Spain's consumer rights ministry said on Monday it had ordered Airbnb to withdraw more than 65,000 listings for holiday rentals from its platform, saying they violated existing rules. The decision follows several government measures against a business blamed by authorities for exacerbating housing shortages and pushing up real estate prices.
In recent months, the ministry has sent Airbnb up to three resolutions notifying it of the more than 65,000 illegal ads for holiday homes that were detected on its platform and urged the company to block this advertising.
Airbnb appealed the Consumer Affairs action in court and now an order of the High Court of Justice of Madrid (TSJM) has ruled on one of the resolutions and supports the ministry's initiative and urges the multinational to remove from its platform a first batch of 5,800 ads that do not comply with the legislation.
The ads on which the TSJM has ruled in the order affect the advertising of holiday homes in the regions of the Balearic Islands, Andalusia, Madrid, Catalonia, Valencia and the Basque Country.
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OK, if they've identified them, then why not just fine them and tell them they need to shut down? I'm sure the ownership is in the public record. I don't know what the fines are these days, but last I heard it was 80K. Understaffed? make a public offer of 10% for each successful serving of the papers to the owner (or whatever person responsible). So, 8 grand a pop. Not too bad for a days work. Ka Ching!
If these ads are actually "illegal" then why fuesnt the government take Airbnb to court?? Why does this organisation escape with just getting warned???
Nothing will happen, it never does. It would make more sense if Spain had teams of people following up on illegal lets and making sure fines are applied promptly to discourage others. It would also be cheaper and less prone to failure as they don't seem to be able to do anything about it now.
didnt Spain try that before and Air B n B won?