In short
- Since the Supreme Court ruling of May 2026, no platform can remove your listing for lacking the state registration number (NRUA).
- They can still remove it, and you can still be fined, if your flat has no tourist licence or registration from your autonomous community. That is behind most removals and fines.
- Fines are set by the regions and town halls: in Andalusia, operating without registration is a serious offence carrying €2,001 to €18,000, while very serious offences reach €600,000 in Catalonia and €500,000 in the Balearics.
- Compliance is easy to check: a valid licence, the right code on every listing, your building's approval if you started after April 2025, and guest registration kept up to date.
Between July and December 2025, Spain's holiday rental market went through its biggest clear-out of listings to date. Tens of thousands of flats vanished from Airbnb and Booking, and the sector's largest platform received the heaviest fine it has ever had in the country. Many owners blamed the NRUA. They were only partly right.
Now that the Supreme Court has struck down the state registry, it is worth separating two things clearly: what no longer exists, and what remains fully in force. The regional tourist licence, which is the one that really matters, has not changed.
Two different reasons to take a listing down
In 2025 there were two routes for removing listings from the platforms, each with a different legal basis:
No longer applies
Missing state number (NRUA). Pushed by the Ministry of Housing under Royal Decree 1312/2024. The Supreme Court annulled the registry in May 2026, so this ground is gone.
Still applies
Missing regional tourist licence. Pursued by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, as misleading advertising, and by regions and town halls, as unauthorised tourist activity. It has nothing to do with the NRUA.
The difference matters. If your listing was taken down only for the state number and you do hold a regional licence, you can publish it again. If it came down because you had no licence, the problem is still there.
What happened in 2025: removals in numbers
Put in order, it is easy to see which action rested on which rule:
The state number becomes mandatory
Platforms must ask for the single registry number and remove listings that do not display it.
Airbnb removes 65,000 listings
Consumer Affairs announces the removal of some 65,000 unlicensed listings and flags another 54,728 that did not show the registration number required since 1 July1.
Housing flags 53,876 listings
The Ministry of Housing tells the platforms which flats had not obtained the state number so their listings can be removed2.
The courts back Consumer Affairs
Madrid's High Court upholds the removal orders for the second time, this time covering 34,728 listings3.
€64 million fine for Airbnb
Consumer Affairs fines the platform €64,055,311 for publishing 65,122 unlicensed listings, six times the unlawful profit it made4.
The Supreme Court annuls the state registry
The state number requirement falls. Action based on regional licences is unaffected.
Look at what the Consumer Affairs cases had in common: the listings did not show a licence, displayed fake numbers, or did not say whether the host was a private individual or a business3. Those duties come from regional rules and consumer law, not from the annulled registry, which is why the Supreme Court ruling leaves them untouched.
What operating without a licence costs
Owners are not fined by the central government but by each autonomous community under its tourism law, and often by the town hall under planning rules. That is why the amounts vary so much:
| Region | Offence | Fine range |
|---|---|---|
| Andalusia | Providing a tourist service without a declaration or registration (serious offence, art. 71.1 Law 13/2011) | €2,001 to €18,000; very serious offences €18,001 to €150,0005 |
| Catalonia | Running a tourist-use dwelling without authorisation (very serious offence, art. 89 Law 13/2002) | €60,001 to €600,0006 |
| Balearic Islands | Marketing tourist stays without registration, since April 2025 | Serious €5,001 to €50,000; very serious €50,001 to €500,0007 |
Statutory minimums and maximums. The actual amount depends on severity, number of properties and repeat offending.
A planning fine can come on top of the tourism one. In September 2026, Ibiza town hall fined an owner €793,443 for turning a home into a tourist let without a licence, applying 75% of the property's value as allowed by Balearic planning law8. It is an extreme case, but it shows the risk is not limited to the figures in the tourism law.
The fine is not the only consequence. Regional laws also provide for suspension of the activity or temporary closure and, in the worst cases, cancellation of the entry in the tourism register.
