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After several requests in recent months, the Spanish ministry of consumer affairs has finally requested that Airbnb block almost 66,000 illegal tourist flat ads. The announcement from minister Pablo Bustinduy's department came this Monday.
The ministry has sent three resolutions in recent months ordering the withdrawal of a total of 65,935 ads hosted on the booking platform. According to the ministry, the advertised flats fail to comply with various regulations. Although Airbnb appealed the withdrawal order, the Madrid High Court of Justice has backed the ministry's decision.
Therefore, the court has issued an order, urging Airbnb to remove a first batch of 5,800 advertisements for holiday flats that do not comply with current legislation. According to the ruling, the ads violate the regulations of the different Spanish regions where they are located. All of the ads refer to flats, not individual rooms for renting.
In recent months, Pablo Bustinduy's department has sent Airbnb up to three resolutions notifying it of the more than 65,000 illegal advertisements for holiday homes that were detected on its platform. The ministry has cited several reasons to justify its decision. On the one hand, the ads do not include the licence or registration number, which is not only obligatory but also "the most common infringement".
Additionally, the advertisements do not indicate the legal status of the landlords, i.e. whether they are professionals or private individuals. This question is "fundamental to knowing whether the person entering into the contract is protected as a consumer or not". The third justification, according to the ministry, is that some of the advertised flats' licence numbers do not correspond to those issued by the authorities.
The flats concerned are located in different Spanish regions: Andalucía, Madrid, Catalonia, Valencia, the Balearic Islands and the Basque Country.
In December 2024, the government opened a sanctioning file against a tourist accommodation rental platform for a possible breach of regulations. Then, in February of this year, the ministry opened sanctioning proceedings against major tourist accommodation management companies for failing to correctly indicate the legal status of the landlord. Both proceedings remain ongoing despite the measures announced on Monday.
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