Ibiza’s holiday rental sector gathered on Tuesday for its 12th annual congress in Platja d’en Bossa, with the regulation of tourist places, the fight against illegal listings and family tourism on the agenda. The event, organised by the sector with funding from the island council, also became a stage for one of the island’s most sensitive debates: the link between holiday lets and the housing crisis.
The first vice-president of the Consell d’Eivissa, Mariano Juan, argued that tourist lets have “nothing to do” with the shortage of homes for residents. In his view, the problem lies in a population that has doubled in 25 years, and he cited an estimate that around 9,000 more homes are needed to meet current demand.
Expropriation ruled out
Juan ruled out taking licensed holiday homes off the market to house residents. Instead, he pointed to measures such as a Balearic rule allowing new homes to be built specifically for long-term rental to residents, and to recent planning changes that let families divide rural plots between siblings without having to sell.
A tougher line on illegal lets
According to the Consell, the crackdown on unlicensed rentals is intensifying. Inspections have risen from around 80 cases a year to about 120, fines have reached a record of around €1.3 million, more than 4,000 illegal listings were removed from the main platforms last year, and some 5,000 attempts to republish them have been blocked this year. Juan said the aim is to deter, not to raise money. The most common offences, he said, are renting without a licence, advertising without meeting the platforms’ requirements and obstructing inspectors.
He also acknowledged that the system for redistributing tourist places is rigid. Licences that are cancelled or unused can be reassigned to people on the waiting list, but changing the overall framework would require a new planning document, which he estimated could take around two years.
A contested view
The link between holiday lets and housing remains one of the most disputed questions on the island. Earlier this year, the opposition Socialist party accused the Consell of overstating its success against illegal rentals, citing official statistics that showed more tourists staying in private, non-hotel accommodation in 2024. The council replied that those figures also include visitors staying in their own homes or with friends and family, and do not show whether a rental is legal or not.
