The chamber of Barcelona is in open war with the internet platforms, Airbnb and Homeaway. In the space of six months, the city fined the companies to advertise online houses and apartments without the proper license. In June, the fine was 30 thousand euros – that Homeaway paid, but Airbnb does not – this Thursday rose to 600 thousand euros, the maximum value foreseen in the law.
“There are thousands of apartments to operate without a license, without paying taxes and that harm the neighbors”, explained the president of the chamber, Ada Colau, after acknowledging that tourism “is an asset, but is unbalanced and affects the right to housing”. A study of the municipality, presented in September, found that 40% of the tourism offer in Barcelona does not have license and that the phenomenon, magnified by the online platforms, is to inflate the value of leases to a record high. The same study indicates that the tourist offer represents 7,7% of the homes for rent in the Catalan city and that landlords will receive between two and four times as much on temporary leases that in the conventional method.
Airbnb, in response, said it will appeal the decision to the city council because “Barcelona is the only city in the world to fine the company. The technology of Silicon Valley regrets also that the local authority is in counter-current with cities, such as Lisbon, where the portal collects the tourist tax – a proposal that is also on the table in Barcelona, in fact, the local authority already provides for these revenues in the budget for 2017.
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