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VISAS

Portugal and Ireland have scrapped their golden visas. Will Spain be next?

Portuguese and Irish authorities have announced they will stop offering ‘golden’ residency visas to rich non-EU foreigners who purchase expensive properties, and there are political calls within Spain for the same thing to happen here. 

Published: 17 February 2023 17:40 CET
Updated: 19 February 2023 08:05 CET
Portugal and Ireland have scrapped their golden visas. Will Spain be next?
Ronda in Málaga province. There is increasing pressure at a regional and national level to ensure that residents in Spain are not priced out by wealthy second-home owners. Photo: Jordi Vich Navarro/Unsplash

Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa on February 16th announced that as a means of tackling the increasing lack of affordable housing in the country, his government will no longer offer residency to foreign property buyers or other investors through so-called golden visas.

Furthermore, Portuguese authorities will not grant new licences for short-term tourism rentals either, except in rural areas suffering from depopulation. 

Any third-country national wishing to renew their pre-existing golden visa will have to prove that their Portuguese property is being rented out on a permanent long-term basis, rather than as a holiday home.

These drastic measures come 11 years after Portugal’s golden visa was first introduced, with 11,535 residency authorisations issued and €6.7 billion in foreign investment. 

Back in 2012, there was a need for such a scheme to exist and it had largely met its objectives, Portuguese government officials have said.

But “the fight against price speculation in real estate” takes precedence now for Costa, who denied he was “killing the goose that laid the golden eggs” when referring to the tourism industry. 

Portugal has toughened its golden visa rules since 2020, making the financial requirements higher and preventing foreign property purchases in Lisbon and other areas where locals were being priced out by wealthy foreigners. 

Now they have taken the decision to fully scrap it, with the news coming just a day after the Irish government announced it would also axe its own golden visa scheme, citing internal and external reviews which recommended doing so. 

These decisions come after years of warnings by the EU that such foreign investment residency deals were a risk to security, transparency and the bloc’s values. 

This has been highlighted by the joint ban of golden visa applications by Russian tycoons looking to flee to Europe following their country’s invasion of Ukraine. 

So how about Spain and its golden visa? Is it also at risk of being scrapped?

On February 14th, Spanish political party Más País lodged a legal proposal at the Spanish Parliament calling for Spain’s golden visa scheme to also be abandoned. 

Their spokesperson Íñigo Errejón voiced the same reasons as those given by Portugal’s government – put an end to – or at least lessen – property speculation in Spain. 

“They’re driving up prices and kicking residents out of their neighbourhoods,” Errejón said of the influence of second homes on Spain’s property market.

For the former Unidas Podemos politician, these residency permits distort the market and don’t benefit the national economy.

It’s worth noting that Más País does not have much political clout in the Spanish Parliament, with only 3 seats out of 350, but could the tides be changing for wealthy foreign property buyers in España?

Spain is already one of only a few countries in the world that has a wealth tax for both residents and non-residents, and a new ‘solidarity tax’ for millionaires was also introduced in 2023. 

In recent weeks, regional governments in Spain’s two archipelagos – the Canary and Balearic Islands – have both announced that they were considering whether they should limit the sale of properties to non-residents as a means of quashing spiralling rents and property prices, something Canada has just decided to do.

The same proposal has been voiced by Podemos’s Alejandra Jacinto in Madrid.

Property prices are indeed on the up across Spain’s most popular spots, and in cities such as Málaga, there are now more tourist rental properties in the city centre than there are actual residents. 

Needless to say, rents in the southern city are up by 25.8 percent in 2023 compared to the previous year and property prices by 15.5 percent, as a result in large part of the proliferation of more profitable tourism rentals. 

It’s an election year in Spain and access to housing is one of the main concerns among Spain’s 48 million inhabitants. 

Spain’s ruling left-wing coalition government is yet to comment on whether it intends to change anything regarding Spain’s golden visa scheme, but there is increasing pressure at a regional and national level to ensure that residents in Spain can afford a home. 

Therefore, anyone considering getting a Spanish golden visa would do well to apply sooner rather than later if they want to be on the safe side.

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LEGAL HELP

Noisy local fiestas: What to do when your Spanish town hall is responsible

Town and city fiestas are commonplace in Spain and they’re part of what made many of us fall in love with the country in the first place, but sometimes the town hall can overstep and the noise pollution just gets too much to bear for neighbours.

