renting out your villa privately - changes in legislation

[dreamingofsun]

I've been reading in the paper that several countries are changing their legislation to stop villa owners renting directly to the public. Is this true? Does anyone know the details?

I read that too, it said it would affect Spain and France. If it is true it is going to cause huge problems for those renting out villas and those wanting to rent them.

This story has been rumbling along for some time and there has been a lot of unneccessary exageration in the press which is not helpful for villa owners or holidaymakers. All it really comes down to is that if you want to rent your holiday home in Spain you will need a licence, and this will involve complying with certain requirements such as hygiene and safety etc. Quite a few Spanish provinces have not yet passed their own laws so that exact requirements for each province are not yet clear. More bureaucracy, but those of us who have lived in Spain for several years will be used to that!
I think anyone renting out good quality accommodation will have no problems. Although there may an extra cost involved I don't see us having to raise our own rental prices as a result of these new laws. There is a helpful and less hysterical article here www.spain-holiday.com/rentalbuzz/latest-on-the-new-holiday-rentals-law-in-spain .
I think those who will really be affected by this new law are the many Spanish people who try to make a bit of extra money by renting out their apartments on the coast for the summer while they stay with relatives - for them it may not be possible to continue renting. That would be sad as in the present climate the Spanish need all the help they can get!

thanks hello. that doesn't seem so bad - from a holiday makers perspective anyway. for various reasons we would always choose a villa rather than hotel, so I was worried we might not be able to visit certain countries.

i wonder what the effect is in lanzarote as it all seems very vague and confused.

though licenses don't necessarily = quality as we found out in the disgustingly dirty and badly maintained cottage in wales that had 4*'s from the welsh tourist board and the letting agency.

I'm not sure about the position in other countries, but in France (where I am & have done a little bit of research into what's happening) it's initially for lets in city centres, and it seems to be an attempt to stop absent owners making profit from their 2nd properties. There's been a load of hoo-hah on various forums about it as a result of a wild article in the Daily Mail, based on hardly any facts. Agree totally with HelloClouds that anyone renting out good accommodation and doing it officially will have no problems.