Residents affected by 'coliving' pressure Collboni to enforce the law on their blogs

BarcelonaThe neighbors of several Barcelona blogs converted into coliving They appeared at City Hall this Thursday to demand that Mayor Jaume Collboni enforce the law on his blogs. They did so armed with four files from the licensing and inspection department in which the Barcelona City Council itself considers that the Vandor fund has carried out works without the proper legal authorization to disguise them as major renovations and thus circumvent the obligation to reserve 30% of the apartments for social housing. Three of these files are very recent, dated February 19th and 23rd. In all of them, the inspectors consider that the work to convert the apartments into rental rooms has exceeded the permits requested by Vandor, the layout of the apartments has been modified, and work has been done on facades, patios, and other common elements. Therefore, the files maintain that it could be a major renovation and that, consequently, the property owner could be obligated to comply with the 30% social housing quota. All these cases are still subject to appeal.

Although the newly opened cases might offer a glimmer of hope, the residents view them with skepticism. The reason? The fourth urban planning case, which points to possible fraud regarding the 30% requirement, dates back to February 2023, yet the regulations have not been enforced to date. The residents report that after their appeals were rejected, Vandor filed an appeal with the mayor's office in July 2023. More than two years later, they warn, the appeal remains unresolved.

Therefore, this Thursday, accompanied by the Tenants' Union, they submitted a petition to the Citizen Service Office (OAC) demanding that the mayor expedite the enforcement of the 30% requirement and ensure that 17 apartments in these four Vandor-owned buildings are designated as protected housing. "Someone at City Hall is blocking the issuance of fines," the union spokesperson, Carme Arcarazo, told reporters.

Last December the NOW He explained that in March 2024, the City Council had already received an anonymous complaint about Vandor. This complaint alerted authorities to how, in about ten apartment blocks owned by the fund, construction work was being carried out on apartments without permits and that they were trying to circumvent the requirement to reserve 30% of the units for social housing. The same news report explained that the council had already detected irregularities in at least two blocks in the Sarrià-Sant Gervasi district.

Threat of eviction

The residents also lament that while they wait for the City Council to resolve the cases opened against them, the fund continues to litigate against them to force them to vacate the apartment after not renewing their rental contracts. Currently, six residents have open legal proceedings against the fund. This is the case of Elisabeth Lezama, who, after 27 years of paying rent every month, now faces a possible eviction for herself, her husband, and their two children, scheduled for April 16. In response to the residents' complaints, Barcelona en Comú has already announced that it will request the appearance of the First Deputy Mayor, Laia Bonet, at the next City Council Planning Committee meeting to explain what the City Council is doing about the situation.