People who allow the use and enjoyment of their property for periods of less than 30 calendar days, on a regular basis, will be considered providers of tourist services.
Therefore, they must be registered in the National Tourism Registry, a mandatory requirement for the property to be used as a tourist home.
In this way, they want to control the activity, which in many cases has become a ‘headache’ for the neighbours from whom they rent the properties. And although the decree does not indicate it, it must be applied to take into account the regulations, horizontal property rules, the will of the owners, the rules of land use and the rights of those who reside permanently in the buildings and complexes.
Otherwise, the decree must be clarified urgently. Then, the decree must clarify that in these cases the contract is for accommodation and is governed by the Commercial Code and the regulations governing tourism, and at no time by those referring to urban housing. In addition, the norm says that buildings and residential complexes constituted in horizontal property, and that are destined in whole or in part to the permanent or occasional provision of tourist housing, must establish this possibility in the regulations.
For this, they must comply with the law and if this destination is not determined, they must do so within the following six months. To this must be added that the administrators have the obligation to report to the Vice Ministry of Tourism the cases in which they are destined for such use without the authorization of the regulations and without the registration in the Registry. Otherwise, the Ministry will impose sanctions and transfer the cases to the mayors and the National Tax and Customs Directorate.
Despite the fact that the decree refers in an isolated manner to compliance with tourism regulations and norms, it is necessary to bear in mind that the regulations must be subject to Law 675 of 2001 and urban planning regulations.
This means that the conditions of the standard are met, first of all the construction licenses should be consulted based on the land use plans and the concordant and regulatory standards.
Only in this way will it be possible to establish the possibility of this commercial activity that is so difficult to coexist with residential use. Although the purpose of the decree is understood, I think it should have been more explicit.