Barcelona to fine real estate firm for renting ad not accepting migrants

Barcelona's local government has begun the process of fining real estate website Idealista and real estate firm The New House Barcelona for a renting ad discriminating against migrants.

The offer published in June was "explicitly" restricted to people of Spanish nationality, according to local councilor Marc Serra.

He added that it will be the first time that such a fine will be issued in the whole of Catalonia.

"We are sure it is not the only case," he added, hoping that this dissuades others from accept discriminatory ads.

Over 333,000 people living in the Catalan capital are foreign, or one out of every five residents.

The largest foreign population in Barcelona is Italian (36,276 people), followed by the Chinese (21,658), with Pakistanis in third place (20,643).

For the local government, discriminating against someone for their place of birth when it comes to housing breaches Spain's constitution, the right to housing law, and the European directive regulating prohibitions on access to services.