Barcelona will "immediately" implement the regulation of seasonal rentals

BarcelonaBarcelona wants to stem the tide of seasonal rentals. This Wednesday, Mayor Jaume Collboni officially announced that the Catalan capital will implement regulations on this type of offering "immediately" once the Catalan Parliament approves them this Thursday. With this measure, the city aims to curb a practice that has skyrocketed since the rent cap came into effect: the proliferation of seasonal room rentals and similar arrangements. colivingwith a maximum duration of eleven months, allowing developers to charge significantly more for the entire apartment than a standard rental would permit. In a press conference, Collboni explained that from March 2024 to March 2025, seasonal contracts increased by 60% in the Catalan capital, and that in the second quarter of 2025 they represented 28% of all signed contracts. "This clearly demonstrates that a fraudulent loophole was being exploited in the city through temporary contracts," he denounced, emphasizing that Barcelona is one of the cities most affected by this fraudulent practice. Therefore, Collboni asserted that with the approval of the law, the fraudulent loophole in contracts "is over," and consequently, so is the loophole for circumventing rent caps. The mayor has emphasized that the measure has been "long demanded" by the municipal government and has defended that it has "full legal guarantees," since it has received the endorsement of the Statutory Guarantees Council.

But once the law is approved, it will have to be enforced. Therefore, one of the keys will be ensuring that the inspection system works. Collboni called for the prosecution of tax evaders and asked the Catalan government to be "very thorough" when carrying out inspections and applying sanctions. "My commitment and that of my government is to continue contributing to the Catalan government so that this law is implemented immediately, with all the necessary guarantees, and to the letter," he added.

Pressure from BComú and ERC

For now, the Barcelona en Comú and Esquerra groups have already put pressure on the municipal government. The leader of Comuns in the City Council, Janet Sanz, lamented that Collboni waited for the Generalitat's regulations and recalled that a modification to the Metropolitan General Plan (MPGM) was initially approved a year ago. This tool, she said, could have made Barcelona the first city in Spain to say "enough" to seasonal rentals. Meanwhile, the ERC group in the City Council announced this Wednesday that on Friday it will bring a formal request to the municipal plenary session for Collboni's government to implement "immediately" all the necessary administrative, legal, and technical tools, and to provide the necessary human resources to guarantee "an effective, direct, and rapid application" of the city's regulations.