Royal Decree 1312/2024

Royal Decree 1312/2024 is Spain's national implementing act for EU Regulation 2024/1028, the bloc-wide short-term rental (STR) registration framework, in force from 2 July 2025. Spain's Tribunal Supremo partially annulled the decree in judgment STS 620/2026 (21 May 2026): it voided the mandatory national Unique Registration Number (NRA) on constitutional competence grounds, ruling the state lacked the power to overlay a national registry on those of the 17 autonomous communities. What survived is the digital single window (SDEP) and platform data-transmission obligations required by EU Regulation 2024/1028. Regulatory authority for STR host registration reverts to the autonomous communities. The appellant was the Generalitat Valenciana.

The decree emerged from Spain's acute housing crisis, with particular intensity in Barcelona, Madrid, Málaga and The Canary Islands. It was explicitly referenced in the preamble of Royal Decree 326/2026 (Plan Estatal de Vivienda 2026-2030, approved 22 April 2026), which frames STR enforcement and €7 billion in supply-side investment as a two-pronged housing response. Spain transposed the EU regulation ahead of the 20 May 2026 data-gateway Deadline, when all 27 member-state platforms were required to transmit monthly listing data to an operating SDEP.

The annulment materially strengthens Airbnb's legal position. The €64 million fine was imposed by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs under pre-existing consumer-protection powers rather than RD 1312/2024, but the Supreme Court ruling removes the national registration layer the fine's broader enforcement architecture rested upon. The TSJM appeal continues; the ruling gives Airbnb a competence-based defence it did not previously hold. For other EU member states watching Spain as a model for dual-track STR regulation, the ruling is a caution: national registries require a clear constitutional basis, separate from the EU data-sharing obligations that remain intact.