Overlooking Barcelona
(Picture: Claire Coombes)When the Mayor of London reissued his call for the power to freeze private rents across the capital in March this year, he pointed to the example of other European cities.
One city he did not refer to however, was Barcelona where a rental cap introduced in 2020 was recently reversed, with its critics claiming it failed to make housing more affordable.
The rental cap was introduced in September 2020 and applied to 61 towns and cities across Catalonia with a “tense housing market” in an attempt to control rents.
Barcelona, the worst affected city, had seen rents rise by 43 per cent between 2013 and 2019. Housing groups, including the Union of Tenants, Sindicat de Llogateres, who spearheaded the policy, were jubilant.
Property investors and opposition politicians were less convinced of the long-term benefits, arguing that the rent cap deterred investment and reduced the amount of property available for rent. Setting private rents, they said, was not the responsibility of local government.
Their appeal was successful: in March 2022 the rent cap was over-ruled by the Spanish Constitutional Court.
Barcelona resident Mark Stucklin of spanishpropertyinsight.com outlined one downside of rent caps. “In September 2021 I looked at buying and doing up a property in Barcelona that I would have to let for €2,000 a month to get 4 per cent gross yield,” he says.
“Taking into account the investment and costs and risks, it barely made financial sense with the rent cap then allowing a rent of €1,140 per month.
“At the same time, a friend with a small flat to rent planned to invest €20,000 in sprucing it up between tenants before putting it back on the market.
“But the new rent level would not have justified the investment. Who benefits? The new tenants will pay less but live in a shabbier flat. Decisions like that were happening city-wide leading to a steady decline in Barcelona’s housing stock.”
Mohammed Butt, Barcelona Office Director for Lucas Fox International Properties, claims that the rent cap reversal is good news for both landlords and tenants.
He says: “When the cap was initially introduced, we saw a vast proportion of landlords remove their properties from the market as the rental yield did not make sense. This meant the supply of good quality rentals was limited and prices actually went higher, with landlords reverting to shorter term contracts and charging additional funds for amenities in the building, parking for example.
“Now landlords who had previously removed their properties from the market to advertise their apartments for rent again and tenants have a wider variety of choice at sustainable prices based on the quality of the property.”
Property website Idealista reported in September 2021, a year after the rent cap was introduced, that data showed there had been close to “zero impact on price reductions” and also a “significant reduction in rental supply”.
In fact, rental prices in Madrid, where there was no rent cap, fell further than in Barcelona over that year. Since the cap was lifted, Lucas Fox have recorded increased interest from purchasers looking for a pure investment buy, something that they argue is a benefit to the overall economy.
How much does it cost to rent in Barcelona?
“Typical rental prices for a two-bedroom apartment in the city centre, depending on the building and the level within the building range from €1,900 to €2,500,” says Butt. “Close to the beach, prices are in the region of €2,200 to €2,900.”
Sales and rental business Equinox Urban Housing put rents in Barcelona at an average of €15 per square metre with the Old Town, Ciutat Vella, most expensive at €19 per square metre and the high ceilinged homes of airy, elegant Eixample at €16. Better value areas include Sant Andreu and Horta Guinardó, both in the northwest of the city.
The Spanish Government meanwhile has put its full weight behind rent control as a means to make housing more affordable. Their “Right to Housing Bill” currently passing through parliament, would allow regional governments to impose rent caps for apartments owned by landlords with 10 or more properties in “stressed” markets.
Barcelona has a population of 1.62 million and, pre-pandemic, welcomed around 12 million visitors each year. It has a thriving conference business and a buoyant tech sector, home to close to 2,000 start-ups and the largest amount of office space occupied by big tech companies — Apple, Google and Facebook — of any European city. It’s a hub for digital nomads.
The city is a victim of its beautiful geography, caught between the Mediterranean Sea and the mountains with a limit on areas for new housing. In 2018 Barcelona’s mayor imposed a ruling that all new developments over 600 square metres should have 30 per cent social housing provision. The result was a severe drop in new construction in the city.
Taken together, these all add to the pressure on rental properties.
What’s it like for Londoners who want to rent in Barcelona?
