The Secretary General for Consumer Affairs, Bibiana Medialdea, has estimated that over 90% of tourist flats registered in some cities in Spain do not comply with the regulations, after learning that the Ministry of Social Rights, Consumer Affairs and Agenda 2030 is investigating tourist rental platforms to prosecute unlicensed property listings.
"From the Ministry, we have sent requests for information to tourist rental platforms because we have had evidence that there is official data of a high level of non-compliance within the tourist rental park," she told the media.
Furthermore, Medialdea assured that, if these properties are illegal, "listing them would also be illegal", so "the Ministry is responsible for pursuing, inspecting and, if necessary, sanctioning this illegal advertising".
When it comes to penalties, the Secretary General pointed out that the General Directorate of Consumer Affairs will study the possibility of opening disciplinary proceedings for these practices which, according to the legal precept, can be classified as serious infringements with fines of up to €100,000, an amount that could go up to between four and six times the illicit profit obtained.
According to official information provided by regional and local authorities with competence in this area, a significant number of tourist flats are operating without a licence, which is why the Ministry led by Pablo Bustinduy has decided to launch this investigation to protect consumers and users from these practices.
The Directorate General for Consumer Affairs has sent requests to the main tourist rental platforms to obtain information on the properties listed. According to Consumer Affairs, special emphasis is placed "on the activity and responsibility of those major landlords or companies managing large numbers of tourist flats in various autonomous communities, which could be engaging in unfair commercial practices based on Article 47 of the aforementioned general law".
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