Barcelona vies to lead the regulation of tourist rooms

Barcelona wants to lead the regulation of tourist rental rooms, which are currently not being regulated. Ada Colau’s Barcelona en Comú party (BComú), the Socialists (PSC), Esquerra Republicana (ERC), and Junts per Catalunya (JxCat) have agreed to a proposal - presented by Esquerra - that will be approved this Friday at the plenary parliament session. 

The proposal asks the Catalan government to declare that shared households with rooms rented individually are also a "tourist activity" and claims that manging this corresponds "exclusively" to local authorities. 

According to the parties that have agreed to the proposal, the government intends to publish the decree of the Tourist Regulations of Catalonia "imminently," in the coming weeks.

"It is important,” explains deputy mayor of Barcelona, Janet Sanz, that the players in the housing market in the city “have clear regulations and leadership on the part of the city."

"It is important that from the beginning [the city council] has the ability" to regulate the industry said Sanz, who has called for the "legal" qualification to regulate what can and can not be done in Barcelona from the city itself.

Proposition

According to the proposal, it should be established that shared households are considered tourist accommodation if rooms are booked for a maximum of 31 days and that the maximum number of beneficiaries at one time is four.

The draft decree made public by the government already provides for this, but Barcelona lawmakers want it to specify that the administration of the tourist activity falls “exclusively on local authorities."

In addition, the text agreed urges the Catalan government to legally establish the obligation that the marketing platforms managing this activity send data of the guests to the town and city councils.