The Ministry of Social Rights, Consumption and Agenda 2030 has sanctioned the tourist rental platform Airbnb with a fine of 64 million euros for publishing ads for unlicensed accommodation and other practices considered contrary to consumer regulations. This was reported Monday by the department headed by Pablo Bustinduy, which stresses that the resolution is final and puts an end to the administrative process.
The sanction has been imposed after resolving the appeal filed before the Ministry of Consumer Affairs and affects a total of 65,122 advertisements detected on the platform. According to the Ministry, these publications constitute unfair commercial practices towards consumers and users, by repeatedly failing to comply with the legal obligations in force.
Among the irregularities detected is the publication of advertisements of tourist homes without a license, contrary to the provisions of most of the regional regulations, which require the registration number to be indicated in all advertising. Consumer Affairs has also identified ads with false or incorrect license numbers, as well as others that do not truthfully inform about the legal nature of the hosts, which is a case of misleading advertising.
For these facts, the Ministry has imposed on Airbnb a penalty for serious infringement of 64,055,311 euros, an amount that, according to the department itself, is equivalent to six times the illicit profit obtained by the platform as a result of these practices, maintained from the initial warning until the withdrawal of the ads. In this context, the High Court of Justice of Madrid had previously supported, in different orders, the ministerial order to remove the illegal content.
The resolution also includes two accessory sanctions that oblige Airbnb to remove the irregular advertisements and to make public the fine imposed, with the aim of correcting the non-compliances detected and ensuring transparency vis-à-vis consumers.
Apart from the main sanction, the Ministry has identified other additional infringements. On the one hand, a breach of the regime for contracts concluded at a distance was detected, due to the omission of essential information on the legal nature of the host, a minor infringement punishable with 10,000 euros. On the other hand, obstruction of the inspection work has been found, as the platform did not comply with the information requests during the investigation of the case, which has given rise to another minor fine of 10,000 euros.
Likewise, Consumer Affairs has sanctioned with 55,000 euros a serious infringement for non-compliance with the orders and provisional measures issued by the investigating body during the processing of the procedure, aimed at avoiding risks or damages to consumers.
At the same time, the Ministry has reminded that it has sanctioning proceedings open against several real estate agencies for possible abusive practices in the management of rentals, within the framework of its actions in the area of housing.
All these measures are part of the strategy of the department headed by Bustinduy to tackle the housing crisis, one of the main social problems in Spain. The minister pointed out that “there are thousands of families living on the edge because of housing, while a few get rich with business models that expel people from their homes“, and stressed that “no company in Spain, no matter how big or powerful it may be, can be above the law“.
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