Barcelona coliving evictions are displacing long-term residents like Marga Aguilar. She faces a court hearing this Tuesday. Aguilar is a long-term resident of the century-old Casa Fajol, known locally as the Papallona building. She is the first tenant in her block to face the justice system simply for wishing to remain in her home of over three decades.
Aguilar moved into the flat in 1992. When the historic owner passed away in September 2023, the heirs initially assured tenants that existing contracts would be respected. However, less than a year later, the building was sold for €5 million to New Amsterdam Developers (NAD). This Dutch investment fund has a significant portfolio in the city.
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Home » Barcelona Coliving Evictions: Tenants Fight Investment Funds
The acquisition marked a drastic shift. According to tenant testimonies and housing unions, the fund’s strategy is clear. It allows rental contracts to expire, evicts the families, and fragments the apartments into individual rooms. These rooms are then rented separately at significantly higher rates. This model is increasingly known as ‘coliving’.
Barcelona coliving evictions: The mechanics of displacement
Eighteen months after the acquisition, only six families remain in the fourteen-apartment building. Five tenants have already left. Two cited psychological distress caused by the pressure, while three others could not afford the legal costs required to fight for their residency rights.
Speaking at a press conference organised by the Association of Neighbours of the Left Eixample, Aguilar described the tactics employed by the new owners. ‘None of the families in the Papallona building left of their own will,’ she stated. ‘The property owners even offered us flats in Gràcia without telling us that families were currently living there. They intended to evict those families so we could move in.’
The empty flats in Aguilar’s building are already being remodelled. Therefore, the objective is to maximise yield per square metre. Housing activists describe this trend as speculative and damaging to the social fabric of the city.
Barcelona coliving evictions: A city-wide struggle
The situation at Casa Fajol is not unique. Txema Escorsa, a resident of Carrer de Sant Agustí in Gràcia, attended the briefing to support Aguilar. He faced trial recently for refusing to vacate his home after NAD purchased his building in 2023. Similarly, the fund has been letting contracts expire to convert the building into coliving units.
Currently, only five families remain in Escorsa’s building. The converted apartments are now rented by the room, priced between €820 and €980. This pricing targets an international transient market rather than local residents. Meanwhile, the property owners have reportedly been fined at least six times by the City Council for carrying out works without appropriate licences.
‘We will not abandon our homes,’ said Anna Olesti, a spokesperson for the Socialist Housing Union of Catalonia (SHSC). ‘We will become a political problem for the City Council and turn every block into a trench against the housing business.’
Barcelona coliving evictions: Legislative pressure
The Tenants’ Union (Sindicat de Llogateres) warns that this business model is spreading rapidly. They highlight the activities of Vandor, a real estate arm of the British investment giant Patron Capital. Since 2019, Vandor has acquired 193 apartments in Barcelona with active contracts. It is progressively renovating them to charge approximately €2,500 per month for a full apartment, or €900 per room.
Gerard Mena, a spokesperson for the Tenants’ Union, criticised the local administration for negligence. ‘The administration abandons tenants to the monsters,’ he said. He called for stricter enforcement of sanctions against large property holders.
The unions are urging political parties to pass the reform of the Urban Leasing Law (LAU) this February. Consequently, the reform aims to shield Catalan regulations on temporary and room rentals from constitutional challenges. It also seeks to guarantee three-year contract extensions in tensioned housing market areas.
With 119,000 rental contracts set to expire in Catalonia in 2026—32,500 of them in Barcelona—activists argue that without immediate legislative intervention, the wave of expulsions driven by the coliving boom will only accelerate.
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