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The next time you book a holiday apartment in Barcelona you may wake up to find an inspector standing at the end of the bed.
Amid growing evidence that the massive upsurge in tourist apartments is driving rents up and residents out, the city has launched a crackdown on illegal, unlicensed apartments, and Airbnb, the dominant platform, is in the eye of the storm, although not the only offender.
According to the council, there are about 16,000 holiday rentals in the city, of which nearly 7,000 are unlicensed. Last year Barcelona fined Airbnb €600,000 for continuing to advertise unlicensed flats on its platform.
The city has doubled from 20 to 40 the team of inspectors who roam the streets seeking out illegal rentals, armed with apps that reveal at a click whether properties are legal or not. By next year their number will have risen to more than 100. Cross-referencing licences with property advertised online, they identify rogue apartments which are then ordered to close down. Owners – when they can be found – face fines of up to €60,000.
-- submitted from IRC
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 05 2017, @09:21AM (1 child)
tax airbnb like a hotel, and make them respect all the rules of a hotel.
problem solved.
if an apartment is deemed "residential", it means people either live in it for three months or more, or they're not allowed to live there.
If I live in a building with my family, I don't want strangers coming and going as they please in the building.
yes, you are allowed to call me whatever you like, but me and my neighbours will vote for a mayor who agrees with us.
(Score: 1) by anubi on Monday June 05 2017, @10:48AM
I see your point. Its kinda hard to know who belongs there and who doesn't when strangers keep coming and going around your home.
The turnover will likely attract a "bad crowd" who is just there for opportunity theft, knowing the "whodunnit" is going to call up a lot of wild goose chases.
I am already having some trouble in my neighborhood with unknown transients passing through - and a lot of us are having our cars rifled. This has a lot of us on hair-trigger.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]