Barcelona orders first expropriation of ’empty’ flat owned by a bank
Barcelona’s left-wing mayor Ada Colau has ordered the expropriation of an ‘empty’ flat owned by a bank, in a first for the city facing a shortage of homes. Ms Colau, a former housing campaigner who started her second term as mayor last week, put to use a law passed by the Catalan parliament in 2016. Under its terms local authorities can claim homes owned by companies that have many properties in their portfolios, if they…