Barcelona has taken another step in its campaign against tourist flats. The city council signed an agreement on Tuesday with the Cambra de Propietat Urbana and the Col·legi d’Administradors de Finques to help communities of neighbours limit tourist accommodation in their buildings.
The deal encourages residents to write new statutes or modify existing ones to restrict tourist use and other activities that might harm community life. To support this, the council is offering 100,000 euros in grants to the two institutions and to communities themselves.
How the grants work
The money breaks down three ways. First, the Col·legi d’Administradors de Finques and the Cambra de Propietat Urbana will each receive 4,000 euros directly. Both organisations commit to promoting the legal options, procedures and advantages of creating community regulations.
Second, up to 36,000 euros will subsidise fees for registered property administrators and legal professionals who help communities adopt or modify their statutes. Finally, communities can claim up to 56,000 euros to cover their costs in creating or changing statutes, though this funding needs approval at this week’s Comissió de Govern.
Deputy mayor Jordi Valls said agreements like this demonstrate the council’s commitment to residents’ right to stay in Barcelona. Joan Ràfols, president of the Cambra de Propietat Urbana, emphasised his organisation’s willingness to collaborate on initiatives improving barcelonins’ quality of life. Meanwhile, Lorenzo Viñas from the administrators’ college stressed property professionals’ essential role in spreading public policies that create safe, affordable and accessible housing.
ERC welcomes the move
ERC councillor Elisenda Alamany, whose party negotiated this as part of the budget agreement with Mayor Jaume Collboni’s government, welcomed the support for neighbours fighting tourist flats. “When a tourist flat arrives in your community, your life changes,” she told reporters. “From ERC, we’re helping neighbours take back control of their lives with this step forward to defend community living and housing rights in Barcelona.”
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