The coastal municipality of Castelldefels has launched an intensive crackdown on illegal tourist accommodations. Leveraging new technology, authorities aim to identify and penalise unlicensed operators. The town council has already begun inspections and initiated sanctioning procedures, with fines potentially exceeding €60,000 in serious cases.
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This new offensive against unregulated holiday lets leverages a powerful technological platform recently provided by the Generalitat de Catalunya. The system aggregates listings advertised as tourist housing on major digital platforms, allowing municipal authorities to cross-reference them against official records. “This tool allows us to identify active tourist use housing to check if they have the corresponding municipal authorization,” the council stated in a press release first reported by El Periódico.
A City-Wide Sweep
Located in the Baix Llobregat comarca, Castelldefels is a popular destination for its long beaches and proximity to Barcelona. The town currently has 378 legally registered tourist use homes (known as HUTs). However, officials believe many more are operating outside the law, contributing to housing shortages and tensions with local residents.
Municipal technical services are now carrying out a combination of digital checks and on-the-ground inspections to “detect and verify the situation of those who operate illegally.” As a result of these initial actions, the city has confirmed the opening of “several sanctioning files.”
This campaign marks the latest enforcement measure under the town’s Special Urban Plan for regulating HUTs, definitively approved in February 2020. This local framework establishes strict criteria and limits on holiday rentals, aiming to protect housing rights and ensure peaceful coexistence between residents and visitors.
Catalonia’s Broader Regulatory Shift
Castelldefels’ initiative comes amid a significant tightening of regulations across Catalonia. In November 2023, the Generalitat enacted a landmark decree-law designed to curb the proliferation of tourist flats in 262 municipalities facing severe housing pressure. The new law requires a specific urban planning licence for HUTs, effectively reversing the previous system where a simple notification was often sufficient.
The decree also establishes a default cap of 10 tourist flats per 100 inhabitants, a limit that local councils can choose to lower. Existing legal operators have a five-year grace period to obtain the new licence, but municipalities can now block new registrations and crack down on illegal ones more effectively. This regional policy shift reflects the immense pressure on the housing market, a central issue in the ongoing Barcelona housing crisis.
National efforts mirror this push. Spain’s Ministry of Housing and Urban Agenda recently notified digital platforms of over 86,000 illegal listings across the country, demanding their removal as part of a new EU-wide regulation for short-term rentals.
A Commitment to ‘Responsible Tourism’
For Castelldefels, the goal is to strike a healthier balance. The problem of illegal property use is a persistent concern for residents, who recently thwarted an attempt by squatters to occupy a building, garnering headlines. Authorities view enforcement against illegal tourist flats, much like L’Hospitalet’s recent crackdown on illegal after-hours cafes, as a vital step in maintaining public order and neighbourhood quality of life.
By combining advanced technology with robust fieldwork, the municipality aims to ensure that tourism, a key part of its economy, does not come at the expense of its residents.
“With this combination of technology and fieldwork, Castelldefels reinforces its commitment to a model of responsible tourism, respectful of the city and the quality of life of the neighbourhood,” the council’s statement concluded.
