These practices include offering false or misleading information, such as, for example, indicating in the advertisement of a tourist accommodation that the accommodation is managed by a private person when in fact it is a company.
The Ministry of Social Rights, Consumer Affairs and Agenda 2030, headed by Pablo Bustinduy, has initiated, through the Directorate General for Consumer Affairs, sanctioning proceedings against companies that manage tourist accommodation in different autonomous communities and that could be engaging in misleading practices and other potential infringements of the General Law for the Defence of Consumers and Users.
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Consumer Affairs opens disciplinary proceedings against large tourist flat managers for possible misleading practices
These new sanctioning proceedings opened by Consumo have their origin in the investigation launched in December 2024, from which information was requested from various companies that operate throughout the national territory marketing tourist accommodation for rent. The data compiled by the Directorate General for Consumer Affairs would confirm that these companies were causing ‘injury or risk to the interests of consumers and users in a generalised manner’.
Specifically, these sanctioning proceedings were initiated after detecting that these large management companies, which manage hundreds of tourist accommodation properties, were offering ‘false information or information which, although truthful, by its content or presentation, induces or could induce the addressees to error’, which would constitute a misleading practice likely to alter economic behaviour, as defined in Article 5 of the Unfair Competition Act. This is, for example, indicating in the advertisement that a tourist accommodation is managed by a private person, or several persons, when in fact it is a company.
These practices would be considered misleading based on Article 27 of the Unfair Competition Act, which states that ‘fraudulently stating or creating the false impression that a businessman or professional is not acting within the framework of his business or professional activity’ as well as ‘fraudulently presenting himself as a consumer or user’ are actions contrary to the regulations. According to the legal precept, these practices can also be classified as serious offences, with fines of up to 100,000 euros, an amount that can exceed up to four to six times the illicit profit obtained by each company for having carried them out. On the other hand, the Directorate General for Consumer Affairs stresses that the opening of these proceedings does not prejudge the outcome of the proceedings.
These new sanctioning procedures by the Consumer Affairs Department join the sanctioning proceedings that were opened two months ago, also in the field of tourist accommodation, against a platform dedicated to the rental of this type of accommodation. In this case, the proceedings were initiated because this platform maintains thousands of advertisements for tourist flats that were classified as illegal advertising for infringing the General Law for the Defence of Consumers and Users. The Directorate General for Consumer Affairs asked the platform to immediately remove these advertisements and, because of its refusal, the proceedings were initiated.
These initiatives are part of the objective set to protect the rights of consumers and to put an end to those practices that are making it difficult for many people in our country to access housing. Along the same lines, in October the Directorate General for Consumer Affairs began to investigate various real estate agencies that allegedly carried out abusive practices against tenants in the management of rentals, such as forcing them to pay a commission for the management of the rental, to sign temporary contracts without justifying the temporary nature of the contract, or to accept clauses that are contrary to the regulations.