Most of the removed irregular advertisements were concentrated on the islands, especially in tourist areas such as the south of Gran Canaria.
Platform Booking has removed more than 4.000 listings for tourist accommodation in Spain following a request from the Ministry of Social Rights, Consumption, and the 2030 Agenda. The reason: non-compliance with legal requirements for the accommodations offered, ranging from a lack of license numbers to irregular documentation, ambiguity about whether the rental was managed by individuals or companies, and the detection of illegal advertising in their listings.
And the Canary Islands, as expected, are back in the spotlight. According to official data, most of these listings were concentrated on the islands, with a particular presence in high-pressure tourist areas such as San Bartolomé de Tirajana and Mogán, where vacation rentals have transformed the real estate market in southern Gran Canaria.
The withdrawal comes amid a debate about the limits of the tourism model and its coexistence with the right to housing. The announcement coincides with widespread confusion among several autonomous communities over the entry into force of the Single Rental Registry and the Digital Single Window, a decree requiring homes wishing to advertise online to obtain a license number through the property registry, against which 14 autonomous regions (one of them the Canary Islands) have rebelled.
Meanwhile, other platforms such as Airbnb continue to be closely monitored by the government. The Ministry has already warned that more than 65.000 listings could be operating outside the regulations on this platform, and in the capital, the High Court of Justice of Madrid dismissed an appeal by the platform and approved the removal of 5.800 irregular accommodations.
The minister himself, Pablo Bustinduy, has focused on the challenge posed by the proliferation of this type of accommodation for residents of tourist areas and for local authorities in regions like the Canary Islands, where the pressure on rental prices is evident and has become a key issue for both the administration and groups who point to tourism as the main culprit for the scarce and expensive rental options on the islands.
