Dozens of residents in the Catalonian capital have been put in an impossible dilemma as a result of the city’s strict Airbnb ban, with many at risk of losing their homes or facing massive fines. Locals in Barcelona, Spain’s most expensive city to rent, have claimed they are being treated the same as commercial landlords for sharing their primary homes with students or short-term tenants.
Under rules enforced by the administration of socialist mayor, Jaume Collboni, anyone renting a room for less than 31 days is considered to be running a tourist business and must obtain authorisation from the city council. However, residents claim that no such authorisation exists for people who simply share their own homes to raise the funds to continue living there. In recent months, Airbnb has begun removing hundreds of listings at the request of Barcelona City Council, giving residents 10 days to delete ads or face penalties of an eye-watering €100,000 (£87,700). However, no legal permit system exists for them to comply with.
This flaw means that locals who are dependent on small, short-term rentals to pay their rent or mortgage are trapped in an impossible situation of being forbidden to operate but given no means to comply with the law. Among those affected are pensioners, single parents and low-income workers.
Earlier this year, the story of María Teresa, an 80-year-old widow, came to light, who receives an €840 (£737) pension but pays €1,200 (£1,052) in rent. To make ends meet, she has been renting two rooms to students. Without that income, she said, she would not be able to remain in her home.
Her story has become emblematic of what residents’ group Veïns i Amfitrions de Barcelona (ViA) calls the “criminalisation of survival”: “In ViA, we are all María Teresa,” the association said in a statement. “We are not investors or speculators. We are neighbours sharing our homes to afford to live in our own city.”
The group has filed formal objections to Spain’s new Real Decreto on short-term rentals, which has created a national digital registry for hosts. In its legal filing, ViA accused the government of breaching Spain’s Constitution by imposing disproportionate restrictions on citizens’ property rights and privacy.
It also highlighted the European Commission’s guidance, which states that occasional “home-sharing” should not be treated as a professional rental business. Via has claimed that the Barcelona City Council has created this legal limbo by refusing for years to pass an ordinance regulating shared homes while continuing to fine residents for lacking a licence that does not exist.
The organisation also noted that Barcelona has become one of the few European cities where residents are completely barred from legally renting a room in their primary residence.
Barcelona’s council has insisted that its crackdown is designed to protect the housing stock and combat inflation driven by tourism. Critics, however, have warned that it is driving vulnerable residents out of the very neighbourhoods those policies claim to defend.
“If Barcelona truly wants to protect its citizens, it must start by allowing them to stay in their own homes,” ViA concluded.
