Tourists planning summer trips to Spain may face hurdles finding places to stay as the government tightens rules on holiday rentals. New laws, effective April 2025, allow residential communities to block individual owners from renting out their apartments as short-term holiday lets.
Under new legislation, if 60 per cent of a building’s property owners agree, they can ban holiday rentals due to expected issues with noise or disruption. The Spanish government is also pushing for hefty fines on platforms like Airbnb if they list properties without the correct licenses. Sánchez has called for local officials in ‘high-pressure’ areas, such as Malaga and Barcelona, to cap the number of approved tourist rentals.
The crackdown comes as Spain grapples with rising house prices and rents, which have doubled in some tourist-heavy regions in under ten years. The housing shortage sparked widespread protests last year in places like the Canary Islands and Mallorca. This summer, on April 5, thousands marched in 40 cities, calling for lower rents and stricter controls on holiday rentals.
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Sánchez, who formed a coalition government after the 2023 election, vowed to boost affordable housing for younger Spaniards. ‘Too many Airbnbs, not enough homes,’ he said earlier this year, pointing to foreign investors as a key driver of the crisis. He also proposed doubling sales tax on home purchases by non-EU citizens, although none of this has materialised.
Bold talk from Spanish government on holiday rentals
Some local governments are taking bold steps. Seville’s council, for instance, now permits cutting off water to unlicensed rental properties as rents in the city skyrocket. A study by Malaga University linked tourist rentals to sharp rent increases, noting a 33 per cent rise in Seville and 31 per cent in Malaga over seven years. In Malaga’s historic La Merced neighbourhood, rents doubled from 2016 to 2023.
Malaga’s council responded by halting new tourist rental licenses for three years, with 12,660 already in place. In November 2024, the city banned new holiday lets in oversaturated areas. Barcelona’s mayor plans to phase out all 10,000 existing tourist rental licenses by 2028. However, illegal rentals remain a problem. Barcelona has shut down 6,000 over the past decade but still finds about 300 new ones monthly.
Spanish government coalition partner cracking down on tourist rentals
Spain’s Consumer Affairs Ministry, led by Pablo Bustinduy of the left-wing Sumar party, is cracking down on non-compliant listings, pursuing fines worth millions against rental platforms. A ministry report revealed Madrid has 15,300 illegal rentals compared to just 1,130 legal ones. Bustinduy criticised Madrid’s conservative mayor, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, for ignoring the issue and favouring big businesses over residents.
The Malaga University study also found that large companies and investment funds, not individual owners, now dominate the holiday rental market. This shift has reduced the number of small-scale hosts who once used rentals to supplement income.
Airbnb, in response, argued it’s being unfairly blamed for Spain’s housing woes, warning that the crackdown could jeopardise €30 billion in annual tourism revenue. The company claims the government’s approach overlooks the broader economic benefits of short-term rentals.