EU Regulation 2024/1028

EU Regulation 2024/1028 entered into force in May 2024 and applies from 20 May 2026, giving member states a two-year window to build the national infrastructure it requires. The regulation creates a mandatory data pipeline: hosts must register with national authorities and display a unique identification number on all listings; platforms such as Airbnb and Booking.com must verify those numbers, flag discrepancies, and transmit monthly activity data — nights rented, guest counts, property addresses — to each country's Single Digital Entry Point.

The regulation was designed to close a long-standing data gap that allowed short-term rental supply to grow faster than municipal planning systems could track it. The 2019 ECJ ruling in Airbnb Ireland v Hotelverband Deutschland had already clarified that platforms could not be treated as estate agents under national law, which limited the tools available to cities before an EU-level framework existed. Regulation 2024/1028 does not cap or ban rentals directly; it creates the audit trail on which member-state enforcement depends.

The regulation is the EU's primary legislative response to the housing-platform tension that has produced fines and bans across Barcelona, Amsterdam, and Madrid. Spain's €64 million fine against Airbnb, upheld by a Madrid court in March 2026, was imposed under pre-existing national law. Once Regulation 2024/1028 applies, member states will have standardised cross-border data to pursue comparable enforcement actions at scale.