Mallorca home curbs return for second-home buyers

A fresh bid to curb home purchases in Mallorca is heading back to parliament after Brussels put second homes at the centre of its own proposal. MÉS per Mallorca announced in Palma, Mallorca, on 14 September that it will reintroduce a plan previously rejected by the chamber in February. The party’s parliamentary spokesman, Lluís Apesteguia, said the new version will be put forward ahead of Tuesday’s sitting.

The earlier plan sought to limit purchases by non-residents. But MÉS now accepts that any restriction could also affect people living in the Balearic Islands, as European Union rules cannot treat EU nationals differently if a law is to withstand a court challenge.

A rewritten plan after Brussels move

Apesteguia said the text will not simply return unchanged. MÉS intends to revise both its reasoning and specific articles to reflect developments in recent months.

The European Commission’s proposal is mainly aimed at limiting second-home purchases, whether the buyer is from Spain or abroad. Apesteguia said that approach, alongside rulings by the Court of Justice of the European Union, showed there could be exceptions to the free movement of capital.

MÉS had already explored the issue in Brussels in 2022, according to Apesteguia. He said the party was told restrictions could be possible if the housing emergency were sufficiently justified.

PP rejects limits on Balearic residents

PP spokesman Sebastià Sagreras said his party first wants to see exactly what the European proposal contains and how far it would go. He said governments should examine whether such a measure could help people.

But he firmly opposed any rule stopping a Balearic resident from buying a second home within the islands. “I cannot get my head around a Mallorcan not being able to have a second residence in another municipality of Mallorca,” Sagreras said.

PSIB spokesman Iago Negueruela has changed his question for regional president Marga Prohens at the forthcoming parliamentary sitting to raise the issue. He said the Socialists support the European proposal, which also refers to declaring pressured housing areas, and noted that a Socialist amendment to Palma’s planned capital-city law includes that measure.

Topics: Migration · Culture · Politics · Palma · Sóller

Source: Europa Press / Mallorca.com