This question comes up increasingly, so here is some clarification on the current state-of-play regarding property rentals in Mallorca.
In order to rent a property out “commercially” for short-term holiday lets you need a tourist license. For villas and country house properties this is possible provided your property meets certain basic criteria such as the relevant safety standards.
However, relatively few apartments have these and they are practically impossible to get. The reason behind this is that the hotel lobby, who are a powerful political force in Mallorca, prefer people to stay in their hotels for their holidays rather than apartments.
The requirement for a tourist license has been there for many years, but in the last year the regulations have been more rigorously enforced and if you rent a property commercially without a license the fines can be steep.
However, the majority of apartments in Mallorca are rented out successfully without issue. The reason they can do this is because they are not rented out “commercially”. This means not renting out through a management company and not providing services such as towels or food. If the property is not rented out commercially it is perfectly legal there should be no issues.
In the last year what constitutes a “commercial” letting has become more of a grey area. Many people advertise though direct rental web sites but to be absolutely safe it is best not to do this. Better to advertise through UK only media and to friends / family. And it is a wise precaution to tell guests that if anyone asks who they are, they should simply say they are friends of the owner. If you have a good property you should find that as you build your client base it expands by word-of-mouth and that many people will return year after year. So these restrictions are not as limiting as they might sound.
The other point to check is that your community allows short-term rentals. This should be clear in the community regulations and it is sensible to ask whether other properties in the community are rented too. We will always check this in advance, so if you are looking to rent your property out we will only show you properties in communities where this is not an issue.
The Mallorca Government is going to legislate more clearly on the matter of commercial lettings, but currently there is no indication as to when this will happen. I suspect it will be quite soon as there is a lot of pressure on them to clarify. Until then the best policy is to err on the side of caution. As I say, the fines can be steep so don’t be tempted to advertise overtly (e.g. in the local press), or to provide services, and certainly don’t rent out if you are in a community that does not allow short-term rentals.
