The Ministry of Social Rights, Consumer Affairs and Agenda 2030 has fined the online tourist accommodation rental platform Airbnb €64 million for, among other reasons, publishing advertisements for unlicensed accommodation, according to a statement released on Monday by the department headed by Pablo Bustinduy. The ruling is final and exhausts all administrative channels, after the appeal lodged with the Minister of Consumer Affairs has been resolved.
The ruling also includes two additional penalties that require the platform to rectify the detected breaches, removing the illegal content published and making the fine imposed public. The breaches of consumer regulations - identified in a total of 65,122 advertisements on Airbnb and which have led to this ruling - consisted of unfair commercial practices towards consumers and users.
The Consumer Affairs Ministry referred to the publication of advertisements for unlicensed tourist accommodation, in contravention of the obligations imposed by most regional regulations, which require the registration number to be indicated in the advertising. It also mentioned advertisements that use false or incorrect licence or registration numbers, as well as those without accurate information on the legal status of the hosts, which constitutes misleading advertising.
For this reason, a fine for serious infringement has been imposed in the amount of €64,055,311, which, according to the Consumer Affairs Agency, is equivalent to ‘six times the illegal profit’ obtained by Airbnb as a result of these practices, which continued from the time the Ministry issued its warning until the advertisements were withdrawn. In this context, the High Court of Justice of Madrid had previously upheld the Ministry’s withdrawal order in various rulings.
The Ministry has also identified a breach of the regime and obligations of distance contracts, by omitting information on the legal nature of the host of the advertised tourist accommodation. This is a minor infringement, punishable by a fine of €10,000. It also pointed out the obstruction or refusal to provide information during the investigation of the case, as the platform did not respond to the Consumer Affairs Department’s requests, another minor infringement punishable by a fine of €10,000.
Finally, it has noted the failure to comply with the duties and prohibitions imposed by orders or provisional measures of the investigating body - issued to avoid risks or harm to consumers during the processing of the case - a serious infringement punishable by a fine of €55,000. In the area of housing, the Ministry has reiterated that it is pursuing various disciplinary proceedings against real estate agencies for possible abusive practices towards tenants in the management of rentals.
All these actions are part of Pablo Bustinduy’s goal of helping to tackle the housing crisis in Spain, one of the country’s main problems. Bustinduy stated that ‘there are thousands of families living on the edge because of housing, while a few are getting rich from business models that drive people out of their homes,’ and stressed that ‘no company in Spain, no matter how big or powerful, can be above the law.’