Rental apartment shutdown - Barcelona

Joni and friends, I am also very interested in this subject. I am now searching for lodging in Barcelona for about a week next spring, time before beginning an RS tour. Expense in even a modest hotel would mount up for a period that long. On AirB&B I have seen some listings for centrally-located private rooms within someone's apartment, some with many very positive reviews from past guests, some with extremely affordable rates, like $35 per night. Some seem like a worthwhile cultural experience, almost like living with a local family. Does anyone know, are these offers as good as they seem, and are they affected by the legal issues that Joni asks about?

Hi Joni....

That's not quite so. Since what you said you received from the company sounded a bit "weird" to me, I just phoned them to really know what the problem is.

Background: Barcelona, being the fourth most popular destination in Europe receives millions of tourists every year. The city has an impressive 700+ hotels, guesthouses, hostels and inns and several thousands of apartments for short term rents, less than 31 days (which are popularly called "tourist apartments"). Over the years, and given the increasing popularity of the city, some private owners have entered the rental market offering rooms and whole apartments. In order to separate the legal and honest ones from the cowboys and to ensure (1) that everybody pays taxes on earnings (2) that the rights of the customers are preserved at all times and, most importantly, (3) that the rights of the neighbours of those apartments are equally respected, the Catalan Government established a registry to which ALL tourists apartments have to register. Initially there was a period of I believe three years for owners to voluntarily register them and now it has become compulsory to all new apartments in the market and those already in the market. In fact, the law also obliges online companies such as AirB&B or Bookings.com to ensure their listings for apartments in Catalonia do comply with this law. Therefore all apartments should have the HUT number (habitatge d'ús turístic) which ensures they've been properly and legally registered. Yet since the compulsory period has just entered into effect there is still some confusion among owners and some might have not yet fulfilled all their obligations.

Easy-Flat: This company is an established small family owned company in the city with several apartments and buildings of apartments. The company has been operating for sometime and it's not considered to be a 'cowboy'. As per conversation on the phone with them regarding the case of Joni (above), it seems a bureaucratic problem with one of their apartments has caused the whole building in which that particular apartment is located, and which is entirely managed by the same company, to be temporarely closed by order of the City Hall. They've told me that means that they're having to rellocate all bookings made for all the apartments of that building until the case is sorted out -not necessarily a matter of days/weeks. I've also been told that they're offering full refunds to those, like Joni, which booking dates are so close despite trying at the same time to find alternate accommodation for these guests.

October is not a particularly difficult month to find accommodation in the city at reasonable prices. I'd suggest checking booking.com or venere.com.

Enjoy!

PS. Anyone interested in statistics re:tourism in Barcelona...

(No, I don't work in the tourism industry, I just felt for Joni's dilemma so close to his trip and decided to try to shed a bit of light from my end)

Thank you for the on the ground update. I was offered a refund but not an alternate rental. I rent through VRBO very successfully in most cities - Madrid, Rome and Florence this trip - would a rental with a private person be a risk? I have not found any thing suitable on booking.com but will try venere.

... well, latest census is nearly 10000 tourist apartments (includes "rooms") in the city. I would think that almost all are honest -it's their business after all!- but again, you're bound to find a few cowboys too.... here and in any other city. When I've rented flats to private owners elsewhere, I've never had a problem so far (on the contrary!). I always try to search in reputable sites and check the reviews (nbr and what they say). Minute details like how long they take to respond to a question, the length of their responses, etc. helps me to "feel" that owner.

As per Barcelona I obviously can't vouch (I live here and don't use 'apartments'), but this map of some apartments, B&Bs and guesthouses compiled from posts of "happy users" at TripAdvisor might help: http://bit.ly/hostals_and_BBs_in_BCN

I don't know you Joni but I am anxious on your behalf. A canceled room booking is one of my biggest worries. Good luck!

I watched an interesting story a couple of days ago on the tourist/vacation rental issue in Barcelona on Focus on Europe. It's similar to the situation in Paris, where residents are fed up with losing potential homes to the more lucrative tourism trade. Some in Barcelona have become quite vocal, even going into popular tourist areas and confronting those who rent. The sharing economy doesn't work for everyone.

The Barcelona segment starts at 20:35 at this link:

http://www.dw.com/en/focus-on-europe-spotlight-on-people-2015-09-02/e-18643079-9798

Boston is exploring more stringent regulations on short term rentals due to a shortage of permanent housing.

Dave, I'm afraid the economic side is only a part of the story. Some neighbours in some areas are fed up of the morons that think rules and laws do not apply to them when abroad and those that (mistakenly) think that because they're "paying", they are entitled to do whatever they want without any regard to property and people. Poor fools, they don't know that Barcelona thankfully is not dependent (by far!) on their money -in fact tourism is merely 12-14% of the city's GDP. As I always say in this and other forums, we Barcelonians are (and have always been) very open to visitors, and anybody coming to visit and showing respect for the city, our customs, our language and heritage and our monuments will always be welcome. But those arrogant and disrespectful or the rude hooligans better watch out because, as you point out, certain residents from certain areas have reached boiling point. You'd be shocked to see the appalling behaviour of some tourists. I myself am vocal too against "that" sort of tourism.

And by appalling I don't mean lewd -we're far less prudish than a lot of them- I mean having someone partying until 3am in the next flat, day in day out; finding people urinating in your doorstep; vomits all over; visitors damaging cars, monuments and other urban furniture; or riding public transportation without ticket; stealing from shops... not that we don't have locals doing some of that too, but those we can prosecute and, if necessary, jail... but a temporary visitor is harder to prosecute precisely because his/her stay is too short.

Hi Enric-yes I understand, and it's a shame because of the two powerful forces at work, vacationers who feel (overly) entitled and residents who need to have their space and get up for work in the morning. The story from Focus on Europe shows this pretty well. Thanks for your perspective, I know it must be a real drag at times-a good lesson for anyone about to travel to someone else's city.

Cheers, Dave

... well, I was referring to "some residents from some areas" precisely because I fortunately live in a very quiet area of the city :)))

Ah lucky you! Would you like to rent us a room someday? ;-) ;-)

hahaha!... I'm afraid I don't share my house ;)

Just a follow up to my cancelled reservation dilemma - after 3 days of web searching - I am sure I looked at half of the "10,000" apartments available I was able to book a great apartment , less than 1 block from where I was before at just about the same price - it took some looking. I also was careful to ask and make sure that the apartment was "registered and had a HUTB number". To confirm that the info from the seller is correct you can go online and check the HUTB number - the site will give you the exact location of the property!
I still wonder though how "registering" the property is going to improve the quality of tourist who rents the place - are the fees the city are now charging going to be used to provide "tourist cops"?

No, the registry, as I explained. is mainly to be able to tax on earnings. In this country, much like in yours, you have to pay taxes on earnings so the first thing for our AEAT (equivalent to your IRS) is to make sure your income is legal, accounted for and traceable. But also, it's to be able to act against the rental company and the tourists should the need arise. If the apartment is cataloged as a tourist apartment, the laws and rules applicable to any business will be able to be enforced. These rules, which range from quality control to customer rights to community rights are much clearer, enforceable, faster and swifter than laws simply regulating coexistence among neighbours.

I'm glad though you were able to sort it out. Enjoy your stay in my city :)))