On December 18, 2024, the Ministry of Social Rights, Consumption, and Agenda 2030 announced the initiation of sanctions against Airbnb for failing to remove “thousands of unlicensed tourist apartment listings.” Subsequently, the Consumer Affairs Directorate has initiated several sanctions against companies operating tourist accommodations in violation of the Consumer Protection Act.
The reason for this was given by complaints from individuals who rented tourist apartments under the impression that the owner was a private individual, while in fact, it was a company. Falsely stating in advertisements that the manager of a tourist accommodation is a private individual, when in fact, it is a company, is a misleading practice in violation of the Unfair Competition Act. One of the advantages companies can gain from this is avoiding the legal obligation to have customer service to handle potential complaints.
After the Madrid Supreme Court (TSJM) rejected Airbnb’s appeal against an initial consumer protection resolution in early May 2025, which concerned 5,800 vacation rental listings in six autonomous regions (Andalusia, Madrid, Catalonia, the Valencian Community, the Balearic Islands, and the Basque Country), the same court ruled again on June 19, 2025.
The court rejected the arguments of irreparable harm and the government’s disposal of “more effective and proportionate means for the objective pursued.”
In reality, however, the judges in the interim measures in question cannot address the merits of the case. Therefore, they will do so later in the proceedings when they assess the legality of the government’s decision. In the meantime, the order for the listings’ removal remains in effect.
In total, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs has sent three resolutions to Airbnb. The platforms were instructed to block and remove 65,935 illegal advertisements. The reasons given for this were: the advertisements did not include the license or registration number despite being required to do so, contained an error in the license or registration number, or did not indicate whether the landlord was a private individual or a business.
The Consumers’ Association’s fight focused not only on the two major tourist apartment rental platforms, Airbnb and Booking.com, but also on government agencies, particularly those in Madrid and Barcelona.
The Ministry of Consumption´s crusade against illegal tourist apartments in Madrid intensified in early 2025. At the end of March 2025, Minister Pablo Bustinduy submitted an initial report, prepared by the Consumer Analysis Unit, which concluded that there were 15,240 illegal tourist apartments, after comparing the number of advertisements for these accommodations on platforms like Airbnb and Booking.com (16,335) with the number of permits issued (1,131). Three months later, the ministry handed over a new digital file containing the postal addresses of 3,565 illegal tourist apartments to Madrid’s mayor, José Luis Martínez Almeida.
The Consumer Affairs Department is calling on the Madrid City Council to “demonstrate political will and decisive action, following examples like those of the Barcelona City Council, which during Ada Colau’s term managed to close 7,000 illegal tourist apartments and recover 3,000 for the permanent housing market.”
Barcelona was a global pioneer in confronting Airbnb with the impact of tourism on access to housing. In 2018, Mayor Ada Colau fined Airbnb €600,000 for advertising illegal tourist apartments. This fine has been brought before the court and has not yet been settled.
Thus, combating illegal tourist rentals through legal proceedings against the larger platforms does not seem to offer the most effective approach to the housing crisis.