North Londoner Catherine Hamilton, 48, was working in recruitment and training as a massage therapist when she decided to shake up her life. She moved to Ibiza to work at a yoga centre before settling in Barcelona, where she has worked as a sport injury and massage therapist for most of the past 13 years (catherine-hamilton.com).
She currently lives in a two-bedroom apartment in Eixample with her six-year old daughter Darcy, paying €1,240 a month in rent.
“Initially I planned to be away for only three months. When I arrived in Barcelona I was perhaps a little naïve, thinking it would be easy to get established with my own business. I thought it would be wonderful to live in the Gothic area with its beautiful old architecture and constant buzz and it was, noisy and busy, filled with tourists. All the reasons why I wanted to live there when I was single and childless are the same reasons why I wouldn’t want to live there now.
“I had a room in in a flat shared with two others and am pretty sure that the tenant collecting my rent was covering his own rent by subletting. It’s the usual pattern. Then, through a contact at work I found a small one-bedroom apartment in Barceloneta, with a tiny balcony with a sea view. It was lovely living there, especially from October to May and I stayed for five years.
“By then my business had grown and I had more money and also a baby and needed more space so moved to a two-bedroom apartment by the Arco de Triunfo, one of Barcelona’s nicest neighbourhoods close to Eixample.
“After two happy years, the owners wanted to rent it to their friends and I had to move on. I stayed in that same area and through an agency found a flat in a better building where I live now.
“My current contract runs out this summer and a friend who works in property has warned me to expect a significant increase in my rent. I like my home and want to stay locally because of schools, so I will stay. There’s very little available and people tend to keep the same apartments for a long time.”
How easy is it to find a flat in Barcelona?
Claire Coombes, originally from Muswell Hill, moved to Barcelona in 2018 and lives near to the Sagrada Familia with her partner and their rescue dog Indy. She is in her early 40s and works as a freelance senior partnerships manager in the music industry.
She says: “Finding a rental home was tricky and like everyone else, I was on different rental sites most of the day. Anything half decent gets grabbed straight away and most of the time you don’t even hear back from the letting agent. You have to act immediately when a listing goes live and hassle agents.
“I remember 10 years ago when you would take an advert for a London rental down after 30 minutes because you would be overwhelmed with enquiries. It’s like that here now.
“I’ve moved three times in my four years here. We had to sublet initially because you can’t rent without the correct paperwork unless you pay through the nose for a short term let, under 11 months. Once we had our residency papers, we looked for a long term option but everything was either very expensive or in a bad state and even then places went quickly.
Do landlords look after rental homes?
Hamilton says: “Overall, my landlords have been ok. In London, although rents are astronomical, landlords do generally take decent care of their properties.
“A major difference in Barcelona is that the renter is responsible for anything that breaks down, the boiler or the fridge or a broken door handle for example. The landlord only has to replace things if they are beyond repair. I find that absurd and have my own insurance.
“And apartments are not so well kept. Many landlords operate with a view that as the city is so popular, they don’t need to try too hard and often think that old fittings and furnishings are charming when in reality they are just grim.”
Coombes agrees: “Apartments here are usually tiny with bedrooms that just about fit the smallest double beds. Even new builds have tiny rooms which I find baffling.
“Generally the tenant is responsible for getting things fixed which is crazy. We’ve mostly been lucky but you hear horror stories where the owner takes money from the deposit to cover repairs and upgrades.
‘There are plenty of scams’
“Many people sublet a room to cover the rent. They’re not supposed to but they do with some families renting out the spare room just to make ends meet,” says Coombes.
“What really shocked me here is that tenant must pay the agency fees, not the owner. And not just any fees, but one month’s rent plus VAT and that’s if you’re lucky. Many places charge two month’s rent. We were paying £1,700 for a three-bedroom and had to pay the agent just over £2,000. It’s very lucrative for the agents.
“You also have to pay at least two month’s deposit with some asking for six. It’s a crazy amount of money to stump up. Bills are usually quite high too because the energy efficiency is almost always as E, F or G.
“There are plenty of scams. It’s extremely rare to find a property you rent directly through the owner and some people list an apartment, take the money and disappear.
“Then there are break-ins and squatters. If someone takes over an empty apartment it’s incredibly difficult to get rid of them. You have to be very security conscious.”
