The Ministry of Consumer Affairs continues its crusade against violations of consumer rights in housing matters. The department headed by Pablo Bustinduy notified this Wednesday a large tourist rental platform of the opening of a disciplinary file for refusing to remove advertisements for apartments without a license. This practice is considered a serious infraction, with penalties of up to 100,000 euros or between four and six times the illicit benefit obtained from it.
The notification to the company follows the investigation into tourist rental platforms that Consumo announced in June, after learning that a significant number of tourist homes were operating without a license in several autonomous communities and cities throughout the country. According to sources from the Ministry, the regulations prevent the name of the company from being made public until the end of the procedures and as long as the sanction for a very serious or serious infraction is confirmed, if in addition to the financial amount it is punished with the publicity of the resolution.
After the start of the investigation, the General Directorate of Consumer Affairs warned this platform of the “need to imminently remove thousands of advertisements for tourist apartments that contained illicit advertising.” The guideline, Ministry sources point out, was not followed and the company, whose name is unknown, kept those pages active on its domains.
The largest tourist rental platform in the world is Airbnb, which when the start of the investigation was announced stated in a statement that it “always asks hosts to certify that they comply with local laws and that they have the necessary permits.” These types of companies, which also include Booking or Vrbo, defend that they are mere intermediaries. From the sector, they refer to a ruling from the Supreme Court, which in 2022 indicated that “the provider of the intermediation service is exempt from responsibility regarding the content of the information it transmits, without prejudice to the duty of collaboration” with the administrations. In any case, Consumer sources admit this assumption, but point out that the opening of the sanctioning file occurs after the company in question refused to eliminate those advertisements for tourist apartments without legal registration. That is, the sanctioning file is not opened by the publication of the advertisement, but by refusing to withdraw it.
The proliferation of residential homes fraudulently intended for rental for tourists has put pressure on prices, especially in large cities and coastal areas. In fact, Consumo points out that unlicensed apartments “are being marketed in different autonomous communities, which could generate injuries or risks to the interests of consumers and users in a general way.”
In Madrid alone, in April 2024 there were 12,410 illegal tourist homes. In July, the City Council announced that it had imposed fines of 30,000 euros on 176, just 1.4% of the total. And the ads don’t stop growing. According to data from the Inside Airbnb website, in October 1,153 more apartments were advertised on Airbnb, the largest tourist rental platform operating in Spain, than in May.
According to a mapping prepared by the Assembly of Neighborhoods for Tourism Degrowth (ABDT) of Barcelona, in this city there are 15,221 tourist accommodations advertised or dedicated to seasonal rentals on Airbnb. According to data from this neighborhood organization, which has compared them with the licenses issued by the City Council, in many cases they do not have a valid license. More than half are multi-owners with licenses for some yes and others no; 19.3% use a repeated permit; and 13% have not carried out any procedure.
In Valencia, Mayor María José Catalá reported 266 inspections in the first half of 2024, with 449 police reports and 278 termination orders. According to the Federació d’Associacions Veïnals de València (FAAVV), there are at least 4,500 illegal tourist apartments in the city.
If local and regional authorities have the power to sanction homes that fail to comply with the regulations, Consumption can do the same for companies. However, the sanctioning file does not in itself imply a sanction. Now the investigation period begins and, if it is concluded that there are illicit practices, the General Directorate of Consumer Affairs will propose that the sanction be raised to the General Secretariat, which issues the final resolution. Afterwards, the company has the option of presenting an appeal to Minister Bustinduy, who has the final say.
This is one of the three housing procedures that Minister Bustinduy has launched in recent months. Last week, Consumption announced an investigation into large managers of tourist apartments for possible fraudulent practices, related to impersonating private owners. In October, it did the same with real estate agencies that face fines of up to one million euros for charging illegal commissions.
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