EU Regulation 2024/1028

EU Regulation 2024/1028 entered into force in May 2024 and has applied since 20 May 2026. The regulation creates a mandatory data pipeline: hosts must register with national authorities and display a unique identification number; 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 (SDEP). Three weeks into full application, compliance is a patchwork: Spain, France, Italy, Portugal and Greece have live SDEPs, while Germany and the Netherlands still do not.

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 clarified that platforms could not be treated as estate agents under national law, limiting enforcement tools 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. Spain's Royal Decree 1312/2024 and the subsequent RD 326/2026 (Plan Estatal de Vivienda 2026-2030) explicitly frame the regulation as the legal backbone of Spain's two-pronged housing response.

The regulation's existence does not guarantee uniform function. On 21 May 2026, Spain's Tribunal Supremo handed down STS 620/2026, voiding the mandatory national Unique Registration Number (NRA) on constitutional competence grounds; STR registration authority reverts to Spain's 17 autonomous communities, while the SDEP data-transmission layer survives intact. The European Commission has issued no readiness assessment or infringement notice for any member state. The regulation's bite now depends on what each member state and, in Spain, each autonomous community chooses to build on top of the surviving data-pipe.

20 May 2026 marked the regulation's full application date with a split picture: five Mediterranean members transmitting listing data through live SDEPs, Germany and the Netherlands unable to do so. The European Commission published no readiness assessment, no compliance report, and no infringement notice, leaving the compliance template to be set publicly by Airbnb's own statements rather than the regulator.

By 14 June 2026, three weeks in, the fragmentation has deepened. Spain's Tribunal Supremo ruling (STS 620/2026, 21 May) voided the national registration number layer on constitutional grounds, routing enforcement through Spain's 17 autonomous communities. The SDEP pipe and data-transmission obligation survive, meaning monthly listing data still flows to Spanish authorities; which authority registers which host now depends on region. Italy went fully digital for STR-adjacent administrative processes from 1 June 2026. France and Portugal have live SDEPs. Germany and the Netherlands remain without a functioning national SDEP, and the Commission has issued no infringement proceedings against either. The European Affordable Housing Plan's second STR legislative phase (night caps and seasonal rules) remains provisionally scheduled for Q4 2026.