Dr. Estela Rivas has taught the course on “The taxation of real estate transactions” on 15, 22 and 29 November 2018 in Barcelona. The course was organised by the Provincial Council of Barcelona so as to train professionals from local administrations who are working on the provision of local housing services.
On 23th November, Prof.Dr. Sergio Nasarre and the predoctoral researcher Gemma Caballé attended the 8th Conference of lawyers of the General Council of Real Estate Agents Bar (COAPI) that was held in Madrid. The researchers of the Chair were invited to explain the new challenges of the housing sector from a European perspective, as well as the new challenges of the profession of real estate brokerage in Spain.
The Institute of Socio-Economic Research of Luxembourg (LISER) has organized on November 12 and 13 the 3rd Affordable Housing Forum that was first organised in Switzerland. On this occasion, the inaugural conference was presented by Dr. Nasarre and dealt with the search for new forms of housing tenure or reformulation of current ones to avoid households’ over-indebtedness and its consequences. Self-construction, collaborative economy and social housing have been topics discussed in the Forum. The forum has had participants and presentations from eleven countries.
Drs. Sergio Nasarre and Jan Gonzalo and Mr. Isidre Monreal participated on November 9th in the IV Seminar of Housing of the Consell Insular de Menorca, presenting the reality of housing in Spain today, as well as a preview of the documentary “El Umbral “and of the simulation experience “The Threshold”. The Seminar showed the special difficult situation in which there is access to housing on the island and, in general, in the Balearic Islands, as well as the reality of evictions, especially rental.
Dr. Elga Molina Roig delivered the conference “The amendment of the Urban Leases Act” last Tuesday, November 30. It was held in the Tarragona Chamber of Urban Property (Cambra de la Propietat Urbana de Tarragona), who organized it jointly with the Tarragona Law Bar (Il·lustre Col·legi d’Advocats de Tarragona) within the Seminar “Practical problems of eviction procedures”. Dr. Molina explained the draft laws that are currently being discussed in the Spanish Parliament as well as other proposals, such as the principles proposed by the Catalan Government (Generalitat de Catalunya). Moreover, all the proposals were compared with the regulation of urban leases in other European countries.
Dr. Héctor Simón took part as a speaker in the “EU Economic Governance and the Charter of Fundamental Rights” Workshop with the topic foreclosures and so-called non-performing loans. The Workshop took place on Friday, October 26th, at the headquarters of Open Society foundations in Brussels, in the framework of a project that aims to analyze the way in which the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union can influence the ordinary functioning of European institutions, like the European Central Bank.
Dr. Rosa M. Garcia Teruel, postdoctoral researcher of the Housing Chair, participated at the TENLAW conference held in La Valletta, Malta, on 11 and 12 October. She presented a paper on the challenges of the rental smart contracts. Dr. Kurt Xerri, visiting researcher of the Chair, was in charge of organising the conferece. Maridalia Rodríguez and Alessandro Dinisi, both doctoral researchers, also presented their pieces of research.
Prof. Sergio Nasarre has delivered the inaugural lecture of the 44th Urban Planning and Studies course of the IVAP of Eusko Jaurlaritza-Vasc Government, which information may be found at http://www.ivap.euskadi.eus/r61- vedpre04 / es / contenidos / informacion / evetu / es_3811 / cursos_modulares.html. The conference focused on “The crisis of traditional access to housing. The new challenges of collaborative housing.”
The 4th Edition of the Summer Course of the UNESCO Housing Chair of the University Rovira i Virgili took place in the city of Valls, Tarragona (Old Convent of Carmen), last June 15th. Researchers from the Chair, visiting researchers, such as Dr. Padraic Kenna or Dr. Brano Glumac, and representatives from both the Chair’s partners and the Valls City Council, which actively collaborated in its organization, took part in the Course, which dealt with topics related to collaborative housing and the urban environment, such as housing and blockchain, cohousing, condo-hotels and urban regeneration. It was presented the book series on housing (“Derecho de la Vivienda”), published by the prestigious Spanish publisher Tirant lo Blanch in collaboration with the UNESCO Housing Chair. The first two volumes of the series are already available, which deal with housing tenures and reverse mortgages (http://www.tirant.com/editorial/colecciones/derecho-de-la-vivienda).
