The Catalan government will expropriate vacant apartments owned by large landlords. So the ruling coalition seeks to increase the amount of vacant housing on the rental market.

In Catalonia, the authorities are ready to expropriate nearly 200 empty units in 14 cities if the owners refuse to rent them out as social housing. This statement was made on Tuesday, May 9, during the weekly press conference after a meeting of the Council of Ministers. Large homeowners include individuals and legal entities who own 5 or more residential units, and they can be of any value (this is provided by the new “Law on Housing”).

How this will happen: the Cabinet will ask the owners of these 189 housing units to prove that the house is inhabited or in the process of settling—for this, they will have a month.

“The owners of large properties who own these empty apartments will have one month to show that people live in their properties,” said Minister of Territory Juli Fernandez at a press conference.

If the owners cannot prove it, negotiations will be held with the owner for the next three months regarding the transfer of the apartments to social housing. If the owner does not agree to such measures, the property will be expropriated as a matter of urgency.

Inspections will be carried out to detect non-residential premises in which no one has lived for the past two years “without a valid reason”. Illegal squatting will not be taken into account.

The first property seizures will take place at the beginning of 2024 in the following municipalities: Cornella de Llobregat, Mataro, Molé del Vallès, Ruby, Vic, Viladecans, Vilanova y la Geltru, Figueres, Lloret de Mar, Sol, Reus, Rhoda de Bera, Tarragona, and Valls. In the future, the number of such settlements will increase. It is noted that in the selected municipalities there is a high demand for social housing.