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Spain fines Airbnb €64 million for advertising illegal rentals, and a big chunk of them are in Murcia

Spain’s consumer watchdog found more than 65,000 unlicensed properties on the website, 2,709 of which are in the Region of Murcia

It would appear that Airbnb, the leading platform for tourist rentals in Spain, is determined to continue offering illegal holiday homes, despite tough regulations imposed in the last year. No fewer than 65,122 unlicensed properties have been weeded out, and a whopping 2,709 of those are in the Region of Murcia.

For this huge breach, Spain has fined Airbnb a sizeable €64 million, the second largest sanction in its history, for unfair commercial practices such as advertising accommodations without a license or with false registration numbers.

In fact, in the case of the 2,709 illegal tourist apartments identified in the Region of Murcia, 2,685 have been reported for not having a registration number full stop, the fifth highest number in all of Spain.

Penalties for not including a registration number on online adverts are in place throughout Spain, except in Madrid, Andalucia and Extremadura. In these three areas, regional regulations don’t require a registration number, so the amount of properties removed from the platform is much lower than in the rest of the country, and the cases of removed listings are limited to those with a false registration number.

All the sanctioned cases are prior to the entry into force of the Digital Single Window, a measure that now requires the registration number in all advertisements of tourist accommodations in Spain.

Once this system was implemented, it turned out that Airbnb, Booking.com and the other platforms combined were listing 1,402 illegal tourist apartments for rent in the Region of Murcia. Most were located in coastal municipalities, with San Javier leading the way.

At the time, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Agenda (MIVAU) told the booking agents to remove the online ads immediately or face serious consequences.

Of the 65,122 illegal rentals that make up the sanction against Airbnb, most offenders are, unsurprisingly, located along the Mediterranean coast and on the islands. The Valencian Community tops the list of unlicensed accommodation with 21,938 listings. It’s followed by the Canary Islands, with 12,728 illegal listings and Galicia, with 6,956 cases.

The Balearic Islands also feature significantly, with 4,305 illegal listings (4,289 unregistered). Other regions exceeding 1,000 illegal listings include Murcia, with 2,709 (2,685 unregistered); Cantabria, with 2,510 (2,486 unregistered); Asturias, with 2,198 (2,136 unregistered); and Catalonia, with 2,258 (803 unregistered).

For its part, Castilla y León was caught with 1,583 illegal advertisements (1,580 unregistered), followed by Aragon, with 1,369 (1,284 unregistered); Castilla-La Mancha, with 1,261 (1,260 unregistered); and the Basque Country, with 1,127 (1,116 unregistered). The territories with the fewest sanctioned offences were Navarra, with 274 cases (270 unregistered); Madrid, with 300; and La Rioja, with 130.

The €64 million fine is equivalent to six times the illicit profit obtained by the platform as a result of the sanctioned practices.

Image: Pixabay

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