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Spain's Balearic Islands fine Airbnb 300,000 for illegally marketing apartments
The Balearic Islands regional government has fined Airbnb 300,000 for advertising homes whose owners didn't hold a licence for vacation rentals, a legal requirement since August 2017.
Authorities on the island had previously warned Airbnb on at least two occassions that they risked falling afoul of the law, but the company had flouted those warnings, continuing instead to promote unlicensed apartments.
The Balearic government notified Airbnb in August and November 2017 that it was in breach of tourist laws in the Balearics, which were overhauled that very same year, forbidding renting out holiday apartments without the required license.
Airbnb was also notified that if they did not ammed their practices, the fine could reach between 40,000 and 400,000.
The final sum of the penalty was notified on 1 February, following an investigation into 20 Airbnb apartments that were still operating illegally. Now, the company had two weeks to present allegations.
The Balearic minister for tourism, Bel Busquets said "The government is doing what it must. A law was planned regarding the regulation of holiday renting that also guaranteed the right to housing. The law is effective and it's contemplating the sanction that the company has received."
She also emphasised that all tourist platforms were informed last summer of the upcoming changes to the local legal requirements for the industry.
Last year, Airbnb claimed it generated 500m for the islands' economy, predicting the new legislation would cost families on the archipelago up to 100m in lost revenues.
According to Reuters, 24,000 apartments and houses were available through Airbnb in the region, which in total hosted 590,000 people in 2017 for an average stay of 5.5 nights.
However, the rise of Airbnb apartments had led to a dramatic increase in rents for residents of the main island, Palma de Mallorca, forcing numerous tenants out of their homes because they couldn't afford their apartments any longer.
It was not the first fine that Airbnb had been slapped with a fine by a regional Spanish government, having been forced in June 2017 to cough up 600,000 by the Barcelona city council.