Compliance Watch
How non-compliant is the European short-term rental market?
Aggregate analysis of Airbnb listings in four EU cities. We compare each listing's published registration field against the official format used by that jurisdiction's register (RNAL in Portugal; per-CCAA NRUA in Spain). No host names, no individual identifiers — just per-city statistics.
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Portugal
Lisbon
12.9%
non-compliant · 25277 listings
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Portugal
Porto
4.5%
non-compliant · 14999 listings
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Spain
Madrid
72.8%
non-compliant · 25000 listings
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Spain
Barcelona
56.0%
non-compliant · 18177 listings
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Portugal
Albufeira
3.8%
non-compliant · 156 listings
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Portugal
Quarteira
7.2%
non-compliant · 97 listings
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Portugal
Lagos
10.1%
non-compliant · 79 listings
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Portugal
Carvoeiro
13.9%
non-compliant · 72 listings
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Portugal
Portimão
2.3%
non-compliant · 44 listings
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Portugal
Faro
4.9%
non-compliant · 41 listings
What we measure
Each EU country has its own short-term rental register: RNAL in Portugal, VT in Madrid, HUTB in Catalunya, ETV in the Balearics, and so on. Since 20 May 2026, EU Regulation 2024/1028 requires Airbnb, Booking, and Vrbo to verify each listing's registration number against the national central register before publishing. Listings without a valid number are being pulled.
Hosts also remain personally exposed under the existing national rules — fines range from €2,500 to €100,000 depending on jurisdiction.
We built Compliance Watch to track which listings are still exposed — OTA verification is now active, but the EU data-exchange backbone connecting platforms to member-state authorities is not required until mid-2027, meaning some non-compliant listings may still be visible.