[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Are you an apartment owner in Barcelona and looking to make a few extra Euros renting your apartment to vacationing tourists?
It’s an idea a lot of owners have, because renting short-term to tourists can be lucrative, but unfortunately a growing number of Spanish citizens feel that tourists are disrupting public order and are creating havoc in their city.
This is largely because of recent rental spikes in the market of up to 33% in the last few years. This is due to tourists reducing the supply of apartments – and prices rising drastically on the apartments that remain.
This is especially the case in very touristic cities like Barcelona. And you should be aware that the Town Hall of Barcelona recently implemented new laws to prevent Spanish residents from illegally renting their apartments to tourists – under mayor Ada Colau’s instructions.
Here are some of the new regulations that you should be aware of before deciding to rent your apartment to tourists.
- Licenses: The city is ceasing to give out any more licenses for citizens to rent to tourists. This means that if you do not already possess a license to rent to tourists, then you cannot get one issued to you at this time.
- Income: If you are renting to tourists, you must declare any income you obtain this way. This form of rental is considered a business by the Barcelona Authorities under the category of Vivienda de Uso Turistico. This applies to rentals under 31 days and requires owners to register as Autonomo, or self-employed, and pay social security contributions.
- Fines: Approximately 40% or 6,275 of owners have been renting their apartments illegally to tourists. As a result, Ada Colau has instituted a fine of up to 600,000 euros if an owner is found renting apartments to tourists without a license.
- Teams: Ada Colau has also activated and increased search teams to control suspicious activity. Letters are being sent to citizens asking them to call and report to these teams, should they suspect an apartment of being rented out illegally to tourists.
- Airbnb: Recently, Ada Colau fined Airbnb for advertising homes not registered with the Catalan Tourism Register (RTC). As a result, Airbnb is now requiring apartment owners to show their registration with the RTC – and apartments that are not licensed will be removed from their website.
Given that the city of Barcelona has tightened its laws on renting to tourists, owners should be extremely careful not to break these laws.
Can Lexidy help with rentals to tourists in Barcelona?
If you have a legal RTC license, you are more than welcome to rent to tourists and could take advantage of this perk as it will only become more difficult to rent to tourists in the foreseeable future.
But in light of the complicated legal situation explained above, we recommend consulting with Lexidy before renting apartments to tourists. Similar restrictions are in place, or are being considered, in other parts of Spain too.
If you’d like to discuss any of these issues and make sure due-diligence is covered – or would simply like to invest in Spanish property without a short-term rental objective then get in touch today![/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
