Barcelona City Council is asking prosecutors to pursue prison terms for the leaders of a major illegal tourist accommodation network operating across the city, with the strongest activity in Ciutat Vella and Eixample.
The group, known by municipal inspectors as the “Swedish Peruvians”, is accused of renting large flats, dividing them into rooms, and sub-letting them through online platforms until owners evict them. Inspectors say the network currently controls at least 66 flats, and has operated up to 220 properties at different times over the past two decades.
According to the council, previous fines have not stopped the operation. The alleged ringleaders are now under closer scrutiny as the city tries a new legal route. For background on the city’s wider reporting, see our news coverage.
Inspectors say the group uses a layered system of frontmen, sub-lettings and company structures. One key case involved three flats in a building on Canuda Street in the Gòtic, where a flat rented in 2017 was divided into several rooms, each with at least two beds. The same property was later re-rented in 2022 using different frontmen, and in 2023 the group also took over two more flats in the same building.
Another case involved properties on Cucurulla Street, also in the Gòtic. The owner said a Swedish tenant was in fact a “ghost tenant” used to absorb municipal fines. The owner later recovered the flats in October 2024 after spending €9,000 on lawyers, detectives and solicitors, and was still owed €4,000 in unpaid rent.
Inspectors say the network is linked to around 190 case files and 170 sanctioning procedures, with fines totalling more than €7 million. They also say they have found no attachable assets when searching for some of the people involved. In late 2024, La Vanguardia reported indications that some funds might be in Latvia. The city’s case files were sent to the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Catalan Tax Agency at the end of 2024, with the aim of proving criminal offences rather than only administrative breaches.
For official context on the city’s enforcement work, readers can also consult the Barcelona City Council and the Mossos d'Esquadra. The council says the new strategy is intended to stop a multi-million-euro business that has persisted despite repeated sanctions.