On 9 September 2026, the European Commission presented its proposal for an Affordable Housing Act, a new legislative initiative aimed at addressing housing affordability and availability in areas of the European Union experiencing significant housing pressure.
The proposal also addresses short-term rentals, including homes used for tourist accommodation.
This makes the initiative particularly relevant to destinations such as Málaga and the Costa del Sol, where residential housing, second homes and tourist accommodation — known in Andalusia as Viviendas de Uso Turístico (VUT) — coexist within the same housing market.
However, one point should be made clear from the outset:
The European Commission has not banned short-term rentals, and the proposal does not introduce any new obligations for VUT owners in Andalusia today.
This is a legislative proposal. It must still be considered by the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union and may therefore change substantially during the legislative process.
What problem is the European Commission trying to address?
The Commission's starting point is the increasing difficulty of accessing affordable housing in many parts of the European Union. The situation, however, is far from uniform.
In some cities and tourist destinations, housing pressure is particularly strong. According to the Commission, the use of residential properties for purposes other than primary residence — including short-term rentals, second homes and vacant properties — can contribute to reducing the supply of housing available to residents.
The proposal therefore seeks to establish a common European framework for assessing measures adopted by public authorities to protect housing availability and affordability.
This does not mean transferring the regulation of short-term rentals to Brussels.
Housing policies and decisions on specific restrictions would continue to be taken by the competent national, regional and local authorities, within the framework established by European law.
What could change for short-term rentals?
This is probably the most significant part of the proposal for owners and operators of tourist accommodation.
The Affordable Housing Act would provide public authorities with a clearer legal framework for regulating short-term rentals in areas where there is documented pressure on the housing market.
However, restrictions would not be automatic.
Under the Commission's proposal, authorities would have to demonstrate that short-term rental activity actually contributes to local problems affecting housing availability or affordability.
For short-term rentals specifically, the proposal introduces significant conditions: authorities would have to show that the activity has had a significant negative effect on housing availability or affordability for at least three years and that less restrictive measures would not be equally effective.
Any measures adopted would also have to be targeted, necessary and proportionate to the specific local situation.
This is important because it shifts the focus away from a general regulation of tourism and towards an assessment based on the housing conditions of a particular territory.
This is not an EU-wide ban on tourist accommodation
Describing the proposal simply as a new European law “against tourist apartments” would therefore be misleading.
The European Commission is not proposing a general ban on short-term rentals, nor is it establishing an EU-wide limit on the number of tourist properties.
Instead, it proposes a framework under which competent authorities could justify certain restrictions where documented housing problems exist.
The distinction is important.
A tourist destination experiencing severe housing pressure may face very different circumstances from an area where short-term rentals have no significant impact on residents' access to housing.
The stated objective is therefore to allow measures to be adapted to local conditions rather than applying the same restrictions throughout the European Union.
A growing role for data
Another particularly important aspect of the proposal is the role of objective data.
Restrictions should be supported by evidence rather than simply by the number of tourist properties operating in a municipality.
The Commission proposes a common methodology for identifying so-called areas under housing stress: territories where housing availability or affordability has become particularly problematic.
When assessing short-term rentals, authorities should also make use, where available, of information collected under the European framework for the registration and data sharing of short-term rental accommodation.
From collecting data to using it for housing policy
This creates an important connection between two different stages of European short-term rental policy.
The EU Regulation on data collection and sharing relating to short-term accommodation rentals, applicable from May 2026, primarily seeks to improve registration, transparency and access to reliable information about the sector.
The Affordable Housing Act could take the process one step further by providing a framework through which those data can be used to assess whether additional restrictions are justified in a particular territory.
In simplified terms, the approach could be described as: first understand the phenomenon through reliable data, then determine whether intervention is justified.
Why does this matter for Nerja and the Costa del Sol?
For tourist destinations such as Nerja, the proposal deserves close attention.
Tourist accommodation has a significant presence in many municipalities along the Costa del Sol, while the relationship between the residential housing market, tourism and housing availability has become an increasingly important public-policy issue.
However, this does not mean that Nerja would automatically be classified as an area under housing stress under the future European framework, nor would such a classification automatically result in restrictions on VUT properties.
