Plan to regulate 2,000 holiday homes
Granadilla de Abona council is tackling the municipality’s estimated 2,000 holiday lets with a new inspection and compliance plan. The initiative, approved at a plenary session on 20 July and published in the Official Bulletin of the Province (BOP), aims to determine which tourist rentals meet the requirements of Law 6/2025 of 10 December, enacted by the Canary Islands Government.
The council’s proposed criteria reflect the different scenarios outlined in the regional legislation governing holiday rentals. Inspectors will assess the status of these establishments before the autonomous law comes into force, establish which transitional arrangements apply to properties that filed prior notification to operate, and take action where necessary against those that failed to comply with the previous legal framework — specifically the regulations set out in Decree 113/2015 of 22 May.
Three groups under the spotlight
As part of the process, the council also intends to draw up a municipal catalogue or inventory of holiday homes in Granadilla de Abona. The administrative verification plan, which involves cross-referencing data, establishes three main categories.
The first group covers properties registered on the Canary Islands Government’s General Tourism Register that also filed prior notification of classified activity before the current law took effect. The second group includes holiday homes registered on the General Tourism Register but which did not submit prior notification. The third category consists of properties that did file prior notification before the law came into force but are not listed on the General Tourism Register.
Inspection priorities
When it comes to the order of inspections, the council has again identified three tiers of priority. First in line are properties that may be in breach of territorial, urban planning or sectoral regulations governing residential tourist use — particularly those on rustic land outside recognised settlements, which would be incompatible with current legislation. Next come properties examined by geographical area, focusing on the neighbourhoods with the highest concentration of holiday lets. Finally, inspectors will target buildings that contain the largest number of tourist units.
The council’s approach is clear: start with the biggest clusters of holiday rentals and the most sensitive cases from an urban planning perspective.
Two-year programme with quarterly reviews
The plan will run for two years, with the option of annual extensions up to a maximum of four years, as permitted under the regional holiday rental law. Progress will be reviewed quarterly, with a final report due at the end. The monitoring committee will include representatives from the urban planning, finance and housing departments.
El Médano, the coastal town at the heart of this southern Tenerife municipality, has the highest concentration of holiday homes and will be among the first areas to face the urban and tourism inspections promoted by the council’s planning department. The local authority is run by a coalition of Coalición Canaria, the Partido Popular and Vox, which took power following a no-confidence motion in March 2025 that ousted the socialist mayor Jennifer Miranda.
Other municipalities on Tenerife, including Candelaria, Santa Cruz, La Laguna, Adeje and La Guancha, are pursuing similar strategies to Granadilla de Abona to control and regulate tourist accommodation in their areas.
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