THE US-based short-term rental site Airbnb has been forced to cough up a massive €64 million fine after a Spanish court threw out a request to delay its payment.
A ruling by the High Court of Justice of Madrid published on Monday rejected Airbnb’s bid to suspend payment of the fine until a final judgement on the case is issued, meaning the company will have no choice but to pay up.
“This decision is purely procedural and does not address the substance of the case, which remains ongoing,” Airbnb said in a statement.
“Airbnb has complied at all times with applicable regulations in Spain. Airbnb considers this sanction to be contrary to Spanish and European legal frameworks and has appealed it.”
A fresh appeal has since been lodged by the company before the same court.
The legal proceedings come after Airbnb was slapped with a €64 million fine by the Spanish government last December over more than 65,000 adverts encouraging customers to rent out unlicensed tourist apartments.
In the latest stage of a crackdown on illegal lets widely blamed for inflating rental prices across Spain, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs said it had identified 65,122 adverts on Airbnb’s website promoting tourist flats that breached consumer protection laws.
Investigators discovered adverts showing accommodation listings without the required licence under Spanish law.
Some postings were even misleading, informing would-be customers that the property was licenced when in reality it was not.
In total, Airbnb will be forced to cough up a penalty of €64,055,311 – six times the profit raked in from the illegal listings by the company, which pocketed a net income of almost €2.2 billion last year.
“There are thousands of families living on the brink because of housing, while a few grow rich from business models that force people out of their homes,” Pablo Bustinduy, the left-wing consumer affairs minister, said at the time.
“No company in Spain, no matter how large or powerful, can be above the law,” he added.
In July last year, Pedro Sanchez’s government passed a law ordering the removal of all unregistered holiday rentals from sites including Airbnb and Booking.com.
According to a report by the National Statistics Institute (INE) published in November, Spain is home to 329,764 tourist rental flats – a 12.5% decrease on a year beforehand.
READ MORE: Spain’s Airbnb crisis exposed: One in three homes in tourist hotspots now short-lets
Many residents in Spain blame the boom in visitor accommodation for pushing up rental prices, forcing many locals to move out to cheaper areas.
The anger has led to mass protests erupting in cities including Alicante, Malaga, Palma de Mallorca and Barcelona, with demonstrators marching under banners such as ‘Our city is not for sale’ and ‘Tourists go home’.
Authorities in Madrid, Malaga and the Canary Islands have vowed to tighten permit rules to counter over-tourism.
In Barcelona, mayor Jaume Collboni announced that all licences for tourist apartments in the city will be revoked by 2028.
He said the rising cost of property in the city – rental and purchase prices have surged by 70% and 40% respectively in the past decade – had forced him to take drastic action.
Under rules enforced by Collboni’s administration, anyone renting a room for less than 31 days is considered to be running a tourist business and must hold an authorisation from the city council.
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