Apartur threatens the Barcelona City Council with legal actions for the IBI hike on tourist apartments

BarcelonaThe standoff between Barcelona City Council and the owners of tourist apartments in the city continues to escalate. The Director General of the Association of Tourist Apartments (Apartur), Marian Muro, warned this Thursday that the employers' association will take legal action against the council if the plenary session definitively approves in December the increase of up to 150% in the property tax (IBI) on tourist apartments.

Muro's words come after the plenary session initially approved the measure this Thursday. Making use of the housing decrees approved by the Spanish government following the controversial eviction of Maricarmen Abascal, the council has initiated the procedures to increase the IBI for the 10,600 tourist apartments in the city. Specifically, it is raised by 50% for owners of a single tourist-use dwelling, 100% for those who have two or three, and 150% for those who have four or more.

In a statement, Muro says that the tax change is “disproportionate” and “generates legal uncertainty.” The Director General of Apartur also stated that she finds it “worrying” that from a “position of public responsibility, a fully legal activity is penalized” and one which is supported, she said, by “indefinite licenses” granted by the City Council.

Furthermore, Muro regrets that “a sector that is not responsible for the problem of access to housing” is once again being singled out and reminds that no new licenses for tourist apartments have been issued since 2014. “If the goal is to disincentivize economic uses in homes, one must ask why only tourist accommodation is being penalized,” she points out.

One step further

As happened in the economy commission last week, the extraordinary plenary session of the City Council held this Thursday has endorsed the measure with votes in favor from the PSC, Barcelona en Comú and ERC, the abstention of Junts per Barcelona, and the opposing vote of the PP and Vox. The fourth deputy mayor, Jordi Valls, has insisted that tourist apartments are an economic activity and cannot expect to "relate to the City Council as if they were a dwelling".

Barcelona en Comú and ERC have supported the measure, but have asked to go further. The councilwoman for the comuns, Tània Corrons, has opted to progressively increase the IBI (property tax) for owners of more than one apartment, and the republican Jordi Castellana has accused the PSC of "dragging its feet" on housing matters. From Junts, Damià Calvet defended his group's abstention with the argument that the measure had not been negotiated with them.

The proposal aims to disincentivize tourist apartments before their licenses are eliminated in 2028. If the vote passes in the December plenary session, the surcharge would first accrue on December 31, 2027, and would be settled annually. Barcelona would thus become the first city council in the State to take advantage of the new decrees from the Spanish government to raise the IBI on tourist apartments.