Spain: Spain’s Constitutional Court in Madrid has endorsed a proposal to ban all holiday rentals for tourists in Barcelona by November 2028.
In doing so, the court rejected an appeal that argued that the proposed ban would be an infringement on the rights of private property owners.
After the court ruling was announced, authorities in Barcelona said that they would not renew tourism licences for short-term rentals after 2028, bringing a landmark measure for Spain and Europe a step closer.
Speaking to reporters, Barcelona mayor Jaume Collboni [of the leftist Socialists’ Party of Catalonia] said: “The ruling by the Constitutional Court reinforces, validates and gives legal security to this measure. We are on the right path.”
Collboni first announced his radical proposal in June last year, promising that the city government would increase housing supply and address the shortage in affordable housing for citizens, as well as combat “skyrocketing rental prices that are becoming more expensive every day”. The latest proposed measure would revoke the licences of more than 10,000 short-term rental apartments in Barcelona if it were to go through.
A law already restricts tourists from renting out individual rooms in Barcelona but the new measure will apply to entire homes / apartments. The Barcelona mayor had indicated that it was in response to the fact that rents in the city had risen by 68 per cent over the past ten years, while the cost of buying a house had also increased by 38 per cent over the same period.
In last week’s ruling, Spain’s Constitutional Court ruled that the regional decree for tourist rentals “does not constitute a suppression of property rights”.
By November last year, short-term rental platforms and lobbying associations had urged Collboni to reconsider his crackdown on the short-term rental segment.
The European Holiday Home Association [EHHA] issued an official complaint to the European Commission, arguing that the housing decree was “unjustified, discriminatory and disproportionate, violating the EU’s Services Directive”. It also highlighted housing shortages across Europe and suggested that challenges related to overtourism stem from factors such as population growth, insufficient investment in housing, and rigid urban planning.
Along with the EHHA, the UK Short Term Accommodation Association [STAA] called on the Catalan government to engage in constructive dialogue and address concerns raised by the European Commission to ensure fair treatment of the STR sector, which is essential to Europe’s tourism and local economies.
Likewise, Airbnb called on Barcelona to rethink its approach to short-term rentals, on the ten-year anniversary of the city’s first clampdown on hosting when it introduced a moratorium on tourist accommodation licences.
If the ban on holiday rentals does eventually pass, the city of Barcelona would push for an increase in hotel supply to meet the demand from domestic and international tourists.
