SPAIN’S Consumer Affairs Ministry has ordered two online platforms to take down more than 8,300 holiday let listings it says break the country’s new housing rules.
The listings were advertised as seasonal rentals, but they allowed guests to book stays of less than 31 days.
This is a breach of Spain’s new Urban Leases Act, brought in by a housing decree approved by the Cabinet on October 6.
Advertising the properties as seasonal rentals could amount to an unfair and misleading commercial practice.
The ministry also chose not to name the two platforms. It notified them through the procedures set out in the EU’s Digital Services Act and warned that if they fail to remove or block the listings, they could face disciplinary proceedings.
Of the 8,318 listings, 6,772 are in the Madrid regionf. The remaining 1,500 are spread across the rest of Spain.
Seasonal rentals have become one of the loopholes that most concerns the authorities in the middle of Spain’s housing access crisis.
Properties advertised as seasonal lets fall outside both the rules on tourist flats and the protections for long-term tenants. Critics say some landlords have been using them as holiday lets in all but name.
“In the first week of October, Cabinet once again approved a specific regulation to prevent such practices,” the ministry said. It added that the new decree “limits the availability of short-term rentals to 31 days”.
The decree was approved weeks before Spain’s November 29 snap general election. Pedro Sanchez called the election after Congress rejected his two previous housing decrees.
It is not the first time the ministry has targeted holiday rental platforms.
It has already fined Airbnb €64 million for advertising thousands of holiday lets that broke the rules, which led to more than 65,000 listings being taken down.
Booking.com also removed more than 4,000 non-compliant listings after an official request from the ministry.
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