Spain Housing Law

A new housing law has been passed in Spain and is awaiting congressional approval.

Firstly, rent rises for 2024 will be capped at 3% which is up from the current 2%.
Agent fees for rental properties including costs of producing a new contract will no longer be paid by the tenant but will be down to the landlord.

A new set of rent increases will come into force from 2025 and all landlords with multiple properties will be restricted to raising rents by these. The rises will always be less than the CPI for that year.

New legislation also stops evictions without taking the case to arbitration. A proposal to force landlords to reduce rents for a specified period before evictions was not passed.

A proposal to restrict short term tourist lets in certain areas was not passed.

Compromis, the Valencian coalition party, has added a clause for consideration that will stop any non Spanish citizen from purchasing property for a period of 3 years. This would not apply to foreigners who have a work permit for at least 3 years nor for those who have temporary resident status from more than 5 months ago. It would ban current foreign home owners from purchasing a second property in Spain for rental purposes. These proposals have not yet been discussed at regional or national level.

On the other hand, the right wing PP has said that, if elected in Valencia, it will pass legislation to cut red tape and speed up the issuing of tourist licences. It says that, in the Vega Baja area particularly, residential tourism is a big contributor to the economy of the region and they will ensure the current rules on issuing licences will be simplified.