The Department of Business and Labour is bolstering the team of inspectors to detect bad practice and “ensure the exercise of the right to housing” says minister Roger Torrent

The Catalan Consumer Agency, which depends on the Department of Business and Labour, has until now opened a total of 141 sanctions proceedings against real estate companies that hold large residential property portfolios for breaching Law 24/2015, by not offering social rents to economically vulnerable families before evicting them for failure to pay mortgages or rents. In 57 of these proceedings, fines of up to €30,000 have been issued for serious infringement.

In addition, the Department has launched an action plan endowed with €1.7 million to bolster the team of inspectors by employing 19 professionals dedicated to investigate bad practices on the part of the big landlords, and will launch an information and citizen empowerment campaign at the end of October with the aim of making consumers aware of their rights in terms of access to housing.

“This action plan is the greatest effort we have made in terms of housing so far,” emphasized the Minister for Business and Labour, Roger Torrent.

“It is a plan to guarantee the fundamental right to a home in the context of economic difficulty for many families in our country,” Mr Torrent pointed out, assuring that this is “a plan consistent with the objective of putting people at the centre of our priorities and of the political action of this Government, which considers the establishment of measures to effectively fight situations infringing the right to housing a priority.”