Central government's controversial 'nautical Airbnb': when can private boats be rented out?

A Royal Decree allows private vessels registered in the Seventh List to be rented for up to three months per year

The controversial proposal by the central government to enable a kind of nautical Airbnb is fiercely opposed in the Balearic Islands, which rejects the possibility that private vessel owners can exploit them commercially for up to three months per year.

This proposal is part of the Royal Decree that modifies the existing regulations on the Merchant Marine throughout Spain, which was put on public display in early 2024.

The Royal Decree incorporates the possibility that vessels registered in theSeventh List—intended for private use—can be rented for up to three months a year, an option that until now was reserved exclusively for vessels on the Sixth List, dedicated to professional nautical charter activities.

From theMinistry of the Sea and Water Cyclethey have clarified toLa Voz de Ibizathat the liberalization—whichcollides with the new decree that the Government is processing to regulate chartering nautical in the autonomous community– “is not in force.”

“This relaxation is a Merchant Marine decree that is being processed. We don't know when it will come into force. They wanted it to come into force this July,” addedAntoni Mercant, director general of Ports and Maritime Transport of the Balearic Government on which Ports IB depends, to La Voz de Ibiza. 

The Scope of the Royal Decree

Mercant has also warned that the facilities for a private individual to rent their boat, and therefore, this poses unfair competition to the powerful nautical charter industry in the Balearic Islands, are extremely difficult.

Thus, a simple "self-dispatch" will be sufficient to rent the boat. "The maritime captaincies are short on personnel to effectively dispatch the seventh-list vessels that are rented. Therefore, they will have to do so with a certified statement, just as we also use a certified statement for professional charters."

"The dispatch will also be done with a certified statement, because they are unable to execute vessel dispatch. It is complicated; they have fewer and fewer resources. And in this amendment, they would introduce the possibility that private-use vessels could be marketed for three months." He added.

He said that this proposal had already been rejected in the previous term by the entire Balearic parliament, but that "Madrid insists on the possibility of renting a private boat for three months."

Obviously, the private sector is up in arms over this nonsense.

In this regard, Mercant draws a parallel: "It's as if Madrid were telling us now that our vehicles, which are movable, could be rented every day during the summer."

"I don't know what the taxi community would say, I don't know what the regular passenger transport sector, the discretionary sector, would say. I don't know if the land transport sector would upset us a little, but well, it could happen. I don't think it would get to this point, because the autonomous community and the island councils would regulate the vehicles and would try to regulate them," he pointed out.

The pressures exerted from the Balearic Islands, and meetings between the two administrations have been fruitless. Madrid refuses to understand that a regulation that may make sense in Sansenxo is detrimental to the Balearic Islands. And it has shown no sign of wanting to accept that the autonomous communities should decide whether to implement the measure in their territories.

Given this evidence, discouragement is spreading within the Government as it prepares to combat liberalization and try to discourage its application in the Balearic Islands if it is approved under the proposed terms.

“If this happens, we have to act differently than we are now,” he added.

Pimeef’s rejection

Ramón Van Der Hooft, president of the Ibiza and Formentera Nautical Association, part of Pimeef, stated that “it is clear that we are completely aligned with the Balearic Government: we believe there are too many boats, and with the sixth list there is already an oversupply, with all the intrusion we have and in the ports.”

“It is clear that no charter company supports this national initiative to authorize the seventh list boat to operate commercially for three months,” he said.