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The Malaga City Council has made it clear they are going to act against the proliferation of tourist apartments in the city and intend to place limits on them, following a meeting in which residents of two tower blocks shared their concerns.
In a meeting on Wednesday, the Councilor for Urban Planning, Carmen Casero, heard from residents of the 30-storey twin Martiricos Towers who shared documents which showcased the problems they are suffering with due to the existence of around 140 tourist apartments.
Complaints from tower blocks included noise in the early hours of the morning, fights, excessive occupation of the swimming pool, and bags of rubbish being left in bins outside the complex, according to the newspaper, Sur.
On August 26, local police and fire services were called to attend and intervene due to tenants of a tourist flat spraying the contents of a fire extinguisher on the 17th floor.
Such complaints led the city hall to call for the licences of all the flats operating as tourist lets to be withdrawn.
According to data compiled by SUR, obtained from the official tourism register of the Junta de Andalucia, 111 of the flats in the south tower – 44 percent – and 30 in the north tower have been registered as tourist accommodation.
Together, the tourist flats account for 31 percent of the total number of residential units in the two towers.
According to Sur, the meeting left the residents with “a good feeling” and would have received the support of Casero, who insisted that the apartments they acquired are part of a building that has a residential use.
Casero is also said to have informed the residents of the City Council’s intention to put an end to the tourist apartments that violate the municipal ordinance of not having an independent entrance, developed following the decree of the regional government to regulate tourist housing.
Casero also insisted that the problem suffered by the residents of Martirico Towers is widespread in Malaga and that the intention of the meeting was not to investigate “exclusive” solutions for the residents in question.
The residents of the towers were also informed that the City Council had fulfilled its part that the apartments cannot operate as tourist apartments are already listed in the Tourism Delegation of the Junta de Andalucia.
Casero stressed the cancellation of licences was now the responsibility of the regional government and warned the process is likely to be legally complex.
The residents are now said to be seeking to repeat a meeting with officials from the Tourism Delegation, which they consider to be essential in order to clarify the doubts that they continue to have that the City Council has not been able to clarify.
