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
4.0%
non-compliant · 25277 listings
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Portugal
Porto
1.6%
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
0.0%
non-compliant · 156 listings
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Portugal
Quarteira
0.0%
non-compliant · 97 listings
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Portugal
Lagos
2.5%
non-compliant · 79 listings
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Portugal
Carvoeiro
0.0%
non-compliant · 72 listings
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Portugal
Portimão
0.0%
non-compliant · 44 listings
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Portugal
Faro
0.0%
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. From 20 May 2026, EU Regulation 2024/1028 layers a single central register (NRUA in Spain, the equivalent in each member state) on top of these — and obliges Airbnb, Booking, and Vrbo to verify the registration number against the central register before publishing.
Listings that don't carry a valid number get 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 publish what the platforms refuse to: the operator-side quality of the register data right now, before the May 2026 verification deadline forces a cliff-edge cleanup.