opening of disciplinary proceedings. It also confirmed that it hired more inspectors on Monday.

Last year, Ada Colau opened the first legal proceedings against Airbnb and Homeaway, and following the continuation of the new requirements, nine online portals have stopped advertising unlicensed tourist homes, including Fotocasa, Tripadvisor and Rent4days.

Original story: Expansión (by David Casals)

Translation: Carmel Drake