New rules will ban flat owners from renting their apartments via websites such as Airbnb and Homeaway unless they obtain a special licence to do so. Owners face fines of up to €400,000 (£361,000) if they break the law, and the websites face the same fine for letting people advertise without a valid licence number. The new law introduces a cap of 623,624 beds that can be used for tourists, and there are plans to cut that by 120,000 over the next few years. Almost 70% of the beds assigned will be in Mallorca and more than half will be in hotels. Airbnb users condemned the move, saying it would force people to stay at larger hotel chains rather than renting flats from private owners.

Source: The Guardian August 09, 2017 23:19 UTC