Laurence Dollimore
A MALAGA local has claimed Airbnb-style flats have ‘ruined his life’ after taking over half of the apartments in his block.
Speaking to La Sexta, Alejandro Villen said he is racked with anxiety ‘every weekend’ because he faces a ‘lottery’ in terms of what kind of tourists will be arriving.
He said at first there were three holiday lets in the block of 12 apartments in the centre of the city, which has now risen to six.
It comes amid a mounting backlash against the tourism industry, with movements like ‘Guiris go home’ calling for a complete ban on holiday lets – similar to the one announced in Barcelona.
Hundreds of businesses and properties have been turned into vacation homes in recent years, forcing out locals by reducing the housing supply for both buyers and renters – consequently sending prices skyrocketing.
This has sparked a series of protests which have seen hundreds of thousands of fed-up locals take to the streets demanding changes.
Villen said: “It has destroyed my life, because every weekend it is like a lottery and it fills me with anxiety.”
He said one flat next door to him was particularly bad and constantly filled with unruly tourists.
He said: “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 claims himself and his neighbours were never consulted over whether or not they wanted tourist flats in their building, which he said has ‘turned it into a low-grade hotel’.
He added: “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.”
He said the entry door is ‘historic’ and 100 years old and that he had to repair it twice himself.
The local blasted new laws that will require a majority of neighbours to approve Airbnb-style homes in their buildings for ‘arriving too late’.
“It has come too late for me, because it is not retroactive, and too late for the whole city centre,” he said.
