If you have a swimming pool in your single-family home, you cannot carry out a commercial activity open to the public that involves a change in land use.
The pandemic and, above all, the confinement of last year valued the fact of having a house with a garden and a swimming pool. Above all, a private pool, which can only be enjoyed by the owner family. And that is why there are many who think about taking advantage of this precious property and are already negotiating the rental of their pool. There are even platforms (as in the case of tourist flats) that put owners of private pools in contact with users willing to rent it for a day or for hours to cool off this summer. However, as we gather below and according to an expert lawyer in urban planning, each specific case would have to be studied, but in principle you cannot carry out a commercial activity open to the public that involves a change in land use
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Is it legally possible to rent a private pool?
If you have a single-family villa with a pool, built on a plot for residential use and, taking advantage of the pandemic, you want to rent the pool, can you do it? If the intention is to start a commercial activity, the answer is no. And the reason is that you cannot carry out a commercial activity open to the public that involves a change in land use. Nor can you open a nightclub or a hospital.
All of this is included in Royal Decree 742/2013, which establishes the technical-sanitary criteria for swimming pools, with respect to the definitions of swimming pools for public and private use. Specifically, article 2 literally quotes the following:
• 2. Swimming pool for public use: those swimming pools open to the public or to a defined group of users, not intended solely for the family and guests of the owner or occupant, regardless of the payment of an entry price. Would be:
a) Type 1. Pools where water-related activity is the main objective, as in the case of public swimming pools, leisure pools, water parks or spas.
b) Type 2. Pools that act as a supplementary service to the main service, as in the case of hotel pools, tourist accommodation, camping or therapeutic pools in health centers, among others.
• 3. Pools for private use: those pools intended solely for the family and guests of the owner, or occupant, including use related to the rental of houses for family use.
a) Type 3A. Swimming pools of communities of owners, rural or agrotourism houses, colleges or similar.
b) Type 3B. Single-family pools.
What about pool rental platforms?
As with tourist apartments, in Spain there are platforms that rent swimming pools, a business in which owners can make their pools profitable while users, for an affordable price, can enjoy their own private pool for a few hours or a whole day, A legal and equitable collaborative economy and in which everyone wins: owners and users. Each specific case will have to be studied, but one must abide by the regulations cited above.
The pools registered in the platforms must meet the following requirements:
• Capacity and behavior. An equilibrium must always be met. At the beginning of the season, all users are sent a Guide of good practices with recommendations to remember the importance of the mask when out of the water, the hydroalcoholic gel and respect the safety distances.
• Hygiene. Swimming pool water is safe, since it has been proven that viruses do not survive in water treated with 1 mg / l of chlorine.
• Security. All pools are insured, so all damage around their pools is covered.
Contract and taxation for the rental of a swimming pool
If the pool rental is possible, it is advisable to have a contract and comply with the Tax authorities:
• Contract. Do you have to make a contract?
Their lawyer points out that "for any provision of services it is important to have a contract that regulates the relationship."
• Tax consequences. In the case of platforms, any amount received for the rental of a private pool "must appear in the Income Statement as a lease of its real estate capital". From the platform, a receipt is sent of the total that the owners have earned on the platform "and this amount will appear in their annual income tax return". For his part, the lawyer indicates that jurisprudence states that "the taxation of the lease of a swimming pool is subject to VAT and corporation tax (IS) in the event that the lessor is a legal person".
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