Any assessment would have to be based on the criteria, evidence and procedures established by the final legislation and on decisions taken by the competent authorities.
This distinction will be particularly important to follow as the proposal moves through the European legislative process.
Who would decide whether restrictions are introduced?
Another potential source of confusion concerns the role of the European Union itself.
The proposal does not give the European Commission the power to decide how many tourist properties may operate in Nerja, Málaga or any other European municipality.
Housing policy would continue to involve different levels of government according to their respective legal competences.
The European Union would instead establish a common legal framework within which measures affecting the internal market and the provision of services could be assessed and justified.
For a VUT operating in Andalusia, Spanish legislation, the tourism regulations of the Junta de Andalucía, planning rules and any measures lawfully adopted by local authorities would therefore continue to be relevant.
A controversial issue: could EU scrutiny of restrictions also change?
The proposal contains a more technical aspect that has attracted criticism from some representatives of the short-term rental and technology sectors.
At present, restrictions affecting access to or the exercise of short-term rental services fall within the framework of the EU Services Directive. Together with the freedoms guaranteed by the EU Treaties and the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union, this framework requires restrictions to be justified and proportionate and, in certain circumstances, provides for their notification to the European Commission.
The Affordable Housing Act proposal would change this relationship by introducing a specific framework for measures affecting short-term rentals in areas experiencing housing pressure.
The criticism raised by CCIA Europe
CCIA Europe, an industry association representing companies in the technology and digital sectors, has criticised this aspect of the proposal.
The organisation argues that removing short-term rental restrictions from the relevant mechanism of the Services Directive would reduce the European Commission's ability to scrutinise measures adopted by national and local authorities before they take effect.
According to this criticism, owners, operators and platforms could consequently become more dependent on court proceedings to challenge restrictions they consider unjustified or disproportionate.
It is important, however, to distinguish this industry criticism from the legal effect of the proposal itself.
The European principles of necessity, proportionality and non-discrimination do not simply disappear under the proposed framework.
The Commission's proposal instead seeks to establish a specific system, based partly on common criteria and evidence, through which authorities would have to justify and periodically reassess their interventions.
The debate therefore concerns not only whether proportionality must be respected, but also how compliance with that principle should be scrutinised and enforced.
This is one of the issues that the European Parliament and the Council may examine and amend during the legislative process.
What changes today for a VUT owner in Andalusia?
At present, nothing.
The presentation of the Affordable Housing Act does not change the obligations currently applicable to viviendas de uso turístico in Andalusia.
It does not modify registration with the Registro de Turismo de Andalucía (RTA), does not change the Número de Registro Único de Arrendamientos (NRUA), does not introduce new SES.HOSPEDAJES requirements and does not directly alter the tax obligations of property owners.
The Commission's proposal must now proceed through the ordinary EU legislative procedure, involving the European Parliament and the Council.
The final legislation may therefore differ from the text presented by the Commission in September 2026.
Why is the proposal still worth following?
Although it creates no new obligations today, the Affordable Housing Act represents an important development in the European approach to the relationship between housing and short-term rentals.
In recent years, European policy has focused primarily on improving transparency and collecting reliable data about the short-term rental market.
With this proposal, the European Commission is taking a further step: attempting to define when and under what conditions those data may justify intervention by public authorities in areas experiencing housing pressure.
For destinations with a strong tourism economy, such as the Costa del Sol, it will therefore be important to follow not only the final shape of the European legislation but also how Spain, Andalusia and local authorities may eventually use this new framework.
For the moment, however, the essential distinction remains straightforward:
This is a legislative proposal, not a new legal obligation for owners of tourist accommodation.
Sources and further information
- European Commission — Affordable Housing Act, proposal presented on 9 September 2026.
- European Commission — Impact Assessment accompanying the Affordable Housing Act proposal.
- European Union — Regulation on data collection and sharing relating to short-term accommodation rental services, applicable from May 2026.
- CCIA Europe — industry position concerning enforcement, proportionality and scrutiny of restrictions on short-term rentals.
Article updated on 17 September 2026. The Affordable Housing Act is currently a legislative proposal. Its provisions may be amended during consideration by the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union.