Barcelona fines the owner of a building with illegal tourist apartments 420,000 euros

Barcelona City Council has fined the owner of a building in the Ciutat Vella district with a fine of 420,000 euros, who rented 14 homes to market them through Booking and Airbnb as illegal tourist accommodation, reported in a statement.

Following a joint inspection in April, they found that 14 of the 15 homes were occupied by tourists staying in apartments without a license to carry out tourist activity, and in the remaining apartment lived a tenant with an old rental who managed the collection of keys and tickets. and floor exits.

He rented the homes “apparently legally” with long-term contracts to tenants of illegal tourist accommodation. In this way, the property avoided the file by ending the rental contract or changing the owner when the date of final conclusion of the City Council's administrative sanctioning process approached.

The council has also found that, to avoid inspection by the administration, offenders deactivated and activated advertisements on platforms with different names, photos and hosts.

In addition to the sanction, the City Council will send to the Tax Agency all the information contained in the file so that the property also responds if necessary to the public treasury.