The Generalitat fines large holders for the first time: 30,000 euros each

BarcelonaMore than three years after the state housing law came into force, the Generalitat has fined three large holders for the first time – meaning owners of more than five homes each – for non-compliance with the regulations, as reported by the Efe agency this Friday. In response to questions from ARA, the Department of Territory and Housing has not specified what type of non-compliance it is (whether it is, for example, for violating the rent cap).

Catalonia is the first region to apply the state housing law, after having developed the sanctioning regime, which corresponds to each region. Infringers will have to pay 30,000 euros each and, beyond these first three fines, the Government has issued three more (without specifying whether they are large holders or not), but has not yet notified the interested parties. In total, therefore, six cases have resulted in sanctions.

The Generalitat opened the first cases at the beginning of February for alleged non-compliance with the housing law. It claimed up to 120,000 euros in total from individuals and legal entities, including real estate agencies.

A couple of weeks ago, the Minister of Territory and Housing, Sílvia Paneque, detailed in Parliament that the Generalitat had eight sanctioning processes underway: in two of them it had already issued the resolution to end in a fine, while in five more there was a "proposed resolution". The latter has an initiation agreement issued. These 8 are added to the 502 cases that are in the preliminary investigation phase – that is, just starting the initial investigation – and the 55 that have been archived.

First cases in February

Housing legislation has marked recent political terms: the first phase of the discussion has been (and still is) how to regulate the market, yes, but ensuring compliance with the rules and punishing those who break them has also been a tug-of-war between political groups.

The first cases arrived at the beginning of this 2026, some processed by the Housing Agency of Catalonia and others by the Catalan Consumer Agency. By the end of April, there were 529 cases in progress, 79% of which were against owners accused of violating the caps.

The socialist executive and the commons agreed at the beginning of 2025 on the sanctioning regime to punish the violation of the housing law. The regulation contemplates fines of between 3,000 and 900,000 euros depending on the severity of the infraction. Exceeding the reference price by 30% or charging management fees to the tenant are considered "very serious" violations, and sanctions range between 90,000 and 900,000 euros. They also agreed to strengthen the inspector staff with 100 new agents, despite the non-compliance with previous promises.