The Parliament of Catalonia has tightened the regulation of the real estate market to close the escape routes to price control with the so-called “seasonal rental”. According to the new regulation approved this Thursday in the Catalan chamber, temporary rentals will no longer be considered “seasonal” for legal purposes and will be governed by the same rules as regular housing.
This modification implies that, regardless of their duration, these contracts will be subject to the price reference index in the areas declared as stressed, and will prevent landlords from setting rents higher than those established by law under the pretext of seasonality.
What will be considered “seasonal rental” from now on in Barcelona
The regulation restricts the definition of seasonal rental exclusively to those contracts whose purpose is “recreational, holiday and tourist uses”. For a rental to fit into this category, it will be mandatory to pay the corresponding tourist tax.
In addition, the owner will have to deposit the deposit at the Institut Català del Sòl (Incasòl) with documentation that explicitly accredits the holiday purpose of the contract.
The regulation also addresses the split renting of dwellings, a practice that had been used to circumvent the price ceilings. From now on, in the leasing of private rooms, the sum of the rents paid by all the tenants may not exceed the total ceiling established for the whole dwelling according to the reference index.