The Balearic Islands joins Madrid, Andalusia and the Basque Country in appealing the Housing Law to the Constitutional Court.

The Balearic Government has authorised this Friday the Balearic Islands Lawyer’s Office to file an appeal of unconstitutionality against 9 articles and 4 provisions of the Housing Law for invading autonomous competences.

The Government (PP) considers that this state law, approved last May by the Executive of Pedro Sánchez (PSOE), invades “exclusive” competences of the Balearic Islands in housing matters.

At a press conference, the new councillor for Housing, Territory and Mobility, Marta Vidal, said that the community has exclusive powers in matters of territorial planning, including the coast, urban planning and housing, in accordance with the provisions of the Statute of Autonomy of the Balearic Islands, and will therefore take this matter to the Constitutional Court.

Madrid, Andalusia and the Basque Country have already appealed the Housing Law to the Constitutional Court.

“There is a very clear invasion, this is the opinion of the Government and the Lawyers’ Office,” said the councillor, who recalled that Madrid, Andalusia and the Basque Country have already lodged appeals for the same reason.

According to the legal services of the Autonomous Community, it is observed that the state law ignores the distribution of powers established by the Spanish Constitution, exceeding state competence and encroaching on the autonomous communities’ own sphere.

The Advocacy identifies nine articles and four provisions of the state regulation that, in some of their sections, violate the Statute of Autonomy.

Amongst others, the regulations on subsidised housing, the public housing stock, the declaration of stressed residential market areas, the price containment measures in the regulation of rental contracts or the modifications to the Law on Civil Proceedings.

The real estate sector is unanimous in its opposition to the Law.

The limitation of rental prices allowed by the new Law on the Right to Housing to communities and town councils is the measure that is most rejected by the sector, where there is unanimous conviction that it will lead landlords to sell their properties or to transfer them to tourist, seasonal or room rentals, in search of greater profitability and security.

As a result, they say, supply will fall sharply and the black market will proliferate, as they claim the precedents of Paris and Berlin have shown.