The net is tightening on the marketing of illegal tourist apartments
Madrid, Sep 28 (EFE).- The 'online' marketing of illegal tourist apartments has become increasingly difficult and the main platforms are already deactivating those advertisements that do not have the mandatory registration number since July 1.
The Government estimates that there are about 54,000 illegal tourist apartments on the platforms, many of them marketed on several at the same time. These are accommodations that have applied for the essential registration number but have not obtained it because they do not meet the legal requirements.
The Minister of Housing and Urban Agenda, Isabel Rodríguez, has confirmed that the platforms are effectively removing them and that there is a good disposition to do so.
Since this new short-term rental registry began operating on January 1, although it did not become effective until the doors of summer, it has received nearly 336,500 applications, of which more than 78% have been for tourist use and 20% have been revoked.
Most of the revoked codes are in Seville (2,289), Marbella (1,802), Barcelona (1,564), Málaga (1,471) or Madrid (1,257), although Benalmádena (926), Adeje (765), Valencia (731), Torrevieja (700) or Fuengirola (686) also stand out.
According to the National Institute of Statistics (INE), there are about 381,837 tourist homes in Spain, mostly in Andalusia (96,176), Valencian Community (63,190), Catalonia (56,851) and the Canary Islands (50,686).
In the spotlight
Although the main platforms, such as Airbnb and Booking, do not reveal data on the number of deactivated advertisements, they are in favor of combating illegal tourist rentals and recognize that those that have this registration number are preferred by users.
Airbnb indicates that these registration obligations have not had a significant impact on its business and that since January 70,000 more advertisements show a registration number.
In addition, they indicate that less than 10% of the national registration numbers that were rejected to date have an active advertisement and that their objective is to remove them, while raising awareness among hosts about the new requirements they have to meet and asking the rest of the platforms to join in the transparency efforts.
From Booking, they affirm that they have worked with the Ministry of Housing to ensure that their portfolio in Spain fully complies with the legal requirements and emphasize that their commitment is to collaborate with national and regional authorities to promote clear regulation and combat illegal tourist rentals.
According to the Ministry of Social Rights, Consumption and Agenda 2030, this same week the Superior Court of Justice of Madrid (TSJM) has endorsed for the second time the requirement for Airbnb to remove from its platform 34,728 tourist accommodations that did not have a license at the end of 2024.
The objective of the Government is that these homes are incorporated into the residential rental market given the shortage of available supply, the rise in prices and the difficulties of access, especially for young people and the most vulnerable.
A revocation does not imply an illegal activity
The Spanish Federation of Associations of Tourist Homes and Apartments (Fevitur) argues that an incomplete application or an administrative revocation does not imply that there is an illegal activity.
It denounces that the Government is exceeding its powers and has turned them into the "scapegoat", "criminalizing" thousands of families and SMEs without a firm resolution and without the guaranteeing procedure required by law
