Neighborhood victory in the macroblog of Barcelona's 120 tourist licenses

BarcelonaBarcelona has seen a steady trickle of newly legalized tourist apartments in recent years, despite it being a restricted practice in the city. judgment The 2019 ruling by the High Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) opened a loophole through which the city has had to accept nearly a thousand licenses it thought it had stopped. However, this Thursday the tables may have turned. And it happened precisely in the building that became a symbol of that loophole, the block at 84 Tarragona Street, where there are 120 apartments for which the owners applied for tourist licenses, taking advantage of the fact that the courts had temporarily overturned Barcelona's Tourist Establishment Regulation Plan (PEUAT).

The news is that ten of the families featured on this blog, whose leases were expiring, have managed, with the help of the Socialist Housing Union of Catalonia (SHSC), to reach an agreement with the owners to extend their leases for three years starting in 2026, the original expiration date. A significant change for a blog where, until now, it hadn't been possible to reach agreements to retain residents. Yes, it had been possible to prevent 78 of the 120 licenses that the property owner planned to operate from being granted.

"First, we managed to stop 78 licenses. Now we have managed to extend 10 contracts for 3 years and, therefore, prevent families from having to leave. But we will not stop here: we will fight to take all the apartments off the tourist market, recover their residential use, and guarantee that all the residents can stay," said a spokesperson for the Eixample Housing Union. In the same statement, the union criticizes the fact that the agreement was reached "without mediation or help from the PSC," which they believe has "washed its hands" of the problem the blog is facing.

The City Council detects a change in trend

The City Council has rejected entering into a competition to "see who deserves the credit," but the fourth deputy mayor for Housing, Jordi Valls, has emphasized that measures such as the intention to eliminate all tourist licenses by 2028 must have played a role in the outcome of the negotiations. According to Valls, "changing some things" is causing some investors to analyze "more carefully" how they develop their projects. "They are changing their business model," he pointed out, arguing that policies such as those concerning high-demand areas, the 2028 deadline for tourist apartments, and the regulation of seasonal rentals are related. "Anyone who wants to come to the city to modify an apartment building to obtain 22% returns without considering the residents who live there is not welcome," he said.