Spain's government has ordered Airbnb to block close to 66,000 holiday listings on its platform for having violated rules, the Consumer Rights Ministry said on Monday.
The ministry said that many of the 65,935 Airbnb listings it had ordered to be withdrawn did not include their license number or specify whether the owner was an individual or a company. Others listed numbers that didn't match what authorities had.
Spain is grappling with a housing affordability crisis that has spurred government action against short-term rental companies.
In recent months, tens of thousands of Spaniards have taken to the streets protesting rising housing and rental costs, which many say have been driven up by holiday rentals on platforms like Airbnb that have proliferated in cities like Madrid and Barcelona and many other popular tourist destinations.
"Enough already with protecting those who make a business out of the right to housing," Consumer Minister Pablo Bustinduy told reporters on Monday.
Last year, Barcelona announced a plan to close down all of the 10,000 apartments licensed in the city as short-term rentals by 2028 to safeguard the housing supply for full-time residents.
The ministry said it had notified Airbnb of the noncompliant listings months ago, but that the company had appealed the move in court.
Spain's government said Madrid’s high court had backed the order sent to Airbnb on Monday. Bustinduy said it involved the immediate removal of 5,800 rental listings from the site. Subsequent orders would be issued until the nearly 66,000 removals were reached, he said.
Airbnb could not be immediately reached for comment.
Spain's government said the first round of rentals affected were located across the country, including in the capital, Madrid, as well as in the regions of Andalusia and Catalonia.
