Besieged by 'coliving': "It's like they dropped a bomb on the building"

BarcelonaBlue screen-printed letters on the staircase welcome visitors in English, Catalan, and Spanish to the building on Avenida de Madrid in Barcelona, ​​where Walid Guerchouch has lived for thirty years with his parents and two younger siblings. At first glance, it looks more like the entrance to a hostel than an apartment building. This has been the case since 2022, when the Vandor fund acquired the entire property. At that time, they informed all the residents that their rental contracts would not be renewed and that their apartments would be converted into colivings-rooms for rent with some common space- for students. Today, most of them already operate as such. In the building, only four families remain who, like Guerchouch's, have to step on the message on the staircase every day, which, paradoxically, reminds them that they are no longer welcome in what had always been their home.

Similar cases are scattered throughout the city. Vandor alone currently owns 13 entire buildings in Barcelona. They are located on Balmes Street, Muntaner Street, Amigó Street, Consell de Cent Street, Naples Street... That's almost 200 apartments, which he now wants to convert into colivingsIn all of them, the same procedure has been followed. On Avenir Street, for example, residents like Joana Martí received a letter in early 2025 notifying them of the change of ownership of the property. After twenty years living right across the street from the house where she grew up and where her parents still live, Martí and her three children received the news like a bucket of cold water. "Someone who doesn't even know who you are decides that you can't continue with the life you lead. It's like they dropped a bomb on the building," she laments.

In the case of Avenir Street, the process is just beginning. All the contracts are still valid, and no residents have left yet. In other buildings, the situation is different. Many apartments have already been vacated, and the remaining residents have had to add the inconvenience of constant construction—the vacated apartments are being renovated to create more rooms and bathrooms—and the challenges of living with new tenants who are only here temporarily—the contracts have a maximum duration. Rosario Castelló lives in one of these buildings. Since being notified in 2021 that Vandor was the new owner, she has watched all the neighbors leave. She is the only one left in a building full of... colivingsShe has refused to pack her bags. Although her lease has expired, she continues to pay her rent to Vandor every month, who has sued her for obtaining a court order to evict her.

Elisabeth Lezama and her family, who live at the other end of the Eixample district on Consell de Cent street, are also being sued by Vandor. For 27 years, they have paid their rent every month without fail, and their contract had always been renewed. Until Vandor arrived and told her, her husband, and their two children that they would have to leave. Now they have been taken to court.

In the case of the Guerchouch family, they had already been given an initial eviction date for next Thursday, which was ultimately canceled. Meanwhile, on Concordia street in Poble Sec, Wendy Sosa received a court order this Thursday setting her eviction for February 17th. She has lived in that apartment since 1998, now with her mother, her sister, and a nephew who has a 47% disability. "Where will we go if they evict us?" she asks, emphasizing the impact the move could have on her nephew. "You can't just keep moving a child with autism around whenever they feel like it," he says.

Money to leave

To try and force collective bargaining, many of the residents of these Vandor-owned buildings have joined the Landlords' Union. However, the fund currently refuses to initiate any general dialogue and seeks individual agreements with the residents. In fact, several witnesses explain that Vandor always tries to avoid waiting for court rulings, which can take years. Rubén Sospedra is one of the residents who still lives in the building at Còrsega 396 and has a contract until the fall of 2026. His two roommates have already been offered up to €15,000 if they leave now. In Sosa, in Poble-sec, the offer was €10,000. Similarly, in the cases of Castellón and Guerchouch, the fund has made offers that have increased from the initial €6,000 to €30,000. Lezama and Consell de Cent have approached residents with the same amount. "I don't want 30,000 euros; I want to be able to live in my own apartment," she emphasizes.

The fact that the rent cap does not affect seasonal rentals encourages funds like Vandor to invest in them. colivingWith this loophole, they can charge almost the same price per room as a tenant pays for the entire apartment. A glance at the CoTown website—the company that, along with Vanguard Student Housing, manages all the properties of this investment fund—confirms this. At Córcega 396, on the border between the Eixample and Gràcia districts, in apartments with five rooms, the smallest and cheapest costs between 700 and 800 euros. They advertise with phrases like "They say good things come in small packages" or "This room has everything you need to sleep, work, or present the best entrepreneurial project in history."

Vandor's website showcases their 13 blogs focused on Barcelona. While they also have properties in Madrid, Valencia, and Bilbao, the Catalan capital is currently their primary area of operation. When explaining their business model, they emphasize that the company "fully complies with current regulations." For this reason, residents are urging the authorities to take action. This Thursday, the Catalan Parliament is expected to finally approve the law regulating seasonal and room rentals, a measure intended to prevent the total rent charged for rooms in an apartment from exceeding the general rent cap.

"We will be two years late," laments Enric Aragonès, spokesperson for the Rental Companies Union, in an interview with ARA. He stresses that they warned this would happen when the rental price regulations were first implemented. With the new regulations to be approved by the Parliament, Aragonès is confident that "operations like Vandor's will be discouraged." That's why he encourages the residents of these blocks, or others in a similar situation, "not to leave, to stand firm now and demand collective bargaining and contract renewals for everyone."

However, he predicts some difficulties. First, that someone will eventually take the regulations to the Constitutional Court to try to overturn them. Then, that the funds will try to find a way around them. Therefore, he asks that the administration be very vigilant in monitoring compliance with the regulations. Furthermore, to protect tenants, he considers it essential that the amendment to the Urban Leases Law (LAU) that the Union has brought before Congress be approved.

Vandor defends himself

In response to neighbors' complaints, Vandor maintains that it "always acts within the bounds of the law." The fund defends individual negotiations with each neighbor "for data protection reasons" and because "each case deserves specific and tailored attention." In this regard, they emphasize that all existing contracts are respected and that they offer "flexible and personalized solutions to tenants, which in many cases go beyond what is stipulated in the contracts." They highlight that "94% of pre-existing contracts have been resolved through negotiated agreements," which, they say, demonstrates that their model is based "on dialogue and the search for consensus." Vandor also argues that its prices "are not directly comparable to those of traditional rentals" because "they are different segments, with different target audiences, lease durations, and terms." Their prices include "fully furnished accommodation, cleaning services, utilities, maintenance, and personalized attention."