Organised criminals, who make millions of pounds from illegal tourist flats, are buying the identities of illegal migrants who act as hosts on digital platforms in order to hide the real culprits.
The gangs who exploit illegal tourist flats often use illegal South American migrants to clean the flats and organise the changeover when new tenants arrive. They are paid as little as €100 (£84) and €200 (£168) a month while the gangs make all the money.
Spain last week announced the closure of nearly 66,000 tourist flats that it claimed were illegal as it cracks down on Airbnb lettings. The Government blames short-term rental sites such as Airbnb for a housing crisis. Airbnb will appeal against the closure of the flats.
The Spanish Government is cracking down on short-term tourist rentals (Photo: Jose A Bernat Bacete/ Getty)
The maximum rate would apply to all rentals under 30 days and affect about a third of the 94 million annual visitors to Spain last year who opted to rent a room rather than stay in a hotel.
However, Spain’s minority Government may struggle to get the measure through the country’s highly polarised parliament.
Visitors can also use the council tool to check if a flat is being rented out legally.
She said to track down illegal flats in the city which do not have licences, inspectors used a high-tech tool called Spiderweb.
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Gangs convince real property owners to let them manage their flats by presenting themselves as respectable companies, said Ms Mur.
Some 38 per cent of Spain’s 400,000 tourist apartments do not have licences, according to a survey by Hosteltur, a tourism sector group.
He said the illegal tourist beds existed in flats, caravans and other accommodation.
Mr Garcia said a crackdown on illegal tourist accommodation by authorities had reduced the number of unlicensed flats 40 per cent this year.
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