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Crackdown on illegal holiday lets sweeps Spain
Thousands of tourist apartments pulled offline in bid to boost housing supply
A sweeping effort is underway across Spain to combat illegal tourist rentals, as the Ministry of Housing and Urban Agenda (MIVAU) has ordered more than 53,800 non-compliant apartments to be removed from sites like Airbnb and Booking.com. These listings, which lack the required registration code or fail to meet new legal standards, are being targeted in the hope of pushing more properties back into Spain's long-term residential rental market.The crackdown is especially visible in Spain's favourite holiday hotspots. Seville leads with the highest number of removals at 2,289, followed by Marbella (1,802), Barcelona (1,564), Malaga city (1,471), and Madrid (1,257). Adeja in Tenerife (765), Valencia, Torrevieja and Fuengirola also see large numbers of listings withdrawn. Regions with sizeable tourist industries are feeling the biggest impact.
Andalucia is the region most affected, with 16,740 tourist apartments forced offline, nearly a third of the country’s total removals. The Canary Islands (8,698), the Balearic Islands (2,373), Catalonia (7,729), and the Valencian Community (7,499) also rank highly, reflecting the popularity of these areas among both visitors and holiday let owners. Murcia, meanwhile, has seen 1,402 illegal rentals removed, placing it just behind Madrid, and remains a key hotspot, particularly in coastal municipalities like San Javier and Cartagena.
Since the start of the year, more than 336,000 applications for tourist lets have been processed across Spain, with nearly 54,000 revoked for not meeting the rules, whether through incomplete information or simply not complying with the standards now required. Madrid stands out as an exception, with most applications there for other forms of temporary accommodation and just a minority aimed at tourist rentals. Even so, more than a third of those have been rejected too.
The Ministry’s new Digital One-Stop Shop, combined with Europe’s first Single Registry of Temporary Accommodation, has made it easier to spot and pull illegal listings, even when the same property appears on several sites. The authorities say these measures are essential to protect neighbourhoods from the downsides of unregulated holiday lets and will instead be used as "stable, permanent rentals for young people and families."
You might also be interested in: How to avoid holiday rental scams this summer
Image: Ahmet ÇÖTÜR/Pexels
