EU warns Spain over banned double tourist rental registry: May 2026 deadline set
The Tris agency orders Spain to resolve the duplication of the national single housing registry with Andalucía's tourism registry
The European Technical Regulation Information System (Tris) has warned that Spain is breaching internal market regulations by maintaining duplicate registers.
This has sparked a legal battle between the central government and the regional administration.
The warning concerns the government's Registro Único de Viviendas (single housing registry) and the Andalusian regional government's Registro de Turismo.
The registration of a property in both creates a duplication, which is not allowed by the European Commission.
Tris has ordered that the central and the regional governments find a solution. In response, Regional Minister of Tourism Arturo Bernal said that they have already included this irregularity in the file opposing the central government's single registry before the Supreme Court.
If the regional government (Junta) and the central government do not reach an agreement before the deadline, Tris will have to intervene.
"We are absolutely certain that our law will not be annulled because it came before the central government's and because we have the authority over our tourism. It is clear to us that it is the state that has to remove the law of the single registry," Bernal stated.
According to Bernal, Tris will rule in favour of the Andalusian registry, as it applies "the principles of EU law". The regional minister says that Tris obliges member states to notify Brussels of draft laws that may affect the internal market or the free provision of services, such as digital platforms. Its purpose is to prevent laws that are incompatible with European law from being adopted.
"When the Commission issues a Tris decision, it is not a political recommendation, but a legal pronouncement that must be taken into account by the member state.
"In this case, the Commission states that the European regulation on short-term rentals expressly states that an accommodation unit may not be subject to more than one registration procedure," Bernal said.
President of Spanish tourist accommodation associations Fevitur and Artur CV Silvia Blasco Benito has also supported the pronouncement. According to Blasco, "this ruling clearly dismantles the Spanish control model based on redundant registers, windows and obligations that do not provide real efficiency". Blasco said that "the ruling is general and affects the whole of the Spanish regulatory system".
Fevitur also opposes the central government's decision to establish "a duplicate state register" that is forcing "fully legal operators, both private owners and management companies", to leave the market.
Fevitur has warned that the Spanish government exposes itself to claims for financial liability and to European sanction proceedings, which is why it must take action before 20 May 2026. "Legal uncertainty is not a public policy tool. If Europe demands interoperability, Spain cannot respond with duplicity," Blasco stated.
