Spanish government says housing market is not a ‘free for all’ after recent crackdown on Airbnb

MADRID AP Spain s regime wished to send a message last month with its crackdown on Airbnb that the Spanish market system and its housing domain are not a free for all that value profits over the rule of law a minister informed The Associated Press on Tuesday The cabinet ordered Airbnb to remove almost holiday rentals from the platform which it revealed had violated local rules by failing to list license numbers listing the wrong license number or not specifying the apartment s owner Airbnb is appealing the move Spain is one of the world s largest part visited countries Last year the Southern European nation of million received a record million international visitors But a housing affordability predicament that is particularly acute in cities such as Madrid and Barcelona has led to growing antagonism against short-term holiday rentals Airbnb is perhaps the best-known and most of visible actor The Spanish establishment says the two are related the rise of Airbnb and other short-term rental companies and rising rents and housing costs Obviously there is a correlation between these two facts Consumer Rights Minister Pablo Bustinduy informed the AP It s not a linear relation it s not the only factor affecting it there are a large number of others but it is obviously one of the elements that is contributing A latest Bank of Spain analysis announced the country has a shortfall of homes In the tourist hot spots of the Canary and Balearic Islands half the housing stock is tourist accommodations or properties owned by nonresidents the document announced Tourism is for sure a vital part of the Spanish market It s a strategic and very major sector But as in every other economic activity it must be conducted in a sustainable way Bustinduy commented It cannot jeopardize the constitutional rights of the Spanish people Their right to housing but also their right to well-being The country has seen several large protests that have drawn tens of thousands of people to demand more establishment action on housing Homemade signs including one that read Get Airbnb out of our neighborhoods at a latest march in Madrid point to the growing anger A balance must be located between the constitutional rights of the Spanish people and economic exercises in general Bustinduy reported Regional governments in Spain are also tackling the issue Last year Barcelona declared a plan to close down all of the apartments licensed in the city as short-term rentals by to safeguard the housing supply for full-time residents Airbnb explained that while its appeal goes through the courts no holiday rentals would be promptly taken down from the site In response to Spain s order Airbnb has mentioned the platform connects property owners with renters but it doesn t have oversight obligations even though it requires hosts to show that they are compliant with local laws Bustinduy revealed Spain s latest action reflects a desire in Spain but also elsewhere to hold tech companies like Airbnb to account There is a battle going on about accountability and about responsibility Bustinduy announced The digital nature of these extraordinarily powerful multinational corporations must not be an excuse to fail to comply with democratically established regulations Bustinduy who belongs to the governing coalition s left-wing Sumar party dismissed the idea that the Spanish regime s action toward Airbnb could discourage specific tourists from visiting It will encourage longer stays it will encourage responsible tourism and it will preserve everything that we have in this wonderful country which is the reason why so a large number of people want to come here he mentioned The minister also took a shot at low-cost airlines Spain has pushed against allowing such airlines to charge passengers for hand baggage Last year it fined five budget airlines including RyanAir and easyJet a total of million for charging for hand luggage The principle behind these actions is reliably the same preserving consumer rights Bustinduy declared Powerful corporations no matter how large have to adapt their business models to existing regulations Joseph Wilson contributed to this record from Barcelona Spain Source