Barcelona City Council is finalizing the processing of a record fine against the largest plot of illegal tourist flats ever detected in the city. The direction of the inspection services these days imposes a penalty of up to 600,000 euros against the alleged brain of a network that accumulates at least 71 irregular accommodations in the Eixample and Ciutat Vella districts. They argue that this is a very serious infringement typified in article 89 of the Tourism Law of Catalonia. They had never encountered anything like it. The tripejocs used are unheard of. In addition, for months the tenants of number 16 Giralt el Pellisser Street have been accusing the head of the plot of real estate harassment, of trying to make life miserable for them so that they leave and transform their homes into tourist flats. legal But all the maneuvers of this plot get wrapped up in a labyrinth of shell companies. The Mossos and the Urban Guard are also aware of all this.
The 3,000 pages of the municipal file of this case are the result of more than five years of investigations by City Council inspectors. In their offices they have a couple of pictures of the alleged mastermind of this plot hanging with the word Wanted! overprinted They detail that those who are engaged in illegal tourist accommodation all their lives are some kind of criminals who go all the way until they leave the country or apparent white-glove businessmen who pretend that they have never broken a plate or a pot The inspectors have never found anyone able to move around so easily.
This story begins in 2016. The inspectors detect a plot dedicated to buying homes in the center of Barcelona and then dividing them without any kind of permission into two or three apartments each and offering them on Airbnb and Booking. But when the inspectors issue the corresponding cease-and-desist order and penalty warning, the property responds that the apartment is rented, that the tenant is responsible for everything, that here they have the contract that proves it… The appearance of legality is absolute. And the City Council has no way of finding tenants. Many of them live abroad. The strategy of most of the big multi-infringers basically consists of renting properties and then subletting them by the day to tourists until the owner manages to terminate the contract. Buying the flats is an innovation.
In addition, in the meantime, the properties of these homes are continuously passed from one trading company to another. Sanctioning files follow each other, but they all end in a dead end. The report of the directorate of the inspection services states that the alleged mastermind of all this “is the administrator of numerous companies whose main corporate object is the acquisition and management of real estate to be used for tourist rental without a license “. The plot feels so comfortable that in a few cases it requests building permits to divide the properties. In this way, they turned about fifteen houses into about thirty illegal tourist flats. Then, with the pandemic, everything stops for a season…
And then, the inspectors continue, they manage to get entire buildings, until controlling four properties in the neighborhood of Sant Pere, Santa Caterina and la Ribera, just behind the municipal market. Then the inspectors change strategy, focus their inquiries on the intrigue of a dozen commercial companies that function as shell companies, to try to prove that the alleged mastermind of all this is using them to hide. In addition, they transfer their investigations to the Tax Agency, the Municipal Institute of Finance, the Urban Guard, the Labor Inspectorate… By now the plot accumulates at least 37 properties that function as 71 tourist flats illegal The inspectors calculate that the annual profits of this network are 1,941,618.60 euros.
“There are currently four hosts on the Airbnb platform who advertise the rental of the flats that are the subject of this report – they also collect the papers from the City Council. Some of these apartments were also published on the Booking platform, although they are currently blocked or withdrawn and do not allow bookings. They constantly remove ads and post new ones to make inspection difficult, although they are easily identifiable because they use the same photos. From May 2017 until now, 356 advertisements related to this plot have been detected, of which there are currently 71 active”.
The appearance of legality began to crack a few weeks ago, when the few tenants who are still holding out at 16 Giralt el Pellisser denounced on these pages that the new owners of their property are making life miserable for them to leave and transform their homes in illegal tourist flats, that these same people already did the same in the two estates that confront theirs. This building was acquired in April for 1,600,000 euros through three commercial companies. The alleged mastermind of all this intrigue pointed out by the municipal inspectors is the administrator of two of these buildings.
The neighbors detailed that he first made them some financial offers to get them to leave. Then he launched some reform works that turned their lives into hell. Since he did not have the relevant permits, the City Council suspended these works. The neighbors also assured that he then sent some false occupations so that they broke the coexistence of the staircase. From time to time they throw water on the floors and the neighbors find the walls of their homes all soaked. The Firefighters point out in a report that it is apparently a case of harassment.
When La Vanguardia asked about all these circumstances the buyer of this property, the presumed mastermind of this whole plot, he replied that he had nothing to do with this building, that he was not the owner, that he had no interest in continue this conversation… A few hours after this conversation took place, the tenants received a call from a person claiming to represent the new owners of the property. And one day he tells them that they bought the entire building, another that they already signed the leases, a third that they only bought several homes on the estate… “The City Council – says the inspectors’ report – has received several complaints from tenants of this property about the works done without permission and the threats and coercion of this person to leave the homes and use the property for tourist rental. In fact, facts have been found that could fit with a crime of real estate harassment, which is being processed in the corresponding court”. All this forces inspectors to speed up investigations. The situation is becoming more disturbing every day.
“The truth is that he is a very special person”, say the inspectors. “When you see him, he tells you that he doesn’t understand Spanish, that you speak to him in English… and when you turn around, he starts talking to his workers in Spanish.” “You seal off a flat and a few hours later he rips off the stickers and fills it with tourists again”. “He opens an office and does not ask for an activity permit, a procedure that costs nothing…”. “Once he tried to kick out an inspector from one of Giralt de Pellisser’s estates. The inspector called the Urban Guard. And when the alleged security officer saw the officers, he turned around and tried to escape. The officers told him where he was going… and they checked that he had a criminal record.” “And then he hires very important lawyers.” “Although their flats are not licensed, their customers are charged the tourist tax by Bizum”. “He presents himself on social networks as a great businessman.”
“This municipal government will continue to be inflexible with the groups that do business through illegal tourist flats – says the deputy mayor of Urbanism, the socialist Laia Bonet. In recent times we have detected that illegal activity has become specialized and professionalized and networks like this have appeared that try to evade the law by all possible means. Our response cannot be any other than to act with the utmost force, to remain firm and to devote all our efforts to preventing anyone from trading with a basic necessity such as housing. In our city, this type of criminal practice cannot go free, and we will continue to work to guarantee coexistence and the quality of life of the residents.”
The direction of the inspection services expects to receive in a few days the allegations of the alleged mastermind of this plot. They are certainly very extensive. But the inspectors hope to resolve them in a few months and ratify the highest penalty imposed in this city on a private person for these practices. In addition, the inspectors themselves warn, the investigations are still open, they will issue new sanctions to all involved, they will look for more irregular accommodation, they will try to impose new fines to further tighten the siege on the alleged mastermind of all this… The most it is likely that the matter will lead to an administrative dispute. It still needs to be verified whether the suspicions of harassment ultimately have criminal consequences. In reality, this story still goes on.
