Can a Real Estate agent or any other owner/exploiter of a webpage that publishes property, available for holiday rentals in Andalucia, on a webpage or in printed media be held liable and thus be susceptible to fines if a property is advertised without the required registration number – indicating the owner of a property has not registered the property on the Registro de Turismo?

In my opinion they can and I´ll explain why.

In the Andalucia Tourism law, article 71.2 it is stated that it is considered a ´grave offence´ if you mediate in a contract with regards to tourism services that are considered clandestine.

In the new Tourist Rental Law, article 11, it is stated that to offer the services of lodging to tourist is considered clandestine if the owner of the property has not filed the relevant´declaración responsable´ with the Junta de Andalucia.

So, if according to the Tourist Rental Law an owner should register his property on the Tourism Register, file a ´declaración responsable´ so he will get a registration number for his property,  and he does not, he is  offering a clandestine service. And if the real estate agent or owner/exploiter of a webpage or printed media, as ´portal´, publicise that property for holiday purposes, you mediate with regards to a clandestine service and are thus liable for any fines in the range of 2000 to 18.000 euros.

UPDATE VALENCIA AREA: Received enquiry from member (6.6.2016) re an email she received from Booking.com, requesting to enter details of the licence to rent out their property for holiday purposes to her ad on the website within 30 days, as prescribed by Decreto 92/2009, de 3 de Julio, del Consell. Complete with links to the relevant section of the government website to file a ´declaración responsable´. None of the legal and accounting professionals she asked, nor any of her contacts in the rental industry could tell her what the email was about, but I told her it most probably has to do with the liability as described in this article as the Valencia law is similar to the Andalucian one in this aspect.

Please note: The information provided is based upon our understanding of current legislation. It is not legal advice but is provided freely to enable you to be properly informed. We recommend that if you are considering taking action, you should seek professional advice.