Spanish government maintains single register of tourst accommodation despite expiring EU ultimatum

The Spanish government hasn't undertaken the necessary steps to end the tourist accommodation census duplication that the European Commission warned against in February.

A few months ago, Brussels sent a letter to the central government, stating that Spain is breaching internal market regulations by maintaining duplicate registers. The warning concerns the government's Registro Único de Viviendas (single housing registry) and the Andalusian regional government's Registro de Turismo.

The Andalusian register has been active since 2016. The central government established the single registry only last year.

The deadline to resolve this controversy expired on 20 May. The Spanish government has not fulfilled the EU's requirements, despite Brussels sending two warning letters.

In the second letter in April, the European Commission said that it had "repeatedly expressed its concern to the Spanish authorities about a potential conflict between registration procedures".

The EU institution said that tourist accommodation cannot figure in two registers. It stated that, from 20 May onwards, such duplication would "constitute an infringement of the regulation".

The Andalusian regional government has confirmed that there has been no change in the situation and that it has also appealed to the Supreme Court. The Spanish government, on the other hand, holds that it has not received anything.

According to the government, the aim of the single registry is to crack down on illegal tourist flats. "We identified more than 25,100 in Andalucía, more than one in four of all in Spain. Instead of providing a team of inspectors to close them down and return them to the residential market, what the Andalusian regional government has done is appeal the state registry. They are more bothered by the regulation than by the fraud," central government sources said.

The association of tourist accommodation in Andalucía (AVVA-Pro) has warned it is considering "filing an appeal with the European courts if the government continues to disregard".

Likewise, lawyer and economist Álvaro Graciani stated that, once the deadline has passed, if Spain maintains this duplication, "any affected party can report a possible infringement of Union law to the European Commission".

"Furthermore, this opens up a scenario of legal uncertainty, potential challenges and possible infringement proceedings against Spain," Graciani said.

Lawyer Jacob Salama, who specialises in defending owners of holiday rental properties before this single government registry, warned of the "weakness of the Spanish framework, which is fragmented and leaves open the question of how much longer this system will last".

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