Consumer affairs demands platforms the removal of 8,300 advertisements for illegal tourist accommodations
A large part of these apartments, more than 6,700, are in the Community of Madrid
BarcelonaThe Ministry of Social Rights, Consumer Affairs and Agenda 2030 has urged two platforms that advertise tourist use dwellings to remove 8,318 tourist accommodation listings that are offered as seasonal rentals because they would be in breach of the Urban Leases Act, recently modified by Royal Decree-Law 29/2026. Specifically, the ministry led by Pablo Bustinduy has identified, through the Directorate General for Consumer Affairs, that these more than 8,300 listings would be illicit because they advertise tourist dwellings as seasonal accommodations for which bookings are allowed for less than 31 days, which is the minimum duration for this type of contract established by the law following the recent modification.
This potential infringement has been detected especially in the Community of Madrid, as the majority of these listings that would be in breach of the law, 6,772 in total, correspond to accommodations located in this autonomous region. Of these 6,772, 6,523 are in the city of Madrid. The ministry highlights that this action has been possible due to the approval of Royal Decree-Law 29/2026, which includes, among other regulations, limiting the offer of seasonal rentals to 31 days.
The Directorate General for Consumer Affairs considers that these listings could constitute a practice of unfair commercial communication due to being misleading and, therefore, an infringement of Article 47 of the TRLGDCU (the consolidated text of the General Law for the Defense of Consumers and Users). For this reason, the Directorate General for Consumer Affairs has required the removal of these listings from the two platforms through the notification mechanisms provided for in the Digital Services Act.
Once informed, these platforms would become directly liable for the potential illicit acts reported as established by European regulations. In the event of not removing these listings or blocking access to them, they could face the opening of a case file by Consumer Affairs.
Other actions
This new request from Consumer Affairs to platforms offering accommodation rentals is part of the actions undertaken by the ministry to put an end to illegal practices regarding housing. With this objective, Consumer Affairs already fined the Airbnb platform 64 million euros for offering thousands of tourist accommodations that did not comply with regulations, which led to the removal of more than 65,000 listings on this portal. Likewise, Booking removed more than 4,000 listings that did not comply with the law following an official request from Consumer Affairs.
On the other hand, the ministry imposed a fine of 3.6 million euros on the real estate agency Alquiler Seguro for abusive practices against tenants. On this occasion, Consumer Affairs identified six infractions classified as very serious and one as serious for violating consumer rights and taking advantage of its market dominance position. For similar practices, Consumer Affairs keeps a file open on another large real estate agency that also rents thousands of properties throughout Spain.
