The City Council of Valencia has approved new regulations imposing a 2% limit on the total stock of holiday homes per neighborhood and district. Mayor María José Catalá described the new rules as the most restrictive in Spain. The regulations include an amendment stipulating tourist accommodation numbers cannot exceed 8% of the resident population registered in a district or neighborhood.
Mayor Catalá said the council had ended eight years of 'uncontrolled chaos', which she blamed on Valencia's former left-wing coalition administration. The new regulations will ensure 98% of new homes will be for residential use only. No more than 15% of holiday accommodation will be allowed on the ground floor of buildings in residential neighborhoods.
We marked a turning point by protecting the right of residents to live in their city with courage and without difficulty.
Mayor Catalá stated that the council marked a turning point by protecting the right of residents to live in their city with courage and without difficulty, adding that Valencia is not just a sun and beach city seeking mass low-cost tourism. Valencia has seen mass protests against overcrowding from tourism and spiraling housing costs. Francisco Guardeño from the Federation of Neighborhood Associations of Valencia said over 9,000 tourism apartments operate illegally in the city.
According to Daily Express - Travel, Francisco Guardeño described the city's main tourist accommodation sector as operating in the shadows, almost twice the number of hotel accommodations. 7% of the 11,938,668 tourists who visited the Valencian region came from the UK. It remains unclear when exactly the new regulations will take effect and how they will be enforced, as well as how many holiday homes currently exist in Valencia and how many will be affected by the new limits.
We are not just a sun and beach city seeking mass low-cost tourism.
Specific penalties or measures for illegal tourism apartments have not been detailed. It is unknown how the 2% limit per neighborhood and district will be calculated and monitored, or whether there are any exemptions for existing holiday homes.
The city’s main tourist accommodation sector, almost twice the number of hotel accommodations, operates in the shadows.