The Ministry of Housing has reached an agreement with Airbnb to identify and remove listings that fail to include a legally required registration code for short-term rentals. This code, mandatory since 1 July, applies to all short-term lets—whether tourist, seasonal, or room-based.
Monthly reporting and tighter enforcement
In a meeting held on 15 July at the ministry’s headquarters, Airbnb committed to begin submitting monthly reports starting in August. These reports will detail the listings on its platform, including both the national and regional registration numbers depending on the type of property being offered.
Listings that do not comply with the requirements of the national registry will be removed from the platform. Before deletion, Airbnb will notify the hosts and provide a short window to correct any issues—except in cases where the national registration number has been revoked, in which case the listing will be removed within 48 hours of ministry notification.
The one-stop shop and origins of the regulation
The obligation to include a registration code stems from Royal Decree 1312/2024, which formally rolled out Spain’s “one-stop digital shop” for short-term rental registrations. Although approved earlier this year, the regulation granted a six-month grace period before enforcement began on 1 July.
The Spanish legislation transposes the EU-wide Regulation (EU) 2024/1028 on the collection and sharing of short-term rental data, which aims to bring consistency to the sector across Member States. Spain is the first EU country to incorporate the regulation into domestic law and start enforcing it.
The stated goal of the new rules is to combat fraud in the tourist and seasonal rental market and to protect access to adequate housing for local residents—two forces increasingly at odds in many cities and regions.
Registry requests surge ahead of summer
According to the Property Registrars’ office, more than 260,000 applications were submitted in the first week alone by owners seeking a registration code. Analysts believe this marks the peak of initial demand as the summer season drives activity.
The most common reasons for rejecting a registration request include the lack of a current tourist licence, failure to obtain consent from the building’s community of owners, or attempts to list protected housing as a short-term let—expressly prohibited under the new rules.
Tourist rentals still dominate
In the short term, tourist rentals are expected to dominate registration requests. Registrars suggest that the number of granted identifiers will soon align with INE estimates, which counted 381,837 tourist homes in Spain as of May—the second-highest figure since records began in 2020.
However, attention may soon shift to seasonal lets and rooms for rent. With the summer holiday season winding up and the academic year approaching, experts predict a new wave of applications from landlords planning to target the student and temporary worker market.
