The rental market in Andalusia is undergoing drastic changes: almost 22,000 tourist and temporary apartments have been declared illegal. Regional authorities have taken unprecedented steps to restore order in the short-term rental sector. For many property owners and tenants, this came as a sudden blow, while for the tourism industry, it’s a worrying sign of new rules in the game.
It all started when the government demanded that online platforms immediately remove listings without an official license. According to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Agenda, Andalusia has become the leader in the number of illegal ads. In total, 21,872 properties can no longer be rented out via popular services.
Record-breaking figures
Strikingly, Andalusia removed almost twice as many apartments as the next region. In Comunitat Valenciana, 14,387 properties were annulled, and in the Canary Islands—13,726. At the opposite end of the list were La Rioja with 302 removed apartments, Navarra with 356, and País Vasco with 711.
Special attention was drawn to Marbella, where authorities ordered the removal of nearly 3,000 listings – more than in any other Andalusian province. The city ranked third nationwide, behind only Madrid and Barcelona. In the capital, 5,344 properties came under the ban, and in Barcelona – 5,005.
The geography of change
In Andalusia, after Marbella, the highest number of removed apartments was recorded in Sevilla—with 2,659 properties—and Málaga, with 1,845. Authorities note that in Málaga province, as many as seven municipalities made it into the top twenty for most registration refusals. This highlights the scale of the problem and the need for tighter control.
Spain has become the first country in the European Union to implement a unified short-term rental registry. Now, posting a listing on a platform requires a special code issued through the digital portal of the Ministry of Housing. Without this code, adding a property is impossible.
New regulations
As of July 1, a mandatory registry for all tourist and temporary apartments has come into effect. Owners are required to obtain a unique registration number, which is automatically sent to online platforms. After a notification from the ministry, platforms must immediately remove all listings that do not meet the new requirements.
Across the country, this affects 86,275 illegal apartments that must disappear from online catalogs. Of the 412,253 registration applications, 78% are for tourist rentals and 22% for seasonal use. This underscores the size of the market and how seriously the authorities are tackling these regulations.
Context and implications
In recent years, Spain has faced a growing number of illegal apartments being rented to tourists. This has driven up housing prices for locals and sparked discontent in cities with well-developed tourism sectors. In 2025, similar measures were implemented in Catalonia and the Balearic Islands, where illegal listings were also widely removed from online platforms.
The introduction of a unified registry and stricter controls has already changed the rental market in major cities. Property owners are being forced to legalize their apartments or leave the market. For tourists, this means fewer options, while for locals it could ease pressure on the long-term rental sector. In the coming months, more inspections and further changes to listing regulations are expected.
