Barcelona imposes €420,000 fine on property owner for illegal holiday lets

The City Council of Barcelona has slapped a €420,000 fine on the owner of a building located in the central district of Ciutat Vella, which had been renting out 14 apartments, almost the entire property, as illegal holiday rentals for several years. Following the opening of new hotels, Barcelona plans to "significantly reduce" the number of tourist apartments in the city.

The sanction comes after months of investigation and monitoring by municipal inspectors and the police. They have been able to confirm that, for years, the property avoided city council proceedings and penalties by claiming to legally rent the residences with long-term contracts to tenants who were listed as lessees of the illegal tourist accommodations.

The property in question, located at Calle Ample nº 24, is classed as a residential building that rented out up to 14 holiday accommodations in the space, which were advertised as tourist accommodation on Booking.com and Airbnb without any authorization for tourist activity, as stated by the Barcelona City Council in a press release.

Since 2018, municipal inspectors have opened numerous proceedings and requested the deactivation of these ads on the two holiday rental platforms. During this time, officials noted that the offers were regularly updated with different names, photos, and hosts to evade council inspectors.

However, throughout this period, the owner claimed ignorance of the actions of the tenants, asserting that they always deceived him and that they had sublet the apartments to tourists.

After months of surveillance and accumulation of evidence, it was confirmed in April of last year that, in the building consisting of a ground floor, four stories, and a rooftop, that 14 out of the 15 existing residences were occupied by tourists staying in apartments without the necessary licenses. The remaining unit was occupied by a tenant with rent control who managed key collection, as well as the check-ins and check-outs of the guests.

This activity is deemed "very serious" by the council, leading to the initiation of a sanctioning procedure with the proposed fine of €420,000. The amount is calculated based on the estimated profit from the illegal activity, coupled with other regulations of the Tourism Law of Catalonia.

Furthermore, the City Council will soon forward all the information from the case to the Tax Agency for the property to be held accountable before the public treasury, if necessary.