Consumption has opened a sanctioning file against Airbnb for not removing ads that would contain illegal advertising after in June the General Directorate of Consumer Affairs asked various platforms of this type for information and subsequently urged them to remove thousands of them imminently for going against the interests of users.
“I reiterate the message: no company, no matter how large or powerful, should be above the law. Not even in the housing market,” the Minister of Consumer Affairs, Pablo Bustinduy, wrote on social networks, without mentioning the name of the company. company nor does the Ministry’s statement do so.
This was the first of the three processes against illegal tourist apartments that Consumo has underway due to the risk that it implies for consumers and users to contact advertisements hosted on their domain in which the license number does not appear or contain illicit advertising. The sanctioning file has been opened upon verifying that the advertisements remain on the platform.
Specifically, the advertisements for tourist apartments detected in the investigation are being marketed in different autonomous communities, which could generate, for Consumption, “injuries or risks to the interests of consumers and users in a generalized way.” Furthermore, they would be incurring unfair business practices based on Article 47 of the General Law for the Defense of Consumers and Users, assuming a breach of sector regulations in relation to illicit advertising, as in the case of marketing these homes without advertising their license number when this is mandatory .
According to the regulations, the practices that are being investigated in this regard can be classified as serious violations with fines of up to 100,000 eurosan amount that can be exceeded to reach between four and six times the illicit benefit obtained. The initiation of the file now opens a period for the investigation of the final file and the consequent resolution by Consumption, which remembers that the opening of this file does not prejudge its final result.
Consumption has illegal tourist apartments in its sights. The latest investigation was initiated a week ago and focuses on the large managers of this type of rental for “deceptive practices” and other violations of the law for the defense of consumers.
The previous one was directed against various real estate agencies that had carried out abusive practices against tenants in the management of the rental by forcing them to pay a commission for the management of the rental, forcing them to sign temporary contracts without justifying the temporality, or including abusive clauses for the consumer people.
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