The ongoing battle over holiday rentals in the Canary Islands has taken another turn.
The Canary Islands Holiday Rental Association, better known as ASCAV, has formally asked the Spanish Ombudsman to challenge the new regional law that regulates holiday homes in the islands.
Their request is simple enough. They want the Ombudsman to file an appeal of unconstitutionality before the Constitutional Court against the Canary Islands Law on Sustainable Planning of Tourist Use of Housing.
According to ASCAV, the law — officially Law 6/2025 — crosses several legal lines.
The association argues that the Canary Islands Government has stepped into areas that are exclusively the responsibility of the Spanish State, particularly when it comes to economic planning.
In their view, the law also interferes with municipal powers over urban planning, something that should normally be handled at local government level rather than by the regional administration.
But that’s not the only issue they raise.
ASCAV claims the legislation also conflicts with basic national administrative law and could even affect the right to private property, which is protected under the Spanish Constitution.
For those reasons, the association has asked the Ombudsman to review the complaint and consider submitting a constitutional challenge against the law.
There’s a reason they’ve gone down this route.
Under Spain’s legal system, private organisations cannot directly file an appeal of unconstitutionality before the Constitutional Court. That right is reserved for certain institutions, such as the national government, regional governments, parliamentary groups and the Ombudsman.
So ASCAV has effectively taken the only path available to them.
They’ve asked the Ombudsman to act on their behalf.
The association also believes the Canary Islands Government deliberately structured the regulation as a full law rather than a simple decree, which is how the previous holiday rental rules were introduced back in 2015.
Their view is that this move was designed to make the legislation harder to challenge through the courts.
Whether that strategy works or not remains to be seen.
For now, the decision rests with the Ombudsman. If the office decides the complaint has merit, it could file the appeal with the Constitutional Court, which would then determine whether the law is compatible with the Spanish Constitution.
Until then, the debate around holiday rentals in the Canary Islands continues… and it doesn’t look like it will calm down any time soon.
