As of July 1, 2025, all short-term and seasonal rental properties in Spain must be registered in the Unified Registry for Short-Term Rentals. This registry generates a Rental Registration Number (NRA), which is mandatory for legally advertising properties on platforms such as Airbnb, Booking, Rentalia, or Spotahome.

The RRN has become a sort of “license plate” required to operate legally in the vacation rental market. Its goal: to combat fraud, improve traceability, and ensure regulatory compliance at national, regional, and local levels.

If you’re not yet familiar with the requirements and application process for the RRN, you can read our first article: Mandatory Key to Rent in 2025.

 

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What happens if you don’t have the Rental Registration Number?

Since July 1, major short-term rental platforms have started removing listings of unregistered properties. Airbnb, for example, now blocks the publication of new listings without a registration number. Booking, Rentalia, and others have agreed with the Ministry of Housing to proactively remove non-compliant listings.

Additionally, platforms are required to submit monthly reports on the activity of each property to the Ministry of Housing, along with the corresponding registration number. This traceability will allow authorities to automatically detect unregulated rental activity.

What penalties may apply?

Although a specific national sanctions regime has not yet been approved, a new law is being processed that includes fines ranging from €3,000 to €600,000, depending on the severity of the offense. In the meantime, authorities can apply article 47 of the General Law for the Protection of Consumers and Users, which prohibits advertising without truthful and transparent information.

What impact is the Rental Registration Number having?

The impact of the NRA on the market has been immediate. According to official data, of the more than 368,000 properties identified as tourist rentals in Spain, only 25% are legally authorized to operate as of July 1.

  • 215,438 applications were submitted on the final day before the law took effect.

  • Only 94,209 have been approved to date (25.6% of the national supply).

  • Over 150,000 properties have been excluded from the market due to non-compliance.

The reason: property owners either failed to submit the required documentation in time (such as the tourist license, proof of ownership, cadastral reference, homeowners’ association approval, etc.) or were rejected for not meeting legal criteria.

What’s happening in Barcelona?

Barcelona is likely the Spanish city enforcing the new system most strictly. The City Council has submitted a draft agreement to Airbnb with additional measures:

  • Remove illegal listings within a maximum of 48 hours.

  • Verify the identity of hosts and their associated bank accounts.

  • Require a verified tourist license before enabling the booking calendar.

  • Mandate the registration of the property’s full address.

The City Council also demands that Airbnb share data automatically with the local administration, and has announced it will take legal action if the platform does not comply with the new requirements.

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