British and Irish second home owners in the Canary Islands have been hit with a £2,000 fine for refusing to rent out their holiday properties to tourists.
Apartment owners in the south of Gran Canaria have been hit with £2,000 fines for living in the houses instead of renting out the apartments built specifically for tourists.
Not only are they required to rent the apartments to holidaymakers, but they must do so through a registered tourism operator and cannot do so themselves.
The sanctions have led to demonstrations on the island over the consequences of legislation that punishes people who want to use their properties in tourist zones as a main residence or holiday home.
Reports from April last year identified a Spanish OAP as the first person to be fined under a controversial tourism law by the Canary Islands regional government.
And overnight, Irishman John Hefferman vented his anger as he revealed how he arrived at the Gran Canaria holiday home he bought 13 years ago to find a £1,930 (€2,250) fine waiting for him .
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Irishman John Hefferman vented his anger last night as he revealed how he arrived at the holiday home (pictured right) in Gran Canaria he bought 13 years ago to find a £1,930 (€2,250) fine waiting for him.
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The property is located in an apartment complex called Apartamentos Las Algas in the south of the island.
Mr. Hefferman is one of 400 homeowners reportedly sanctioned in recent months.
Those affected say the government is under pressure from tourism organizations, which say the residential use of apartments in tourist complexes has led to the loss of 68,000 beds for tourists on the islands.
Although some people who received the fines have appealed, Mr. Hefferman complains that he no longer has a way to pay because he only found out three months after the fine was issued when it was too late to fight .
He told respected island newspaper Canarias 7: “We paid the fine, but the thing is it’s a bit unfair.
‘We believe that the fines have been suspended for people who have appealed, but we have not had an opportunity to appeal because we did not receive the fine on time.
‘The other problem is that we find this very concerning. We bought this apartment to spend our winter months here and our family comes here too.
‘If that doesn’t work, we might have to sell it. This apartment will definitely be devalued if this rule is enforced.
‘We are very concerned about the future of this. It’s not fair. I don’t understand why this is happening after thirteen years of enjoying this place.’
He also questioned why the fine had not been sent to his home in Ireland, which he described as his registered address when he obtained his NIE, an ID number granted to foreigners in Spain.
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Mr Hefferman, who insisted that when he bought his property he was never made aware of the legislation that now applies to him and who says that the owners on his block use their flats in the same way as he does, is considered as the first non-Spaniard to speak out about the fines.
Hundreds of people demonstrated in the Gran Canaria resort of Playa del Ingles last September against the Canary Islands government’s decision to impose fines as part of a legal dispute linked to the 2013 tourism law.
Maribe Doreste, vice president of a group called Plataforma de Afectados por la Ley Turistica, which translates in English as the “platform for people affected by the tourism law,” has branded what is happening as a “constitutional violation of the case law of the Spanish Supreme Court’. Court on the right to property and freedom of residence.’
She has also accused companies involved in tourist rentals of pressuring politicians not to change the law and solve the problem.