European Commission Casts Doubt on Barcelona's 2028 Tourist Apartment Ban

Barcelona’s plan to eliminate short term tourist rentals by 2028 is facing a potential obstacle from Brussels. A draft Affordable Housing Regulation from the European Commission raises questions about the legal viability of Mayor Jaume Collboni’s total ban, and it has opened a clash of interpretations between the city council and the tourist apartment sector.

The 2028 phase out plan

In 2024, Barcelona’s local government announced a drastic measure against the city’s housing crisis: it will not renew any of the city’s 10,101 Habitatge d’Ús Turístic (HUT) licences when they expire in November 2028. The aim is to remove the legal short term rental market, listed on platforms such as Airbnb and Booking.com, and return those homes to the residential market.

Milestone	Detail
2014	Moratorium on new tourist apartment licences, none issued since
2024	City council announces that HUT licences will not be renewed
March 2025	Spain’s Constitutional Court upholds the phase out
September 2026	European Commission draft regulation adds a new legal layer
November 2028	All 10,101 HUT licences are due to expire

What the EU draft requires

The draft regulation gives cities a legal framework to limit tourist rentals in “stressed residential areas”. It also sets strict, evidence based conditions that an administration must meet before it can enact sweeping prohibitions.

Condition	What authorities must demonstrate
Proof of adverse effects	Short term rentals have had a significant negative effect on housing affordability and availability in the specific area for at least the past three years
Proportionality	The measure “shall not go beyond what is necessary to achieve the objective”
No less restrictive alternative	An evaluation proving that no milder measure would improve housing availability as quickly and effectively
Legal certainty	Respect for the legitimate expectations of property owners, many of whom were granted their licences more than a decade ago

A war of interpretations

The EU framework has produced two opposite readings of what it means for Barcelona.

	Apartur (tourist apartment sector)	Barcelona City Council
Voice	Marian Muro, director general	Mayor Jaume Collboni and Deputy Mayor Laia Bonet
Reading of the draft	It effectively derails a blanket ban	It is a continental endorsement of the city’s right to intervene
Core argument	Eliminating the whole sector without analysing particular cases fails the proportionality test	The EU is explicitly opening the door for municipalities to change the rules of the game to guarantee the right to housing
Supporting point	The 10,000 tourist flats are about 1% of total housing stock, and council studies have acknowledged there is no guarantee they will all move to long term rental	The draft confirms, rather than limits, local powers over tourist rentals

The tension sits in the third condition. A total ban is by definition the most restrictive option available, so Barcelona would have to show that caps, zoning by neighbourhood, or other partial measures could not deliver the same housing outcome. That is a harder evidential bar than the one the Constitutional Court applied in 2025.

What happens next

For now, the countdown to November 2028 continues. No new tourist licences have been issued in Barcelona since the 2014 moratorium, and the city continues to police illegal listings heavily, with fines of up to €600,000 for operating without a licence.

As the European proposal moves through the legislative process, Barcelona will likely be forced to present airtight, data backed evidence that eradicating all 10,101 tourist apartments is the only proportional way to address its housing crisis.

What operators should watch

Watch point	Why it matters
Legislative timeline	Whether the regulation is adopted and applies before November 2028 decides whether it can affect the phase out at all
The council’s evidence base	Barcelona will need area specific data covering at least three years and an evaluation of less restrictive alternatives
New litigation	The proportionality and legal certainty tests give licence holders fresh grounds to challenge non renewal
Enforcement	Fines of up to €600,000 for unlicensed operation stay in force whatever happens in Brussels

For HUT licence holders, the prudent position is to treat November 2028 as binding until a court or the final EU text says otherwise, while documenting licence history and compliance records that could support a legitimate expectations claim.

Source: Demócrata, September 2026.