Mallorca rural homes spark legalise-and-sell row
Mallorca’s rural homes are at the centre of a legalise-and-sell row: a Socialist MP says chalet owners legally resident in northern Europe can make their properties legal, then sell them. At a Balearic parliament session in Palma on Tuesday, 13 October, Mercedes Garrido challenges housing minister José Luis Mateo over the scheme for homes on rural land, known as suelo rústico. Mateo denies that it creates new opportunities for speculation or makes homes easier to buy.
Garrido says the government presented the scheme as help for people living in rural homes that needed to be legalised. She accuses Mateo of lying about who benefits. He says it is meant to end years of legal uncertainty for those affected, not to allow new homes or housing developments on rural land.
The argument widens to rents across the Balearic Islands. Ferran Rosa of MÉS per Mallorca calls for action against speculation and a limit on rents, saying the government’s housing measures have only pushed prices up. Mateo rejects a rent cap. He argues that limits must be proportionate and temporary, and used only after every other possible measure.
Source: Europa Press / Mallorca.com