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Vol. 1 Issue 10 www.theolivepress.es August 31st - September 13th 2017
Page 18
‘Avalanche’ of rent calls AN ‘avalanche’ of calls from worried homeowners renting out flats without a licence has swamped Mallorca authorities. Hundreds of callers have rung the tourist department about getting flats regulated, despite missing the July 31 deadline. Unlicenced homeowners are concerned about possible fines of €40,000, with platforms like AirBnb and Homeaway facing penalties of €400,000. “It has generated an avalanche of calls,” said a spokesperson. “The big rental sites are taking down hundreds of homes without permits to avoid fines.” A Booking.com spokesperson refused to say how many it had removed, but confirmed it was in ‘constructive dialogue’ to comply with regulations.
Vital
Airbnb claim the new rental legislation will cost the Balearic Islands €500 million and hit 10,000 families. But many local property experts back the government’s moves. One, Louisa Foster, who has worked in Mallorca real estate for 17 years, believes the regulations are vital. “Last year, we were unable to help over 30 clients who had jobs here, but could not find affordable housing as the majority of homes are weekly rentals,” said the owner of Vogue Exclusive and First Island Properties Mallorca. “Families rang our offices in tears unable to find places at decent prices.” She added: “Unless the government do something now, this island will be ruined in two to three years.” David Novi, a property market specialist with 12 years’ experience on the island, also backed the need for tighter regulation and fines. “I believe in some form of regulatory threat,” he told the Olive Press. “We can’t have a situation where people are being driven out as they can’t get rentals. We need a balance.”
Mum ‘shocked’ as bank refuses to accept piggy-bank money
Hog wash EXCLUSIVE By Joe Duggan
IT should have been a fun early-life experience for her young son Oliver: The raiding of his piggy bank and the deposit in his bank account. But Alba Thomas’s local branch of La Caixa hadn’t read the script. In an astounding own-goal, officials at the Secar de la Real bank refused point blank to take it. “First they said they didn’t want to count the coins. Then they said they ‘didn’t
SHOCKED: Thomas and Oliver
want it’, the 24-year-old told the Olive Press. So now, the Mallorca mum, who dates an English businessman, is vowing to shut the one-year-olds account and put the €36 into a bank that ‘does care’. “I felt really bad because I am now unable to save money for my son. We wanted to give him the money when he was 18, as a nest egg. “Yet bank staff made me feel his money didn’t have any value, and I should be ashamed to have brought it,” she continued. After an uncomfortable
SAVING UP: Oliver with his piggy bank
wait, she was finally told that under new rules, bank staff are only allowed to accept coin deposits from restaurants and shops.
Expat tells of his Barcelona ‘hell’ careered past him and a friend pushing his chair. He told the Olive Press: “The van was about six metres away. It sped right past us. It made a crashing noise as it reached the end. “I have never been more vulnerable,” added the Mancunian recruitment consultant. “My mate literally disappeared in the chaos.” “I thought;‘If they come out with guns or knives now, I am dead. I am in a wheelchair. I am a prime target. Of course they
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW By Joe Duggan A WHEELCHAIR-bound expat has told of his terror when he was left to defend himself during the Barcelona terror attack. Craig Wilcock, 40, believes van attacker Younes Abouyaaqoub ran right past him on Las Ramblas, knocking over a woman who had come to his assistance. The father of two, who has lived in Barcelona for eight years, was going to a doctor’s appointment when the terrorist’s van
e Lions EL AVISO Threpub
Untitled-1.pdf 1 WITNESS: Wilcock saw terrorist
16/06/2017
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“The only reason I opened the account for Oliver, which obviously has charges, was so I could save for him.” Staff at the branch insisted they were unable to talk to the press and referred us to the head office, which failed to comment. According to Bank Of Spain rules, banks have the right to ‘deny the count of change if it exceeded 50 coins’. “In the case of shops or restaurants, it is all agreed in the contract’s conditions,” a spokesperson told the Olive Press. Opinion Page 6
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This is despite handing in another pile of coins in the very same branch a month ago when, after bagging up the money and counting it herself, bank staff sent it off to be checked and deposited it into the child’s account. “What has changed? It’s still money,” added Alba, who has had an account at the same branch for eight years, while her mother has banked with La Caixa for 50 years.
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