puts the magnifying glass back on the large platforms that host tourist apartment rental ads. The department headed by Pablo Bustinduy has initiated a sanctioning file against a tourist apartment rental platform, which it does not identify, after warning the company, unsuccessfully and repeatedly, of the need to “imminently” withdraw thousands of advertisements for tourist apartments that contained illicit advertising.
The Consumer investigation began in June with a request for information from various platforms about the homes advertised on their respective domains and a specific and repeated request to one of them urging it to “imminently” remove thousands of advertisements. tourist homes housed in their domain that did not offer their license number, among other possible breaches of the provisions of article 47 of the . Six months since the beginning of the investigation and after verifying that the ads had not been removed, the General Directorate of Consumer Affairs has initiated disciplinary proceedings against this platform for not providing a solution to the problem detected.
It also remembers that the advertisements, being marketed in several autonomous communities at the same time, “could be incurring injuries or risks to the interests of consumers and users in a generalized manner.” All these serious violations of the aforementioned rule could lead to fines from 100,000 euros to between four and six times the illegal benefit obtained. It is emphasized, however, “that the opening of this file does not prejudge its final result” and that the initiation of the file now opens a period for the investigation of the final file and the consequent resolution by Consumption.
The Ministry of Social Rights and Consumer Affairs maintains two other investigations related to tourist apartments open. In October it began to trace that they had carried out up to three alleged abusive practices against tenants in the management of these temporary rentals: forcing the payment of a commission for the management of the lease; signing temporary contracts without justifying the temporary nature and imposing clauses that contravene the regulations that regulate them. And just a week ago it launched to avoid legal obligations such as having customer service and the stigmatization that large holders have among a significant portion of tenants.
The General Directorate of Consumer Affairs reminds us that all these initiatives are part of the objective of helping to tackle, an issue that they consider to be one of the main problems that our country has. “There are thousands of families living on the edge in our country because of housing, while a few get rich from business models that drive people out of their homes. No company in Spain, no matter how big or small, can be above the law,” Bustinduy recently noted.
The double clamp on platforms like Booking or Airbnb is underway. The sanctions from the central Administration have been added to the municipal plans of two large cities, which concentrate an important part of their business, to remove them from the historic centers and thus silence citizen discontent due to uncontrolled growth that has reduced the supply of housing for rent and has skyrocketed prices. Madrid is the pioneer, with , which plans to ban in the city center from August 2025 any tourist apartment in a building where it shares space with neighbors, with the exception of if it has independent access to the street (something that They only fulfill a minimal part). Barcelona is willing to do the same, although the rule will not come into force until 2028.
