The Ministry of Social Rights, Consumption and Agenda 2030 has delivered to the Govern a report with information on 7,000 tourist apartments in the Balearic Islands that are advertised without including the license number.
These data, compiled by the Analysis Unit of the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, will allow the regional administrations to reinforce surveillance and control over the illegal supply of tourist accommodations in the archipelago.
Minister Pablo Bustinduy has made this information public after meeting in Ibiza with the Minister of Tourism of the Government, Jaume Bauzà, and the president of the Consell Insular de Ibiza, Vicent Marí. During the meeting, the difficulties faced by the Balearic Islands in the face of the proliferation of unregulated tourist housing and its impact on the crisis of access to housing have been analyzed.
30% of the tourist offer, without license number
The investigation carried out by the Directorate General for Consumer Affairs has revealed that around 30% of the tourist accommodations advertised on digital platforms in the Balearic Islands do not include their license number. Although not in all cases this means that they operate without authorization, the minister has reminded that the lack of transparency in advertisements constitutes an infringement of the General Law for the Defense of Consumers and Users.
“The fact that a house does not indicate its license number does not necessarily mean that it does not have one, but it does imply illegal advertising,” said Bustinduy. In addition, he has warned that many of these homes are advertised without a license because, in reality, they do not have one. “We are facing an illegal business that is making access to housing more expensive and expelling residents from the center of the cities,” he added.
One more step in the fight against intrusiveness
The delivery of these data to the Balearic Government is a new step forward in the fight against the illegal supply of tourist apartments.From the Consell de Ibiza have stressed the importance of cooperation between administrations to tackle this problem, which in the last five years has grown alarmingly on the island.
“This unfair competition not only harms the hotel sector and regulated tourist accommodations, but also aggravates the housing crisis we are suffering,” said Mariano Juan Colomar, vice president of the Consell and responsible for Combating Intrusiveness.
In this line, the Consell has recalled that it has recently launched a public online system that allows any user to check if a tourist accommodation has legal registration. This platform, promoted by the Department of Tourism Management, aims to facilitate the detection of irregularities and promote a more regulated tourism on the island.
Ongoing investigations against real estate platforms and agencies
During the meeting, Minister Bustinduy also discussed other actions underway to regulate the tourist rental market. In December, the Directorate General of Consumer Affairs opened a sanctioning file against a rental platform for maintaining thousands of ads without the license number, despite having received the order to remove them.
In addition, Consumer Affairs has initiated a new investigation to collect information from large tourist apartment managers, who manage hundreds of homes in different autonomous regions. The aim is to detect possible misleading practices, such as offering false information or advertising that may mislead consumers.
On the other hand, the Ministry also keeps open an investigation on real estate agencies, after detecting possible abuses in rental management. Among the practices under review are the imposition of commissions on tenants, the mandatory signing of temporary contracts without justification and the inclusion of abusive clauses.
A financial reinforcement for the surveillance of the sector
As part of this fight against illegal supply, the Balearic Government has confirmed that Ibiza will have 4.25 million euros from the Sustainable Tourism Tax in 2025. This investment will allow to strengthen the control of tourist accommodations and improve collaboration with digital platforms such as Airbnb and Booking, to ensure the removal of irregular ads.
“Thanks to this funding, we will have more technical and human resources to combat illegal rental and protect the regulated supply in our community,” said Minister Bauzà.
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