How unlicensed flats are detected
The idea that a flat without a licence goes unnoticed is less true every year. There are three main routes today:
- Platform data. The Digital Single Window for Rentals, which the Supreme Court left standing, receives listing and activity data from the platforms under Regulation (EU) 2024/10289. Authorities can cross-check it against their tourism registers.
- Inspections and listing checks. Regions review published listings and compare the code shown with their register. In the Balearics, local police, national police and the Guardia Civil can also support tourism inspections7.
- Neighbour complaints. Still the origin of many cases, especially in buildings where the owners' association has not approved tourist use.
What your building can decide
Since 3 April 2025, starting to let a flat to tourists requires the prior, express approval of the owners' association, passed by three fifths of owners representing three fifths of the shares. With the same majority, the association can limit, condition or ban the activity, and set a share of common charges up to 20% higher for those flats10.
Flats that already held a licence before that date are not affected by the approval requirement. But if you started afterwards without it, you have an open issue that no ruling on the NRUA will close.
How to keep your flat compliant today
Confirm your licence is still valid
Check your entry in your region's tourism register. If capacity or ownership has changed, make sure it is up to date.
Put the right code on every listing
Airbnb and Booking ask for your regional registration code. Enter it exactly as it appears on your resolution, on every platform you use. See which registration number you need today.
Check your building's approval
If you started after 3 April 2025, keep the minutes recording the three-fifths approval.
Keep guest registration up to date
Report your guests' details through SES.Hospedajes for every stay.
If your listing was removed only over the NRUA, ask for reactivation
With your regional licence in order, contact the platform's support team and provide your code.
Frequently asked questions
Can I be fined for not having an NRUA?
No. Supreme Court ruling 620/2026 annulled the single registry and the duty to display that number. What can still be fined is operating without your autonomous community's tourist licence or registration.
Airbnb removed my listing in 2025. Can I publish it again?
It depends on why. If it was removed only for lacking the state number and you hold a valid regional licence, yes. If it was removed for having no licence or showing a false number, you need to regularise the flat first.
Who pays the fine, the owner or the platform?
It can be both. The owner answers to the region for operating without a licence. The platform can be fined by Consumer Affairs, as Airbnb was in December 2025, and in some regions, such as the Balearics, for marketing unregistered flats too.
How long before a tourism offence expires?
Each regional law sets its own limitation periods. As long as you keep advertising the flat without a licence, the offence is ongoing, so relying on it expiring is not a plan.
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Sources
- La Moncloa, 30 July 2025. Consumo logra la retirada de 65.000 anuncios ilegales en Airbnb y denuncia otros 55.000 sin número de registro (Spanish).
- idealista/news, 15 September 2025. El Gobierno notifica más de 53.500 pisos turísticos ilegales para que se retiren sus anuncios (Spanish).
- Ministry of Social Rights, Consumer Affairs and 2030 Agenda, 26 September 2025. La justicia vuelve a respaldar las resoluciones de Consumo (Spanish).
- La Moncloa, 15 December 2025. Consumo sanciona con 64 millones de euros a Airbnb por anunciar viviendas sin licencia (Spanish).
- BOE. Law 13/2011 of 23 December on Tourism in Andalusia, articles 71 and 78.
- Noticias Jurídicas. Law 13/2002 of 21 June on Tourism in Catalonia, title VI.
- Menorca.info, 16 April 2025. El alquiler turístico ilegal se expone a multas de hasta 500.000 euros (Spanish).
- idealista/news, 4 September 2026. Multan con casi 800.000 euros a una vivienda turística en Ibiza por carecer de licencia (Spanish).
- General Council of the Judiciary, 21 May 2026. El Tribunal Supremo anula el Registro Único de arrendamientos de corta duración (Spanish).
- BOE. Law 49/1960 on Horizontal Property, article 17.12, as amended by Organic Law 1/2025.
This article is for information only and is not legal advice. Reviewed on 25 September 2026.