Around 500 key lockboxes used for tourist rental properties have been vandalised overnight across several central districts of Granada.
The devices – typically fixed to doorways and façades to allow self-check-in for visitors – were covered in a superglue-like substance and rendered unusable before being covered with stickers reading: ‘Against the housing business.’
The Granada Housing Union has claimed responsibility for the coordinated sabotage, saying it has moved onto the ‘offensive’ against what it describes as the ‘business of housing’.
The action was concentrated in the Albaicin, Realejo and city centre areas – neighbourhoods with a high density of tourist apartments and long-standing complaints from residents about rising rents, the displacement of permanent neighbours and changes to local commerce.
According to the union, housing campaign groups have repeatedly warned that official regulations are insufficient to curb the spread of short-term lets and claim that enforcement and sanctions against offenders are often lacking.
The protest comes amid growing tension over tourism-driven housing pressures. Since the start of 2025, the Junta de Andalucia has cancelled 13,037 tourist rental registrations across the region, including 2,138 in Granada province – 1,198 of them in the city itself.
Meanwhile, the Association of Tourist Homes and Rural Accommodation of Granada (Avitar Granada) has condemned what it called a ‘wave of vandalism’, estimating the damage at more than €5,000.
The association said most affected properties belong to small landlords, self-employed individuals and local families running legal businesses.
It has urged owners to report incidents to the National Police and called for an immediate investigation, identification of those responsible and increased night-time police presence in the affected areas.
Avitar has also demanded a public condemnation of the attacks by local and regional authorities and criticised what it describes as institutional rhetoric that ‘criminalises’ legal property owners.
Read more Andalucia news at the Spanish Eye.
