The Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands has ordered Yaiza Council to proceed without delay with the partial demolition of the Hotel Princesa Yaiza in Playa Blanca. The court mandated the hiring of a technical project manager to oversee the works, in line with a 2005 ruling that annulled the hotel’s construction licence.
Dated 29 October 2026, the ruling gives the council one year to complete the project proposal. Once finished, the demolition must be carried out within two years, with costs borne by the property owner, Hotel Princesa Yaiza SA.
The Administrative Court also instructed the mayor to update the court on the progress of the case within six months.
In rejecting two appeals from the hotel’s owners against previous court decisions, the judges maintained that the 2005 ruling has not been enforced for nearly two decades. They warned that repeated attempts to legalise the property cannot indefinitely postpone a definitive resolution.
Responsibility for this delay lies with both the hotel’s owners and Yaiza Council. The court highlighted the owners’ actions as dilatory, noting that the second appeal exhibited “bad faith and abuse of rights.”
Additionally, a municipal agreement from January 2016 had already declared the building non-legal and ordered its demolition, yet no action has been taken.
The latest decision is based on a technical report from the council submitted in November 2024 and a proposal from the César Manrique Foundation. It outlines the need to draft a project based on this report and subsequently put the construction contract out to tender.
The court justified the timelines due to the technical complexities involved in the demolition and ruled out the possibility of future urban planning as a reason to delay enforcing the judgement. Other parties involved in the procedure include Club Lanzarote SA and the César Manrique Foundation, both of which have advocated for the enforcement of the court ruling.
