Spanish authorities on Monday ordered the online platform Airbnb to remove more than 65 holiday rental listings.
In recent months, Airbnb's European headquarters in Ireland has been issued a total of three orders to remove listings that were deemed illegal, Spain's consumer affairs ministry said.
The Spanish government has been trying to curb vacation rental for some time. Demand for housing in Spain far exceeds supply, especially in major cities and popular tourist areas, causing rental prices to skyrocket.
There have been repeated demonstrations over affordable rents, most recently nationwide protests in early April. It is estimated that there are over 400 apartments in Spain rented out through the Airbnb platform.
According to the ministry, the aforementioned Airbnb ads violate legal requirements - they only apply to individual apartments for rent, not individual rooms in landlords' homes.
Many Airbnb listings do not have a license number or are not registered with authorities, the ministry notes. However, in almost all regions of Spain, vacation rentals must be registered with a government agency before they can be rented out.
In other cases, it is not specified whether the lessor is a private person or a commercial service provider. This, among other things, determines whether the lessee can claim consumer protection.
Furthermore, the ministry said that there are advertisements that list license numbers that are different from those issued by the relevant authorities.
Airbnb had filed a request for interim legal protection against one of the removal orders, which affected 5 rental listings. However, the Madrid High Administrative Court rejected the request.
The Ministry of Consumer Affairs said it expects Airbnb to comply with the order. Airbnb did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Živile Aleškaitienė (DPA)
