IN MADRID – Organised “mafias” earn millions by exploiting hundreds of illegal tourist flats in Barcelona which is struggling to cope with protests over rising numbers of holidaymakers, a city official has told i.
One Chinese businessman and a Swedish-Peruvian gang use about 500 unregistered flats in Spain’s most popular tourist city and each earns about €1m (£830,000) per month from the illicit trade, the city council believes.
To rent a flat on a short let to tourists in the city, owners must comply with strict conditions and these properties are registered with authorities and given numbers. Any flats which are not registered are considered illegal.
However members of such groups pose as respectable businessmen and rent out flats long-term from residents, only to change the locks and rent them out as lucrative tourist flats, a council representative told i.
Owners take an average over two years to get the flats back as Spanish justice moves slowly.
In the meantime, tourists arrive every week at the flats and, in some cases, irritate neighbours with parties.
Barcelona authorities have launched an offensive to try to eradicate these gangs as rising tourist numbers have sparked a series of protests, with campaigners claiming they are pushing up housing prices.
The city, which receives 170,000 visitors every day, has 10,000 legal tourist flats which are registered with the council and about 500 illegal flats.
Laia Bonet, Barcelona first deputy mayor for urban services, said professional gangs are exploiting the lucrative trade.
“In recent years we have detected that the illegal activity has become more professional and organised,” she told i.
“Our response is to dedicate all our resources so that no-one exploits a basic need like this. We are managing to deactivate many but more appear.”
Eva Mur, director of inspection services for Barcelona council, told i that authorities hoped to strike back against these organised groups “in the short to medium term”.
Authorities are working with rental companies such as Airbnb and Booking.com to try to detect the illegal tourist flats, she said.
“We detected that there were individuals or groups of people who were behind a series of advertisements for illegal flats. The fines (of €60,000) which we imposed did not have any effect as they do not have any money or their money is outside the country,” she said.
“We think they are earning about €1m per month.”
She said the gangs use the registration numbers of legal flats to pass the illegal flats off as legitimate. Inspectors use a computer programme to try to detect the illegal flats from advertisements on websites.
One of the problems for authorities in Barcelona and other cities in Spain is operating an illegal tourist flat is not a criminal but an administrative matter. It only becomes a criminal offence, if those involved falsify contracts.
The council has imposed 113 fines of €60,000 each but cannot collect the money from offenders as they do not have any belongings in Spain.
Spain is struggling to balance promoting tourism, a key driver of its economy, and addressing citizens’ concerns over unaffordable high rents due to gentrification and landlords shifting to more lucrative tourist rentals.
In a demonstration in Barcelona on Sunday against the America’s Cup yachting race, protesters blamed the international sporting event for pushing up rental prices and bringing more tourists into an overcrowded city.
Residents of the Canary Islands and Malaga have also staged protests this year against the rise in tourist rentals. Seasonal hospitality workers struggle to find accommodation in these tourism hot spots, with many resorting to sleeping in caravans or even their cars.
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