Owners recovered two Barcelona flats allegedly used for unlicensed tourist lets in the weeks before La Vanguardia published its report on 18 August 2026. The properties are on Avinguda Diagonal near Passeig de Sant Joan and on Ronda Sant Pere near Passeig de Gràcia.

For owners facing a similar alleged misuse of a home, the cases show that recovering possession may require civil eviction proceedings. Lawyer Marta Martín said the owners of the Diagonal flat needed more than two years to obtain an eviction order.

Barcelona City Council, the Ajuntament's municipal government, had already opened two sanction files concerning the two flats, totalling €120,000, and imposed a further coercive fine of €3,000, according to the report.

Four further flats remain under inspection

Municipal inspectors have monitored the organisation for more than three years and have identified four further flats linked to it. Across that period, the City Council opened nine cases worth €420,000 and issued five coercive fines totalling €21,000.

  • Two recovered flats were located near Passeig de Sant Joan and Passeig de Gràcia.
  • Two sanction files for those homes totalled €120,000.
  • Five coercive fines linked to the wider network totalled €21,000.
  • The network's website advertised stays at about €400 per night per flat.

The network's website also stated that it operated in San Sebastián, Marbella, Madrid, Ibiza and, more recently, Paris.

Civil cases can delay possession being returned

Martín said the operators used appeals to extend cases, including an appeal that the Provincial Court took almost a year to rule inadmissible. She said the occupants owed about €50,000 in rent in that case.

“The owners of the Diagonal flat took more than two years to obtain the eviction order. They appeal even the most insignificant procedural step,” Martín said.

Administrators at the Ronda Sant Pere building said they had recovered the main flat a few months earlier and were waiting for a judge to set an eviction date for the penthouse. Martín said another owner on Passeig de Gràcia had obtained a ruling to recover a flat and that a separate owner had filed a criminal complaint.

Owners seeking to recover a property used for alleged unauthorised tourist letting must pursue the civil process described in these cases, while the court sets any eviction date.

Reported by lavanguardia.com, Luis Benvenuty, sagradafamilia.org, La Vanguardia Barcelona.