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Illegal Apartments to be Fined |
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The Agencia Valenciana del Turismo, Valencian Tourist Agency, is to start fining illegal or unregistered renters of flats and houses on the Costa Blanca.
The agency announced yesterday that has started proceedings against 1,200 owners of tourist lodgings that have been detected as having rented out during the month of July.
The inspectors have fond 24 companies that are dedicated to the rental of tourist lodgings in the province of Alicante alone. The fines for these companies and individuals renting out non registered apartments and houses can be up to 30,000 euros.
One of the worst areas is Benidorm. 15 companies there have more than 600 unregistered apartments. In the whole of the province there are 20,000 legal apartments with a total of 72,000 beds. However estimates suggest that there are a further 130,000 beds that are outside of the control of the authorities.
The key is the control of the apartment. The elements of concern are the cleanliness of the apartment from a health point of view as well as the appropriate fire safety elements that are required of tourist lodgings.
To register an apartment or house can be done without cost to the owner. Simply a form has to be filled in. For a company a little more information is required but again it is free to register apartments.
There is no official way of complaining about an unregistered apartment and tourists should make sure that any apartment they rent is registered.
There is also a fiscal aspect in as much as the authorities do no collect tax on the earnings from unregistered apartments. |
