The Canary Island government is to table proposals calling on its counterparts in the rest of Spain to join it in placing tougher obstacles in the way of non-residents buying properties.
Canarian president Fernando Clavijo will present a detailed document to a key meeting next week of the presidents of all Spain’s regions, who will be asked to support changes to local government legislation to facilitate measures which are considered a way round potential legal issues at EU level with a blanket ban on non-residents acquiring homes.
Announcing details yesterday in the Canarian parliament, Clavijo argued that town halls may well be the key to getting round potential objections given that they can be empowered to impose specific requirements that would “make purchases difficult” but not impossible.
Steps that local councils will be encouraged to adopt include establishing a minimum period of residence in their towns before a person can buy a permanent home, insisting that the purchaser has employment in the local area, setting a deadline by which the property must be occupied by the purchaser and/or an obligation to make it available for long-term rental if not occupied.
The measures are seen by the Canarian government as an effective route to reducing the current property market speculation, which is driven largely by the demand for properties for short-term lets through platforms such as Airbnb and has seen locals priced out of renting and ownership. As reported here, the lack of affordable housing is one of the main grievances of the anti-tourism movements which staged another mass protest in the Canaries on 18 May.
In parallel to the measures which Clavijo hopes will receive backing from his fellow regional presidents at their meeting on 6 June in Barcelona, the Canarian government continues to press for specific treatment for outermost EU regions such as the Canary Islands, Madeira and the Azores, if necessary through exemptions to EU laws on the free movement of European citizens in terms of property ownership.
