Controllers of illegal tourist apartments

Buying a home is one of the most exciting and financially significant decisions in a person's life. However, things don't always go well. “In 2014, I went to buy a flat with my wife. We visited it, we liked it and we negotiated the purchase price with the owner. However, when we went to complete the transaction, the seller told us that an investment group had just bought the entire property to use as tourist apartments,” explains Francesc Serrano.

Based on this experience, Serrano decided to focus the business of his startup Talk & Code on the control of this type of housing. “I built a monitoring system that crosses data of all kinds in order to detect whether these accommodations comply with the law and have the necessary licenses. I spoke to Barcelona City Council to ask them how they regulated tourist rentals and when they told me they did not have any tool, I presented them with mine,” says the entrepreneur. Serrano convinced the city council of the capital of Barcelonès, followed by the Diputació de Barcelona and the Generalitat de Catalunya, at a time when this type of business was still beginning to flourish.

“We take information from our clients’ platforms and compare it with official records and current legislation to ensure that all accommodations comply with the law and have the necessary licenses,” explains the founder. However, the key to the success of Talk & Code’s tool is “the many hours we have spent alongside inspectors, creating and adapting the tool to their needs,” he says.

Serrano.

Talk & Code controls half a million homes, mainly in Spain, but also in other countries such as Andorra, Italy, the United Kingdom, Ireland and France, where they are in the process of expansion. They are also in talks to enter those autonomous communities where they are not yet present.

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The Covid pandemic brought a significant halt to the activity of this Barcelona-based company, but it is now growing rapidly and with fewer workers thanks to the automation of processes. The entrepreneur plans to double or triple turnover this year, reaching one million euros, and increase the workforce from the current four employees to seven. “We still have a long way to go, so when some Canadians came to buy us, we said no,” explains the founder.