The mobilization of owners of protected homes in Badia del Vallès has led the Generalitat to consider a solution for 1,216 flats that should have transitioned to the free market in February.
The Generalitat of Catalonia has opened the door to a possible liberalisation of 1,216 officially protected homes in Badia del Vallès. The decision comes after affected owners have been demanding a solution for months regarding what they consider to be an unfair situation: while some neighbours can already sell their flats on the free market, others remain bound to official protection due to a Catalan law that came into effect at the beginning of 2026.
The origin of the conflict: 50 years of protection and a law that changed everything
The protected homes in Badia del Vallès were built in 1975 as part of a large urban development project that raised around 5,200 homes in just a year and a half. According to the original contracts, after 50 years of protection, the flats were supposed to transition to the free market in February 2026. However, the enactment of Law 11/2025, which declared the municipality a tense area, has halted that liberalisation for a portion of the owners.
The difference, explain those from the affected platform, does not depend on the economic situation of the families or the characteristics of the flats, but rather on the dates recorded in the files of each development. This has created a division among neighbours in the same city, where practically identical blocks have different regimes.
“Why am I not free while the neighbour across the street is?” asks Amalia Frutós, a resident and affected party, who describes the situation as “totally unfair.”
The Town Hall supports the owners and calls for a joint solution
The Town Hall of Badia del Vallès has supported the residents' claims from the very beginning. The mayor, Josep Martínez (PSC), has conveyed to the Generalitat the need to equalise the situation of all homes in the municipality. “We want to ensure that all neighbours have the same opportunities in one of the country's major challenges, which is housing,” he stated.
The council has been the channel through which the owners have expressed their discontent to the regional administration. Sources from the Department of Territory confirm that they are “studying the case of Badia del Vallès” to assess whether it is possible to remove the municipality from the tense area and, consequently, allow the liberalisation of all its protected flats.
A growing platform: from Badia to other Catalan cities
The mobilization is not limited to Badia del Vallès. The affected platform, still under construction, already groups around 50 owners from Barcelona, L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Santa Coloma de Gramenet, Girona, and other locations facing the same situation. All of them are demanding a uniform solution for the protected homes that, after decades of protection, should have transitioned to the free market.
For now, the Generalitat has not made a definitive decision. However, the fact that it has opened the study of the case represents a first step after months of protests, meetings, and political contacts. For the residents of Badia del Vallès, the hope is that the regional government will find a formula to end the perceived unfairness and allow all flats in the municipality to have the same regime.
The resolution of this conflict will be key not only for the 1,216 affected owners but also for the future of protected housing in Catalonia, where 271 municipalities declared as tense areas face similar dilemmas. For the moment, Badia del Vallès has become the barometer of an issue that affects thousands of families across the community.
