676 COMPETITION LAW IN TOURISM the diffusion and commercialisation of private apartments for tourism use have brought new challenges and a change within the tourism paradigm at a global scale where the Law has a lot to say34. In fact, this kind of accommodation, that are nothing to do with touristic traditional apartments and that do not represent a manifestation of collaborative economics since the lucrative nature concurs within their exploration, has become a global phenomenon growing in popularity that makes their regularisation necessary. After the derogation of the state regulation about tourist apartments and holiday housing of 1982 and the exclusion the modalities of the LAU, it can be stated that there is a clear tendency for the Autonomous Communities to regulate this kind of accommodation. As a consequence of the regional power of self-regulation, the Spanish regulation in force on this issue is characterised by an important level of dispersion and by a high grade of heterogeneity that affects basically classification and categorisation aspects. Nevertheless, there are some common aspects that become the foundation where the regulatory structure of the sector relies. Likewise, in some cases, there is a lack of regulatory adequacy to the new necessities and preferences that the demand of this kind of accommodation presents. In other cases, the relevant subjects are not treated in depth, such as the operation enterprises, or key aspects for regularisation such as the accessibility to the establishment, the quality of the service and the touristic sustainability. Some provisions, on their side, impose limitations to the accommodation service which affect the determination of minimal or maximal stays, the localisation, the age of the building, among others, and even the number of establishment permitted. These measures, which are not observed within the provision of a similar nature regulating other kind of touristic accommodation, have been qualified by the competent tribunals in contradiction with the free competition and the Community regulation. There is another highly polemical aspect about which the regulation has performed disparately, we refer to the conflicts that can be originated by the service of this tourist accommodation activity in residential properties under 34 In this sense, one of the sectors where these platforms have had a particular success is for renting houses for touristic purposes. Sometimes the platform intervenes in the process of formalising the contract. The mediator role of the platform includes a commission given by the lesser that is a fixed percentage of the total amount, and by the tenants another commission consisting on a percentage of the rent. It is necessary to limit the intervention of platters so that the businesses grow and so do laboral and fiscal operations. About platforms, see PÉREZ GUERRA, R. (2017). “La regulación jurídico-administrativa de la intermediación turística a la luz de la nueva Directiva de viajes combinados”, Revista Aragonesa de Administración Pública, No.49-40.
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