Published: 22 May 2024 09:35 CEST
Noisy local fiestas: What to do when your Spanish town hall is responsible

It’s bad enough in Spain when you have to deal with noisy neighbours or loud bars and clubs, but what about when the culprit is your ayuntamiento (town hall) or city council?

If you want to know what your rights are on noise from construction, find out here, what to do about noisy neighbours here and about bars and clubs here. 

During these local fiestas (every city, town and village has at least one a year), councils set up concert and performance venues form of open-air stages or tents called casetas or carpas.

In these cases, there’s often no sound insulation and the noise carries much further as everything happens outside.

Even though these festivals may only go one for a week or two, they can often disturb residents who aren’t in attendance and are trying to sleep.

You could be someone who needs extra sleep like a doctor, nurse or firefighter, you may be ill or have small children, there are many reasons why you might not be able or want to join in. Even if you are in the minority, your rights should still be respected.

In fact, in places such as Barcelona, when the local Gràcia festival takes place, there’s so much noise created by neighbourhood organisers that some people even decide to leave their apartments for the week as they know they won’t be able to sleep.

This option is of course not open to everyone, and in truth, you shouldn’t have to leave your home temporarily because of a celebration that is supposed to bring joy to the local population.

So, what can you legally do and what are your rights?

Even city and town councils must continue to comply with municipal by-laws during local fiestas. The Spanish Civil Code guarantees that you should have respect in your own home.

Law 40/2015, of October 1st, on the Legal Regime of the Public Sector, which came into force in October 2016, establishes that “Public Administrations objectively serve the general interests and act in accordance with the principles of effectiveness, hierarchy, decentralisation and coordination, with full submission to the Constitution and the Law”. 

This means that even the authorities must uphold the law and serve their people. They have a public responsibility to manage and to do it to the best of their abilities.

The first thing to keep in mind is that you stand a much better chance of getting your council to listen if you find other people who are affected too, so it’s not just you complaining on your own.

Make sure to talk to your neighbours or others living on the same street to find out if they’re also affected by the noise and form a group of people who share your grievances.

In theory, councils and ayuntamientos are in charge of enforcing celebration schedules, making sure the volume of music isn’t too loud, controlling the capacity at venues and enforcing alcohol laws so that people are not drinking on the street (if it’s not allowed in that region).

READ ALSO – FACT CHECK: No, Spain’s Balearics haven’t banned tourists from drinking alcohol

According to Law 7/2002 on protection against noise pollution, these are the maximum sound levels allowed for leisure venues:

Nightclubs: 104 decibels

Venues with musical entertainment: 90 decibels

Game rooms: 85 decibels

Bars and restaurants: 80 decibels

Find out if the festival events and activities infringe on any of these rules and regulations above and if they do then you have a case to take to your town hall.

Technically, the festivals should take place at a local fairground or somewhere away from the main residential area, but we know that this is not always the case. The concerts and events often happen in the very streets and squares where people live.

Firstly, you need to contact your ayuntamiento or local council or explain the problem. It’s best if you put it in writing so there’s a record of what you’ve said.

Try to include as much evidence as possible as to how the festivals are breaking the rules and include testimonials from as many neighbours as you can.

Organisers may not listen to you the first time, but if you keep contacting them, they will be forced to listen and have to respond.

If the situation is the same every year and they still don’t change anything, then you and your neighbours should contact a lawyer to represent you and take the matter to court.

This has actually been done several times by different communities throughout the country and in many instances, the law has sided with the people instead of the authorities.

In 2017, the Superior Court of Justice of Navarra, sided with a community of owners in Mutilva Baja when they complained about noise coming from an outdoor tent which had been erected for the festivities of the local patron saint. They claimed it was noise pollution above the legal levels and said the council had done nothing to try and reduce it.  

In another case in Getafe, thanks to a neighbourhood protest led by a lawyer specialising in noise pollution called Ricardo Ayala, the carnival celebrations were moved to the fairgrounds on the outskirts of the city.

Again in 2022, in Castilla-La Mancha, the Supreme Justice Tribunal imposed a sentence on the the Puerto Lápice City Council due to damages derived from noise pollution from musical events held in the town square.

The celebrations were not forced to be stopped completely but the council did have to agree with a limitation on hours and noise levels specifically for the concerts held in tents outside. It did not affect any other part of the festival.

Therefore, it is possible to take legal action against your ayuntamiento if they are breaking the law, but there’s no guarantee it will be a straightforward process.

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