For people already in a “holiday” or “temporary” lease
You don't have to face this alone.
Join the We Stay group: newcomers in short leases, organizing in English, together with Barcelona's tenants' unions.
This page in: Español
Thousands of us are in the same lease.
In March 2026, 72% of Barcelona's rental listings were “temporary” (OCU). That's thousands of families living in leases built to end, many of them ending soon.
Alone, a tenant faces an owner, an agency and their lawyer, in a language that isn't theirs, often with a residence permit that depends on an address. That's the bet behind every fake lease: that you'll be too isolated to say no.
Together, it's a different bet. When tenants with the same kind of lease, the same agency or the same owner act together, the risk and the costs are shared, and one strong case can show everyone else what's possible.
The loophole in the loophole only works if we use it together.
What the group does
An English-speaking layer between newcomers and the local organizations that already know how to win.
- Explains it in English.
What your lease says, what the law says, what your options are. We're not lawyers: we connect you with free advice from the city's housing offices (Ajuntament) and the Bar Association (ICAB).
- Gets you through the door of the local unions.
Barcelona's tenants' unions do the organizing, mostly in Catalan and Spanish, and they can be hard to find from outside. We go with you to assemblies, translate, and help you join, so you never walk in alone.
- Groups cases together.
Tenants with the same owner, the same agency or the same kind of contract can act together, share a lawyer and split the costs. A few strong cases can set the example for everyone else.
- Builds the evidence.
Listings, messages, the “reason” agencies demanded, screenshots of a market with no long-term flats: kept safely and counted, so a private problem becomes public proof. When you're ready, cases can be reported (Generalitat).
- Has your back.
A burofax, court papers, a threat to change the locks: you'll have people to message the same day. Only a judge can order you out, and lockouts can be a crime (Garon Abogados).
- Pools resources.
As groups form, we pool skills and money for shared legal costs. Nobody pays to join, and nobody will ask you for money before you've met your group and seen what it's for.
How it works
- Sign up below. Two minutes. Tell us roughly where you live and when your lease ends.
- A volunteer gets in touch, in English, by email or the app you prefer.
- Meet your group, online or in person: people in your district, or with the same agency or owner.
- Get advice, free, with someone from the group beside you, and an introduction to your local union.
- Act together. Decide as a group, and share the work, the risk and the costs.
Join the group.
In confidence. Your details go only to the group's volunteers and, if you tick the box, to a tenants' union.
Join the We Stay group
It takes two minutes. Nothing here is ever published.