The Consell and Ibiza’s town halls declare war on campervans on rural and urban land

Monday’s extraordinary Council of Mayors has declared “war” on campervans on rural land, vehicles that more and more people are being forced to use as homes due to the lack of housing alternatives on the island. The meeting, attended by the mayors, mobility councillors and local police chiefs from each of the island’s municipalities, set itself the aim of “coordinating all the actions being carried out across the island, to prevent them [the campervans] from simply rotating depending on whether there is more pressure in one municipality or another”, explained the president of the Consell Insular, Vicent Marí, during the press conference after the meeting.

This control operation “is already producing results”. “During 2025, 13 complaints were filed for campervans parked on rural land, approximately half of them reported by Sant Antoni Local Police. So far in 2026, 17 complaints have already been filed, many of them issued directly by transport officers from the Consell de Ibiza”. In addition, “between 10 February and 5 May 2026, a total of 56 information notices were placed on vehicles detected in an irregular situation”.

A large number of these notices did not end up leading to sanctioning proceedings because the vehicles voluntarily left the place where the infringement had occurred after being warned. At present, “14 sanctioning proceedings have been initiated for parking on rural land, all at different stages of processing and with proposed penalties of between 10,001 and 30,000 euros”, according to the figures provided by the Consell de Ibiza.

How campervans will be controlled

“As you know, the law was published at the end of 2024 and stipulated that any campervan entering the island of Ibiza had to have a prior booking at a campsite during the period from 1 June to 30 September”, Marí announced. He said the aim of the meeting was “to coordinate all the actions being carried out across the island, so that we prevent them from ending up rotating depending on whether there is more pressure in one municipality or another”.

In this way, Marí said it is “appropriate to unify all actions so that, in addition to informing, proceedings are opened and fines are issued”. To make this easier, he explained that “there will be a digital information exchange system, so that all town halls know which campervans have moved from one municipality to another”.

“Obviously, this is not an insignificant issue: it is important because campervans know they are banned from parking or stopping in certain protected areas, such as the coast, the Natural Park...” the president said. He added: “This poses a serious risk to the environment, as well as to people”. He also stressed that “the pressure has now moved to other wooded areas, sometimes more hidden and more dangerous, and to urban land, which is why it is necessary for local police forces and the Consell to coordinate joint actions”.

These actions should serve, he explained, “not only to continue informing users that they are breaching the law, but also to intensify inspection work and initiate sanctioning proceedings when this behaviour continues despite prior warnings”.

He added: “We have agreed to use the same form so that vehicles can be fined through Consell procedures, to unify the complaints filed by local police officers and Consell transport officers, and to ensure that the information is as detailed as possible so that the fine can be processed”.

Law 5/2024 on controlling the influx of vehicles to the island of Ibiza for tourism sustainability prohibits, in its third additional provision, “camping and overnight stays in motor vehicles on rural land on the island of Ibiza outside legally established tourist campsites”, the Consell explained. “In addition, Article 16 classifies failure to comply with this provision as a very serious offence, punishable by fines of up to 30,000 euros”.

Other issues addressed

Marí also announced that, regarding the vehicle limitation law, this year “the number of vehicles has also been reduced, from 20,000 to 16,000”. He explained that, in the rental process, the figure has gone “from 16,000 to 14,000”, while for private individuals who spend their holidays here, the number has fallen “from 4,000 to 3,500”.

“Obviously, this vehicle law was linked to the launch of the new bus contract for public and collective transport as an alternative to individual travel or mobility”, Marí continued. “The data we have shows that 42,000 more people have been transported since the new contract [for Alsa buses] began”, he stressed. “In recent days, since we have had comparative data with last week, we have seen a 17% increase in volume. This means that, at the moment, between 1,500 and 2,000 vehicles in circulation are being replaced, and that figure is rising”.

The Consell also explained that it has launched a social media campaign warning “all residents of the island of Ibiza who have vehicles registered in municipalities outside the island of the need to resolve this situation”. The institution says this “is still an abuse of the law”.

In order not to be fined from 1 June, when the Vehicle Law comes into force, the Consell is asking users of these vehicles to complete the procedure with the Spanish traffic authority, the DGT, “to change the municipality where the vehicle is registered, which must be the same municipality where the regular driver is registered as a resident”. “It is the cleanest and easiest way”, the institution clarified.