The city of Valencia, a vibrant and constantly growing destination, is immersed in one of the most ambitious regulatory operations in the country with respect to the Flexible Accommodation. In an effort to reorder the market and address the growing concern over access to housing, the City Council has managed to deregistering more than 12,000 tourist dwellings in the last year. And the figure continues to rise, with other 7,000 casualties currently being processed.
These numbers, which represent a drastic reduction in the supply of Flexible AccommodationThe measure is part of a municipal strategy to reduce the number of tourist dwellings in the city of Valencia. The measure forms part of a municipal strategy to recovering residential use of these properties and to mitigate the impact of touristification in the centre and the most stressed neighbourhoods.
The majority of these casualties, around 90%The permits were for licences that did not comply with the city's urban planning regulations. The City Council has acted decisively, enforcing refusals or revocations of tourist use permits that had already been declared incompatible with municipal planning. This means that many of these dwellings should never have been licensed under the current interpretation of the regulations.
This process of registry "cleaning" has not been without its challenges and has generated intense debate in the sector. While the authorities defend the need to protect the right to housing and neighbourhood coexistence, the operators and owners of Flexible Accommodation legitimate tourism industry express concern about legal uncertainty and the impact on the legal tourism offer.
The consequences of this policy are multifaceted:
- Supply reduction: A significant decrease in the number of dwellings for tourist use in Valencia, especially in central areas.
- Economic impact: Potential losses for landowners who depended on this activity and for the ecosystem services associated with the Flexible Accommodation.
- Pressure on residential rents: The big question is whether these homes will return to the rental market in the long term or whether they will be put to other uses, given the regulatory uncertainty in traditional rental.
Valencia's strategy, like that of other large cities such as Barcelona and Madrid, reflects a general trend at the municipal level to redefine the role of the Flexible Accommodation in the urban fabric. The key for the future will lie in finding a balance between the necessary land-use planning and maintaining a quality tourism offer that contributes to the local economy, without unfairly punishing operators who comply with the law.
