British and Irish holiday home owners in the Canary Islands are being hit with £2,000
British and Irish second home owners in the Canary Islands have been hit with £2,000 fines for refusing to rent out their holiday properties to tourists.
Apartment owners in the south of Gran Canaria were shocked to receive fines for living in their homes rather than renting out the flats built in complexes intended for tourists.
They are not just required to rent out the apartments to holidaymakers, but they also have to do it through a registered tourist operator and can’t do it themselves.
The sanctions have led to demonstrations on the island over the effects of legislation punishing people who want to use their properties in tourist zones as their main residence or holiday home.
Reports in April last year identified a Spanish OAP as the first person fined under a controversial tourist law by the Canary Islands Regional Government.
And overnight Irishman John Hefferman vented his anger as he revealed how he had arrived at the holiday home in Gran Canaria he bought 13 years ago to find a £1,930 (€2,250) fine waiting for him.
Irishman John Hefferman vented his anger about the fine overnight
Overnight Irishman John Hefferman vented his anger as he revealed how he had arrived at the holiday home (pictured right) in Gran Canaria he bought 13 years ago to find a £1,930 (€2,250) fine waiting for him
‘MY MISERY YOUR PARADISE’: Islanders are apparently annoyed that people’s holidays are ruining their home
The property is in an apartment block called Apartamentos Las Algas in the south of the island.
Mr Hefferman is one of 400 homeowners said to have been sanctioned over the past few months.
Those affected say the government is being pressurised by the likes of tourist operators who say the residential use of apartments on tourist complexes has meant the loss of 68,000 beds for tourists throughout the islands.
Although some of the people who received the fines have appealed, Mr Hefferman complained he had been left with no option to pay because he only found out about it three months after it was issued when it was too late to fight.
He told respected island newspaper Canarias 7 overnight: ‘We have paid the fine but the thing about it is that it’s a bit unfair.
‘We believe that the fines are suspended for people who did appeal it but we did not have an opportunity to appeal it because we didn’t receive it in time.
‘The other issue is that we find this very worrying. We bought this apartment to spend our winter months out here and our family come here as well.
‘If we can’t do that maybe we have to sell it. Certainly this apartment will be devalued if this rule is enforced.
‘We are very worried about the future of this. It’s unfair. I don’t understand why this is happening after 13 years of enjoying this place.’
He also questioned why the fine had not been sent to his home in Ireland which he described as his registered address when he obtained his NIE, an ID number assigned to foreigners in Spain.
‘TOURIST GO HOME’: Graffiti has appeared in the Canary Islands telling tourists to ‘go home’ and accusing holidaymakers of bringing ‘misery’ to locals
‘TOURIST, RESPECT MY LAND’: Islanders are said to be angry at the build-up of traffic from tourists
‘AVERAGE SALARY IN CANARY ISLANDS 1,200 EUROS’ : The ‘average salary’ marking is in reference to the low pay seen on the Island in comparison to rising rents, increasing interest rates, and the cost of living due to inflation rates
‘TOURIST GO HOME’: Messages included ‘Tourists go home’, ‘My misery your paradise’, and ‘Average salary in Canary Islands is 1,200€’
Mr Hefferman, who insisted he was never informed when he bought his property about the legislation now affecting him and says owners in his block are using their flats the same way he is, is believed to be the first non-Spaniard to speak out about the fines.
Hundreds of people demonstrated last September in the Gran Canaria holiday resort of Playa del Ingles against the Canary Islands’ Government’s decision to impose fines as part of a legal conflict linked to the 2013 Tourism Law.
Maribe Doreste, vice-president of a group called Platforms de Afectados por la Ley Turistica, which in English translates as the ‘Platform for People Affected by the Tourism Law, has branded what is happening as a ‘constitutional violation of the jurisprudence of Spain’s Supreme Court regarding the right to property and free residence.’
She has also accused businesses involved in tourist lets of pressuring politicians not to modify the law and solve the problem.