The program Secure Rentallaunched by the Balearic Government in November last year with the ambitious goal of incorporating 2,000 homes into the rental market faces significant challenges in its initial phase. “Obtaining the documentation is taking longer than we expected,” says Bernat Seguí, secretary of the Balearic Association of Property Administrators (CAFBAL). According to Seguí, the first two complete documentations from all the Balearic Islands only arrived last weekend, but no leases have been signed yet. The reality is that the program has raised little interest in Ibiza and Formentera.
Among the main obstacles is the need for updated documentation, such as the certificate of occupancy or the energy efficiency certificate. “Many owners have empty properties whose certificates have expired. Renewing it is a procedure that takes time,” Seguí explained in statements to La Voz de Ibiza. In addition, the high demand for energy certificates due to recent regulations has generated a bottleneck. ” The technicians are saturated at this time of the year, and this further delays the files,” he adds. The program, which seeks to offer rents at prices 30% below the market, poses attractive guarantees for owners, including payment of rent and even in advance by the Administration and the assurance of a return in good condition of the property. “This is the first measure that tries to offer something more favorable for owners, but there is still a long way to go to generate confidence,” he states.
Rental insurance: bureaucracy
The program requires owners to comply with an extensive list of requirements, from legal certificates to an appraisal of the property carried out and approved by professional associations.
“We get a homeowner who is interested in contributing the property to the program. We explain how it works, if it is needed, we visit the property, and we detail the requirements that the property must meet. Once this filter has been passed, we provide the documentation that must be submitted. Since the Administration is involved, it is necessary to comply with greater guarantees than in any other lease”, Seguí describes. Among the requirements for the owners of the houses, it is established that they do not have the condition of large holder; only houses that have been vacant for six months or more, that no person has been registered in the house for a year; the houses must have a minimum age of construction of three years and present a good state of cleanliness and maintenance that allows the immediate entry. In addition to being located in the Balearic Islands, the houses cannot be subject to limitations that prevent their rental, they must have contracted water and electricity supplies, with kitchen and bathroom properly equipped and with the basic equipment, they must have a current energy efficiency certificate and the electrical installation must comply with the requirements according to the current regulations.
Secure rental: the certificate of occupancy
However, bureaucracy and administrative times have generated delays. “Many of these homes have an expired certificate of occupancy, since they were not on the rental market. Renewing it is a procedure that takes a long time,” Seguí points out. Added to this is the problem of the energy certificate, which faces a bottleneck due to the saturation of technicians in charge of mandatory inspections. “In the last two months of the year, up to 90% of the certifications are concentrated, and this is delaying even more the obtaining of the documentation,” he explains. “It’s quite a lot of documentation: certificate of occupancy, energy efficiency certificate, a certificate stating that the owner is not a large tenant, another one stating that he has no debts with the community, among other requirements. Once the owner presents these papers, the APIS (Real Estate Agents) are in charge of valuing the property,” he adds.
“This appraisal must then be approved by a professional association. After that, if the owner agrees, the property is definitively included in the program and a tenant is sought”, Seguí adds, and estimates that “by mid-January the first contracts will be registered”.
