This definition, developed by the Catalan Housing Agency and the General Directorate of Taxes and Gaming, will apply to the 271 Catalan localities declared as stressed residential markets. Of these, 140 municipalities were included on March 13, 2024, and another 131 were added on July 1 of the same year.
In these stressed territories, rental income cannot exceed the official reference index. The regulation specifies that a taxpayer will be considered a large property owner if the sum of their ownership percentages reaches 500%, equivalent to full ownership of five urban residential properties. The Government clarifies that having an ownership share greater than 50% in a single dwelling does not count it as a whole unit for calculation purposes.
Thus, an owner with less than 100% of five flats, but a co-owner of other properties, will be considered a large property owner if the total sum of ownership percentages reaches 500%. This implies that someone owning 50% of 10 dwellings would meet this threshold and be subject to the regulation.
“"If an owner has 50% of 10 flats, it is considered as 5 whole flats and they are declared a large property owner. This is not stated anywhere, they are inventing it, it is not written: either you have 5 flats or you don't."
This interpretation has raised concerns in the Catalan real estate sector, which believes that the Generalitat is expanding the concept of a large property owner established in the state housing law through complex formulas. The sector argues that this definition is not explicitly included in state regulations and introduces additional complexity in calculating the large property owner status.
