Fury in Spanish city as locals are forced to live in tiny units nothing like home
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Locals have been left outraged over plans to build capsule-style rooms in a popular Spanish city. Residents in Malaga, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, slammed Superlativo 8 over its development of a new 'hostel' slated to open next year. However, instead of just hosting tourists visiting for a few nights, the developers have shared adverts on social media, stating their capsule rooms can be rented out to long term tenants; with two bedrooms boxes being flogged for €48,000 (around £39,000). According to local press, this is against Andalucian law as hostels should not be used as housing.
Spearheaded by a couple who brand themselves as 'experts in disruptive real estate investments', Superlativo 8 promises returns of between 19.7 and 31.1 per cent in just one year – which is significantly higher than the typical rental or an Airbnb property. "Due to the excessive housing demand, [this project] allows empty units to be filled in lower seasons, in a co-living mode," a dossier prepared by the investors reportedly reads.
A Superlativo 8 spokesperson told El Pais that it isn't breaking the law as co-living is not 'expressly regulated' in the region. However, according to the Express, a spokesperson for the Andalucian Ministry of Tourism insisted regional legislation does prohibit such establishments from being used as living spaces. They added "In Andalucia, a hostel cannot. It would have to change its official use.".
Taking to social media, residents were clearly unimpressed by the move - with one person branding it an 'attack on the minimum respect for human dignity." Another agreed, commenting: "I hope this is fake because this is now intolerable." A third fumed that locals are being pushed out of neighbourhoods and that investors are only bothered about building concrete towers. "The people are increasingly realising what the current Malaga is: sad," they added.
