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-room rentals with some common space- for students. Today, most 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 spread throughout the city. Vandor alone currently owns 13 entire buildings in Barcelona. There are some 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, temporary tenants—the contracts have a maximum duration. Rosario Castillo 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 together in the Landlords' Union. However, the fund currently refuses to initiate any general dialogue and is seeking 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 Castillo 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 each other with the same figure. "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."

At the time of publication of this report, Vandor had not responded to ARA's request for comment. However, their website displays the 13 blogs they maintain in Barcelona. Although they also have properties in Madrid, Valencia, and Bilbao, the Catalan capital is currently their main focus. When explaining their business model, they emphasize that the company "fully complies with current regulations." For this reason, residents are demanding action from the authorities. This Thursday, the Catalan Parliament is scheduled to finally approve the law regulating seasonal and room rentals, a measure intended to prevent the total amount 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 a conversation with ARA. He emphasizes that they warned this would happen when the rental price regulation was implemented. With the new regulations that the Catalan Parliament will approve, Aragonès is confident that "operations like Vandor's will be discouraged." That's why he encourages residents of these buildings and others in similar situations "not to leave, to stand firm now and demand collective bargaining and contract renewals for everyone." However, he predicts some difficulties. First, that someone might take the regulations to the Constitutional Court to try to overturn them. Then, that the funds might try to find ways to circumvent 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.