For property agents
Your signature is on every lease.
Be the agent this city trusts.
The fake holiday lease runs through your desk.
It can stop there too.
Owners ask you for "temporary" contracts. Clients arrive desperate, with a visa deadline and children to enrol. Between them sits your pen, and your commission. You decide what the contract says the tenant is: a family moving here to live, or a tourist on an 11-month holiday.
We know who's getting rich from this, and it isn't you. You're on commission, under pressure from owners and managers, doing your job. Many of you have told the people you show flats to that you're sorry, and explained what's really going on. You're right to feel it: you can see it's hurting people.
One agent who says no loses a commission. Hundreds who say no change the market. Together, you can refuse.
The risk is on your side of the table too.
- Agents can be sanctioned.
Catalonia's sanctions regime reaches estate agents who take part in fraudulent temporary contracts (Don Porqué).
- Fines up to €900,000.
For a false lease purpose, or rent more than 30% over the cap (idealista).
- Agencies and portals have been fined before.
Portals and agencies have already been fined for breaking rental law in Barcelona (3Cat).
- Fees follow the truth.
On a housing lease, agency and contract fees are the owner's to pay (idealista). A "temporary" label that moved those fees onto a tenant can unravel if the lease is really a home.
- The paperwork is checkable.
The temporary purpose and the tenant's permanent home must be written in the contract, with proof filed alongside the deposit (idealista). Tenants can ask what was filed.
- Your clients are learning the law.
This website teaches every newcomer in Barcelona how a fake lease can be challenged. Your reputation will outlast this market.
- Every message is evidence now.
This website tells every tenant to talk to agencies in writing, ask whether a temporary reason is a condition for renting, and keep every message. A message coaching a tenant to produce a fake “reason” is evidence of a false purpose, with your name and number on it. Tenants are asked to take documented cases to a housing office, the Generalitat's complaint procedure (Generalitat) and the tenants' union.
Before 12 November: be the agent who tells owners the truth.
Owners are calling agencies to pull flats or switch them to temporary contracts: in one survey, 38.9% of agencies reported supply shifting to temporary or room rentals (HerQles). You're the person they'll listen to.
- Catalan law stays whatever the vote decides. Temporary leases remain under the rent cap, and only real holiday use is exempt (idealista).
- The fake lease carries the risk: fines, reclassification, 5 to 7 years at a capped rent.
- The fair lease carries guarantees: the city's rental pool guarantees rent collection and cuts property tax (city leaflet).
Agents say no to illegal leases.
Don't be part of skirting community rent protections. Don't facilitate the theft.
Every fake "holiday" flat needs an agent to write the listing, take the photos, publish it and open the door. The rent cap was won by this city's tenants. A fake holiday label takes it away from the family who moves in. Without agents, the trick doesn't work. And nobody should have to refuse alone.
Refuse, starting today
- Don't list it. No "holiday" or "temporary" listing for a flat that will be someone's home.
- Don't show it to someone who's moving here to live.
- Don't promote it on portals, social media or your window.
- Don't coach the “reason”. Don't push tenants to invent a temporary purpose, or to sign that they live somewhere else.
- Tell the owner why, and offer the regular lease with public guarantees instead.
- Pressured anyway? Write it down and report it (Generalitat complaint procedure).
Together, you can refuse.
An owner can replace one agent who says no. They can't replace all of you.
- Sign the Fair Agent Pledge. Only your initial and district appear on the live count. Nobody sees your name or your agency.
- Join the agents' network, confidentially. We put agents who want to refuse in touch with each other, by district or agency, so nobody stands alone.
- Talk to two colleagues this week. Most of them feel the same way you do.
- Agree it in your agency: "We don't list fake holiday rentals." An agency that refuses together can't be played off against the one next door.
- If you're pressured, or threatened with losing your job, write it down and talk to a workers' union and the tenants' union.
Join the agents' network
Confidential. We never publish your name or agency, and never share anything with owners or employers.
What you can do
Write the real purpose
Never draft or ask a tenant to sign a false declaration about holidays, temporary work or a home elsewhere.
Price at the legal rent
Use the Generalitat's calculator before you list.
Rent calculatorBring owners the fair package
The Borsa d'Habitatge de Lloguer, Avalloguer, a 50% property-tax rebate. Turn holdouts into long-term landlords.
The owners' pageTreat newcomers as neighbours
Explain every contract in a language they understand. Never use visa anxiety as leverage.
Sign the pledge
Sign it live, and show the city where you stand.
The Fair Agent PledgeSpeak up
Seeing pressure or fraud? Tell us confidentially, or report it through the Generalitat's complaint procedure.
Complaint procedure
The Fair Agent Pledge
Sign it here, in real time. Newcomers, locals and owners can see the live count of agents who have signed.
Live
- I write the real purpose of every lease.
- I refuse to list, show or promote fake “holiday” or “temporary” rentals.
- I never ask a tenant to sign a false declaration.
- I advertise and negotiate at the legal rent.
- I tell owners the truth about fake leases and the fair alternatives.
- I treat newcomers and locals the same, and explain every contract in a language they understand.
0 agents have signed
The live count appears when the site goes live.
Just signed
- Be the first to sign.
Seeing pressure or fraud? Write to hola@veiavei.com. We'll keep it confidential.
Connect with the others.
Fair agents are the bridge between owners who want security and people who want a home.
Agents and owners
Bring owners the fair-rent package and help them rent long-term, legally and safely. Owners can see the live count of agents who have signed.
The owners' pageAgents and newcomers
Newcomers in our network are looking for agents who won't hand them a fake holiday lease. Be the one they recommend.
What newcomers are toldAgents and locals
Neighbours choose the agency that signs, and tell their friends. Your street notices.
The locals' pageResources to share
Give the poster to clients. Give the guide to owners who think a fake lease is safe.
