Adamos Adamou
The registration of premises in the register of self-catering accommodation of the Ministry of Tourism, may have started encouragingly and without problems in the summer, so that from February of the year the owners can now by law now have them for short-term rentals on various electronic platforms , however, the continuation of the registrations seems to be hindered.
In particular, as it was seen from yesterday's posts of deputies of the Energy Committee of the Parliament, there are several complaints from business owners who will not be able to obtain the relevant permission from the Ministry of Tourism in order to legally continue to have an extra income from the disposal of their premises. mainly in the countryside and in mountainous areas. As mentioned by AKEL MP Costas Costas and other members of the Committee, there are several premises that are quite old, especially in the mountains, and that it is almost impossible to obtain a final building permit as required by law for registration.
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In addition, as stated by the Deputy Minister of Tourism who was present at yesterday's meeting, according to the legislation as amended to create the register, houses with more than five rooms can not be registered in it.
It is noted that based on the amendment made to the Law on the regulation of the establishment and operation of hotels and tourist accommodation, the accommodation that can be registered in the relevant register of the Ministry of Tourism must have a maximum capacity of 4-5 bedrooms.
This provision, as revealed yesterday by one of the rapporteurs of the bill that regulated the issue in early 2020 Elias Myrianthous, was made after a discussion with hoteliers so that various buildings can not be converted into self-catering accommodation and compete unfairly with the industry.
Undersecretary of Tourism Savvas Perdios, however, did not rule out a change in this provision in order to find a reasonable number of rooms that do not cause inconvenience, giving the green light for changes in legislation to the Energy Committee, which as assured yesterday through the president of Kyriakos Hatzigianni will proceed with the submission of draft laws for amendments in order to facilitate the process of registration in the register of the state ministry.
This is expected to happen soon since the “deadline” for those interested in registering expires on February 7, 2022.
In the meantime, the Deputy Minister of Tourism acknowledged yesterday the problem that arises – again after remarks by AKEL MP Costas Costas – with the increases in the fees for renewal of licenses and classification for various tourist accommodations such as traditional tourist buildings, based on the latter decree of the Minister of Energy. As Mr. Costa complained yesterday, the three-year renewal of the license for traditional tourist buildings now amounts to 455 euros for three years, just like for the five-star hotels. Mr. Perdios acknowledged the problem and also revealed that the State Department disagreed with the new fees, but the General Accounting Office, as he said, did not allow changes. In view of this, the Undersecretary agreed with the will of the members of the Energy Committee for changes regarding this issue as well.
