If history is any guide, that won't happen until at least the next century.

Everything they do works against them. Its as if they are on a suicide mission. The ancient coastal laws reinstated, the old Land Grab situation, the asset declaration situation that made people nervous because of the uncertainty. If I ran a business like this, I would soon run out of customers

As you say, it simply won't work. We use hotels, but more often than not private rentals, legally registered one's I hasten to add! I go along with the idea of inspecting and registering B&B's, private villas etc, if only to safeguard the security and safety aspects. Fire extinguishers, gas checked etc. Friends of ours rent some of their properties through James Villas, and they have satisfy themselves that everything is perfect before they take properties on. At the front of one of the properties there are some railings to stop anyone coming out of the house and heading straight into the pool, JV made them put mesh between the railings as they reckon it was possible (just, with a squeeze!) for a child to get it's head stuck between them! That may be over the top, but at least you could stay in any of his properties safe in the knowledge that everything had been checked. Some unregistered rentals are deathtraps. Mind you, so are some hotels!

Exactly, suicide mission just abut sums it up.

We will sorting out our non-residency from Jan 14.

Getting our UK residency back, and spending the rest of the year between Spain and Portugal, where we are renting a small house long term.

(We would not by any property that is not located in the UK)

I'm sure I read somewhere that Spain had the biggest number of British holidaymakers ever this year. And that's despite Gibraltar and everything else.

Spain is hopeless at promoting itself because it has never had to. The visitors and expats just keep on coming because of the country's natural attractions, the weather, and dare I say it, the people.

Their service industry is a shambles, the funcionarios are renowned for their rudeness, but ordinary Spanish people are a treasure with a sense of humour missing from half of the rest of Europe.

My wife has just left for another bout of idiotic bureaucracy, but she just laughs it off and I've seen her make even the rudest civil servant smile.

We usually stay in hotels but the Spanish have a weird star rating system. Many 5* places only offer buffet meals and hardly any room service menu. It can work that some 3* are much better if chosen carefully.

Stayed in one at Carmona which was listed as one of the worlds leading hotels...WTF Reminded me of a student flat in the seventies complete with ancient TV and it smelt

The problem with tourist figures is that they count bums on seats. Many are going to their own properties or to stay with relatives, even Spaniards returning for holidays and wouldn't be considering a hotel.

I don't think the Gibraltar factor will show up yet as most will have already booked. Although it made little difference under Franco.

The UK requires people to register many properties for letting, be it a holiday let or a longer term tenancy, to make sure certain standards (including safety) are met.

Spain attempts the same and suddenly it's just a case of the Spanish government caving in to the lobbies? There's more to it than that I think.

The last two times I have rented a private villa I have had to put up with old mattresses destroying my back. I have had to go out and buy cutlery and cooking pans because what was provided was impossible to use. I've been given no information by the agent (the last one I never even met, we just exchanged keys via the letterbox). No mention of fire exits and safety drills. And of course not an "hoja de reclamación" in sight. Any chance of regulating them so that some minimum standards are guaranteed must be a step in the right direction.

Yes I know the motivation behind this is the hotel lobby, but they do have a point. Also, let's face it, may private landlords don't declare their tax either. A bit of regulation won't go amiss. In practice of course it will make little difference. Some areas simply don't have enough hotels to accommodate the tourists and are completely reliant on private lets to get the tourists in. The local council isn't going to kill the goose by reducing trourist accommodation. However some light regulation might make their stay a bit better.

The UK requires people to register many properties for letting, be it a holiday let or a longer term tenancy, to make sure certain standards (including safety) are met.

Spain attempts the same and suddenly it's just a case of the Spanish government caving in to the lobbies? There's more to it than that I think.

The last two times I have rented a private villa I have had to put up with old mattresses destroying my back. I have had to go out and buy cutlery and cooking pans because what was provided was impossible to use. I've been given no information by the agent (the last one I never even met, we just exchanged keys via the letterbox). No mention of fire exits and safety drills. And of course not an "hoja de reclamación" in sight. Any chance of regulating them so that some minimum standards are guaranteed must be a step in the right direction.

Yes I know the motivation behind this is the hotel lobby, but they do have a point. Also, let's face it, many private landlords don't declare their tax either. A bit of regulation won't go amiss. In practice of course it will make little difference. Some areas simply don't have enough hotels to accommodate the tourists and are completely reliant on private lets to get the tourists in. The local council isn't going to kill the goose by reducing trourist accommodation. However some light regulation might make their stay a bit better.

Exactly, but I didn't want to bring UK into the thread, we have experts here at doing that! Not referring to you!

Like you, I'm all for getting all the cowboy renters inspected and paying tax, why should they not pay tax on their earnings?

..because it's the hotelier's money. They are entitled to dominate the market and it's just not fair that the average Jose can do it too, no matter how much they may be struggling. After all, the hotel chains spend a lot of money on buying politicians to ensure they get their just reward. How many lowly homeowners bother (or can afford) to pay off the tourism board?

If they took away the cowboy renters from the area I know well, the place would be empty. The people from Madrid would have to stay at home for their holidays.

They're back home now, having caused havoc for another year. I had to go into town yesterday and parking and everything else was an absolute pleasure.

September was my favourite month. Everyone gone, no more queues, kids back at school but still summer weather

The point being, is that around CB North it's well known that if you apply for approval you very rarely get it even if you apply all the requirements, and once you have applied and been rejected you are then under scrutiny

From the first link.......

"Although Spain had received 34 million tourists to the end of July, the country's hotels only clocked up 37.6 million hotel nights.
That's just over one night per visitor."

Pretty well tells its own story, ppl.are voting with their feet and their pockets so why fight against it,........ other than to pocket a nice backhander or two from the hoteliers association of course.

Even if you ignore the hotel implications, given the pitiful state that the Spanish economy is in you'd think the Spanish government would be desperate to get this tax in. A quick scan through the web will throw up thousands of holiday lets, mostly probably illegal, it's not surprising that Spain reckons the black economy costs it the equivalent to 25% of GDP. I know the registration of these properties has been in the news lately, but as usual Spain makes lots of noises, drafts all sorts of laws but rarely implements them.