Collaborative apartment rental websites will soon be legal in Catalonia. The Catalan Government will be the first to regulate the activity of companies such as Homeaway, which apartment owners must comply with in order to put their apartments and rooms on the market.
The decree comes from the Department of Business and Employment and, although it has not yet been made public, the Generalitat explained its main aspects at a press conference.
Legal Airbnb in Catalonia: keys
The owners will be authorized to rent apartments and rooms on websites such as Airbnb under the following conditions:
- They must live in the apartment before and during the rental period.
- The rentals cannot last more than 31 days and the rooms may be available for a maximum period of 4 non-consecutive months per year.
- Maximum of 2 bedrooms per apartment.
- The city councils will determine in which areas of the city this activity can be carried out.
- The owners will be responsible for collecting a tourist tax (€0.65 in Barcelona and €0.45 in the rest of Catalonia, per night)
Airbnb legal in case of entire apartments?
In the event that the owners wish to rent complete apartments and not just rooms, the Generalitat requires them to include their apartments in the Catalonia Tourism Registry and to have a tourist license. Local governments may also require landlords to ask their neighbors before renting the apartment. Yo
It should be noted that last week the new mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colauannounced that the city will stop granting new tourist licenses for apartments and hotels for at least one year.
Catalonia fined Airbnb and other similar websites up to 30,000 euros in July last year, being the first local government in the entire European Union to do so.
In a statement, Airbnb says that “they welcome the announcement of the Generalitat and its intention to support those in Catalonia who want to share their homes. In the coming days we look forward to working with the government to better understand their proposal and how residents can engage in future discussions.”
Barcelona is in the ‘top 3’ of Airbnb destinations in the world
The city of Madrid was the first to legislate Airbnb activities in the Spanish capital. A year ago it said that it would impose a minimum stay of 5 days, but even today it is easy to find rentals for shorter periods on the Airbnb website.
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