Spain’s Prime Minister has launched a crackdown on British tourists and holiday rentals, targeting high-tension areas this summer to address overcrowding and housing issues.
Pedro Sanchez‘s new legislation this month allows residential communities to ban individual property owners from using their apartments as holiday lets.
The Spanish Government has also threatened substantial fines against holiday platforms, including Airbnb, for hosting properties that fail to comply with licensing rules.
Airbnb, however, claims it has been made a “scapegoat” in the country’s housing crisis.
The platform accused the Spanish administration of putting €30billion (£25.7billion) of annual tourism activity at risk.
Under the new law, holiday rentals can be banned from an apartment complex if 60 per cent of property owners vote against them, citing noise concerns or other disruptions.
Sanchez has pressured local authorities in “high-tension areas” such as Malaga and Barcelona to enforce limits on tourism rentals in response to surging house prices and rents, which have doubled in less than a decade in some holiday hotspots.
A lack of housing prompted major anti-tourist protests across Spain last year in the Canary Islands, Mallorca and more.
And on April 5, thousands took to the streets once again in 40 cities demanding lower rents and tighter restrictions on holiday rentals.
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Sanchez promised to increase affordable housing for Spain’s younger generations after forming a coalition government following the 2023 election.
“There are too many Airbnbs and not enough housing,” he declared earlier this year.
And local authorities have begun implementing their own measures against unlicensed holiday rentals.
Seville’s city hall ruled that water can be cut off to unlicensed properties after rent prices surged in the Andalusian capital.
While Malaga’s city council announced a three-year moratorium on new tourism rental licences beyond the existing 12,660.
And in Barcelona, the mayor declared last year that all existing licences for tourism rentals, around 10,000, would expire in 2028.
However, authorities are still facing challenges in shutting down illegal rentals. Over the last decade, Barcelona city council has closed 6,000 illegal holiday rentals – but inspectors find around 300 more each month.
Madrid hosts 15,300 illegal rentals compared to just 1,130 legally registered properties, sparking a bitter row between the Spanish Government and the capital.
Consumer Affairs Minister Pablo Bustinduy accused Madrid’s mayor of “looking the other way” and “favouring powerful interests over the rights of local residents.”
