The Spanish government on Monday Ordered Airbnb To remove nearly 66,000 lists from his platform, to broaden a performance of tourist rental, because it wants to illuminate a home crisis that has become one of the worst in Europe.
The government said that the offers were contrary to rules because they either had no permits, had fake license numbers or did not reveal whether the property was run by a company or a person.
Airbnb said in a statement that it would appeal against all the decisions that have been linked to the case. A spokesperson said the company would keep track of the offers until the appeal brought a way through the courts.
The affordability of housing has become A critical social and political issue in SpainWhere mass demonstrations were held throughout the country by people who say that the proliferation of real estate investors and the conversion of shelter in tourist accommodations have pushed families out of their homes. The scarcity has helped to increase prices much faster than wages, so that affordable homes are out of reach for many.
The Minister of Consumer Affairs of Spain, Pablo Bustinduy, said the action was part of a wider push Due to national, regional and local authorities “to ensure that no economic interest has priority over the right to accommodation.”
His agency had previously investigated Airbnb and informed the company a few months ago that 65,935 lists did not meet the legal requirements and should be removed, but the company appealed against the court. On Monday, the High Court of Madrid supported the order. The government will need Airbnb to remove a first party of 5,800 advertisements on the site, and additional orders will be issued until all illegal lists have been removed, Mr Bustinduy said.
The company said that the main cause of the affordable home crisis in Spain was a lack of housing stock and that stricter limitations in cities such as Amsterdam, Barcelona, Edinburgh and New York ‘do not relieve local housing challenges, while hurting local families who trust hosting and managing the price for daily travelers’.
“The solution is to build more houses – everything else is a distraction,” the company said in the statement.
The offers from Airbnb in Madrid and Catalonia, whose capital Barcelona is, belong to those who are affected by the statement on Monday.
Barcelona had announced that it would be the first European city to terminate licenses for holiday rental, where owners should offer them as long -term accommodation at covered rental prices by 2028 or offer them for sale. Mayor Jaume Collboni recently told the New York Times that tackling the increasing inequality that came from the Lack of affordable homes was the top priority.
The misery of Spain reflects the pain that other European cities get: residential real estate is increasingly converted into financial assets by investors. An increase in global tourism and employees crossing boundaries has encouraged landlords to give short -term rental over protected tenants in the long term. Cities need more houses, but high costs and complex regulations have stifled the construction. A ever -targeted stock of social housing throughout Europe to protect struggling families has shrunk after governments have sold them to collect cash.
In Spain, the government tried to turn the problem with an ambitious program to build more affordable accommodation and social housing. The Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, has tried to curb foreign buyers, also by proposing a 100 percent load aimed at foreign real estate investors.
And in December, the Supreme Court of Spain ruled That associations of homeowners can prohibit tourist rental in their building if they had a majority of three fifth to agree.
José Bautista Contributions from reporting from Madrid.
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