Property experts have been reassuring holiday homeowners in Spain that there's no need to fear plans to introduce holiday rental licences in the country just yet. The Spanish government's proposals to licence the rental of holiday homes have caused confusion, with many holiday homeowners voicing concerns that the new laws could act as a deterrent for people thinking of renting out their property to a tourist as they normally would. The proposals have caused some cash-strapped expats to feel uneasy, with concerns especially among those homeowners who only rent out their properties at peak times of the year. The proposals would include a tax on holiday rental income and would mean any … [Read more...] about What new holiday rental licences in Spain could mean
tourism
Madrid’s new river
Unlike the great rivers of Europe - the Rhine, the Danube or the Seine, so often evoked in art and so historically significant as trade routes or the frontiers of empire, Madrid’s Manzanares is more likely to induce a shrug. Or, as is tradition amongst Madrilenians, a one-liner. In parts completely dry during summer, in other parts a series of large puddles, it’s often not much more than a riverbed with a stream running through it. Or, as one Spanish writer suggested, a trail of saliva. Descending from the Sierra de Guadarrama to the north of the city before - 87 kilometres later - giving up the ghost and dumping into the River Jarama to the south, it skirts Madrid’s western edge as … [Read more...] about Madrid’s new river