Tenant Rights Strengthened Across Spain

Tenant Rights Strengthened Across Spain

The legal protection for people who rent their home is being strengthened in Spain through the introduction of new legislation. The country has a thriving home-building market, boosted by foreign investment, and the new government is looking to rein in some of the areas of this market. This can be seen in the statement from Development Minister Jose Luis Abalos. He stated that the government has to ensure that housing stock is primarily allocated to satisfy the right to housing and safeguarding the social function.

People who are buying rental properties will need to respect the terms of the existing contracts of tenants. This will avoid the post-crisis situation that councils faced where they sold social housing to private equity firms who then raised the rents. Mr Abalos also announced regulatory and fiscal measures which encourage owners of empty properties to let them.

He also announced that over the next 4 to 6 years, 20,000 affordable homes will be built for people to rent. This will add to the supply of housing which makes up only 2.5% of the Spanish housing stock according to OECD. This is much lower when compared to France with 14% and Britain with 18%.

There are also going to be curbs placed on deposits and the other guarantees which landlords are able to demand from potential tenants. The government is also going to be easing access to credit to help people with renting.
Mr Abalos explained these measures as a means of balancing the rights of landlords and tenants as much as possible.

 

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