A Spanish tourism hotpost loved by Brits has been plunged into a bitter Airbnb row as locals say it is taking over the city, even going so far as to claim it’s ruining lives.
A resident from Malaga voiced his frustration at the expansion of Airbnb-style holiday rentals that he says have “ruined his life” as they now occupy half of the units in his apartment block.
Alejandro Villen spoke to TV channel La Sexta about the anxiety he endures “every weekend”, not knowing what type of tourists will turn up next door.
He recounted the disturbances caused by visitors: “They come back drunk and don’t know how to open the door and start kicking it … when I was president I had to make loads of repairs myself due to the damages they caused.”
Initially, there were only three holiday apartments in his 12-unit building in the city centre, but that number has doubled, leading to increased disturbances.
The conversion of more properties into holiday homes has driven locals out by shrinking the available housing stock and increasing prices, prompting massive protests calling for regulatory reform.
Villen expressed his despair and recounted one particular horror story: “It has destroyed my life, because every weekend it is like a lottery and it fills me with anxiety.
“Every weekend I knew that I was going to call the police, there was going to be conflict, there was going to be a fight, and when the police come, they tell them off by saying ‘hey, behave yourselves’, it was like a constant groundhog day.”
Villen claimed he and his neighbours were never asked whether they wanted tourist flats in their building, which he feels has degraded it to “a low-grade hotel”.
Villen also highlighted the damage to the building’s “historic” century-old entry door, which he personally repaired on two occasions.
He criticised the timing of new regulations requiring a majority of neighbours to consent to Airbnb-style accommodations in their buildings, labelling them as “arriving too late”.
He said: “It has come too late for me, because it is not retroactive, and too late for the whole city centre.”