Clampdown on undeclared holiday rentals

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SPAIN Dinero negro is the Spanish term for 'under the counter' or 'illegal' money. There are some 120,000 undeclared summer rental properties in the country, which the central government has recently aimed big guns at under the aegis of the Ley de Medidas de Flexibilización y Fomento del Mercado del Alquiler de Viviendas, or the Measures of Flexibilisation and Development of the Property Rental Market Law, which came into effect on June 1 when it was published in the Official State Bulletin (BOE). The law has two basic objectives: to try to change the Spanish habit of property acquisition and encourage the more 'advanced' system of rental. The other objective is clearer, and probably easier to accomplish: the uncovering of illegal, or undeclared, summer rentals.>>>

Rosie Sutherland Villas

Rosie Sutherland Villas

Rosie Sutherland Villas

Inspectors to check rental properties for tax evasion

Holiday rentals, main target

MADRID The head of the Agencia Tributaria, Beatriz Viana, announced last week that her agents will be visiting rental properties to verify paperwork. They will also be checking the internet to identify properties in the rental market. She warned that if a property is rented, Income Tax must be paid on the profits, something, said Viana, that is not happening particularly in the short-term holiday sector. Other measures in the plan include, and it's a long list:>>>

Over 500 families evicted so far this year

Algeciras Courthouse

Free advice and counselling at offices in regional capitals and Algeciras

CAMPO DE GIBRALTAR According to several area media, which cite court sources, the jurisdictions of Algeciras, La Línea and San Roque have issued 240, 225 and 90 eviction notices, respectively - largely for non-payment of mortgages, rarely for rentals -  up to October 1 this year. The four courts of first instance in Algeciras, for example, issue between 20 and 25 orders per quarter. La Línea's four courts average about 20, and San Roque, with only two such courts, issues about 15, proportionately a higher rate. The figures corroborate the tendency towards a significant increase in the number of evictions in Andalucía, which have gone up by 34.1% in the the first half of this year. COMING SOON: SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION >>>

Rental Insurance

New laws to stimulate rental housing

SPAIN Renting a property in Spain is unusual. At any rate, that is what the statistics say: only 17% of housing is rented, against the European average of 83%. There are only 1.8 million properties rented out, but over 3 million remain unoccupied. Part of the reason behind these figures may well be in the law - and lack of legal security for both parties to rental contracts - that has for a long time applied to what is now, in perilous financial times, perceived as a very weak market that needs stimulation. So the Government has decided to make some significant changes to the law. The Minister for Public Works, Ana Pastor, recently announced a draft bill that includes such items as that rent increases will no longer be calculated according to the CPI (Consumer Price Index) but will be by agreement between landlord and tenant. There is a lot more to the law, which we describe and analyse below.>>>

Rental Insurance

Rental Insurance

Algeciras, lowest rental prices in province

ALGECIRAS
The average rental price per square metre in Algeciras stands at €5.96, well below the provincial (€7,11), regional (€6.84) and national (€8,36) averages, according to a study by Fotocasa. The town was also included in a list of the cheapest in the country - always referring to rental prices - and the study places it 26th in national terms. A similar ranking for Andalucía, puts Algeciras in sixth place. The study also says that rental prices all over Spain dropped 14% in two years.