What exactly is being proposed in Puerto de la Cruz?
The Ayuntamiento de Puerto de la Cruz (municipal council) is working on a local ordinance for viviendas vacacionales (holiday lets). The responsible Ciudad Sostenible department is headed by Councillor David Hernández. The ordinance is intended to adapt local rules to Canary Islands Law 6/2025.
The municipal consultation document proposes reserving at least 90 percent of the residential capacity of the municipal area for permanent housing. This percentage is set out as a general criterion for the future ordinance. It must be technically justified in the further process.
The town is also planning a zoning system. Particularly vulnerable residential neighbourhoods are to be identified. There, the town wants to examine how tourist accommodation can be reconciled with protecting the neighbourhood and the availability of permanent housing.
Bans are also planned on the tourist use of protected housing during the first ten years after its qualification. The same applies to buildings that do not meet the minimum habitability requirements.
Where are the holiday lets concentrated?
Puerto de la Cruz has around 2,300 registered holiday lets, as Councillor David Hernández explained. According to the town, some of the dwellings actually used for tourism are not registered.
The number of unregistered dwellings is unknown. Hernández pointed out that only a small percentage of the registered dwellings have a positive assessment. The rest do not have this positive evaluation.
The town also notes that large owners and companies concentrate numerous holiday lets in the town. This concentration is to be taken into account in the future regulation. According to the town, the availability of housing for permanent use is among the most important social concerns.
What does this mean for owners and operators?
Existing holiday lets will not be automatically shut down by the consultation. Which already operating dwellings may continue is to be clarified only by the later ordinance. No concrete new obligation, fee or closure has been decided so far.
Canary Islands legislation requires that at least 90 percent of residential capacity, or of existing and planned dwellings, remain reserved for residential use. Local planning can determine in which areas tourist dwellings are permitted or excluded. It can also provide for a lower proportion than the general maximum of 10 percent.
How can residents and expats take part?
The consultation runs for ten days from the day after the announcement is published on the municipal website. Residents, organisations, businesses, owners and affected groups can submit proposals.
Contributions can address the problems to be solved, the need for the ordinance, its objectives and possible regulatory alternatives. The aim is to include different perspectives in a regulation that will have direct consequences for the housing and tourism future of Puerto de la Cruz.
For visitors, no published changes to prices, bookings, entry, length of stay or closures are known in the short term. The consultation initially concerns the future zoning and possible restrictions on holiday let use.
Will Puerto de la Cruz become a “zona tensionada”?
The town is examining whether Puerto de la Cruz meets the conditions for being declared a “zona tensionada” (stressed housing market). No decision has yet been made.
The town wants the ordinance to be accompanied by a carrying-capacity study. This is to analyse the possibilities and limits of the municipal area from an ecological, social, tourist and infrastructure perspective.
What happens after the consultation?
After the consultation, the next steps are drafting the proposal, public display and examination of objections. The town will then decide on final approval. No exact date for entry into force has yet been set.
The town still has to determine which zones allow tourist dwellings, what percentage applies there and how existing stock will be treated. The number of potentially affected dwellings has also not yet been published.
Councillor David Hernández said the initiative responds to the need to update the local legal framework in view of the spread of this type of accommodation. Puerto de la Cruz wants to give itself an updated legal framework to manage the growth of holiday rentals.