Tourists visiting Barcelona, Spain, will have fewer accommodation options in 2028 after the city decided to evict short-term rental apartment operators.
Mayor of Barcelona Jaume Corboni Said Last week, the city announced it plans to let all 10,101 tourist rental permits granted to local landlords expire in four years. The city hopes the move will help address a long-running housing crisis exacerbated by the arrival of companies like Airbnb and Vrbo. Rents have risen 68 percent in the past decade, Corboni said.
Barcelona’s housing department said the ban on tourist rentals was by statute and not part of a new law. [PDF] The bill, passed by the Catalan parliament in 2022, would allow regional authorities to force landlords to provide affordable housing.
The decree, passed in 2019, gives authorities the right to “compulsorily expropriate” residential properties that have been “vacant without just cause” for more than two years or that are considered protected housing – short-term tourist rentals – that are “not used as a regular and permanent residence.”
“I think we are facing Barcelona’s biggest problem,” Corboni was quoted as saying at a government meeting last week. High rents and a shortage of property have long been problems in Barcelona, where the city has long marketed itself as a hub for tech companies, which has also been blamed for the high rents.
The city of Barcelona declared that the recovery of these apartments was authorized by statute and would “ensure that as many apartments as possible are used for purposes other than residential or tourist use, thereby increasing the city’s housing stock.”
“By November 2028, there will be no tourist apartments in Barcelona,” city officials declared.
Top short-term rental providers Airbnb and Vrbo have a strong presence in Barcelona, and given that they stand to lose significant revenue from the city’s relocation, as well as the impact the law has had on rentals outside the city and elsewhere in the region, it’s no surprise they have strong opinions.
Neither responded to our requests for comment, and neither had issued an official statement at the time of writing.
But Spanish politicians and local tourist rental advocates both say the move is a bad idea. Politicians say it violates private property rights, while landlord advocates say it will only lead to a surge in illegal apartment rentals.®
