NEW REGULATION OF RENT

17/12/2018

The Council of Ministers approved on Friday a royal decree-law of urgent measures on housing and rent.
That is to say, as of this Saturday some rules of the game change that until now governed the relationship between landlord and tenant.

1.- Extension of THREE to FIVE years of the mandatory extension of rental agreements. In the event that the leasing party is a legal entity, the mandatory extension of the contracts will be SEVEN years, with a tacit extension of three.

2.- Limit to TWO monthly payments the bond that may be required from tenants, except in the case of long-term contracts.

3.- In cases where the lessor is a legal entity, he must assume the expenses of real estate management and formalization of the contract. Expenses incurred at the direct initiative of the lessee are excluded.

4.- The tourist rentals of the LAU are excluded since it is an economic activity. Although, in regard to the LPH, those owners who want to allocate their home to tourist rental will need a qualified majority of 3/5 of the community and must contribute, yes, with a limit, to the community expenses . Until now, those neighbors who wanted to prohibit the presence of tourist rentals in their buildings needed unanimity.

5.- With regard to evictions, greater coordination is required with the social services of the town halls in order to obtain housing alternatives for the evicted before the housing launch takes place. In this sense the Law of Civil Procedure will be modified.

"When the judge notifies the social services of the release of a family, they must make a report and send it to the court and once the judge receives it alerting of the vulnerable situation of that family the eviction will be interrupted for a month if the owner is a natural person and two months if it is legal ".

6.- On the other hand, whenever there is an agreement between the owner and the tenant, improvements can be made to the house without the need to sign a new contract.

7.- Lease contracts of housing for stable and permanent use will be exempt from the Transfer Tax and Stamp Duty. That is, no tenant in all of Spain must pay the ITP when signing a rental. Until just a year ago, the vast majority of tenants knew of the existence of this tax and the autonomous tax administrations barely controlled their collection.

8.- On the other hand, the obligation to pass on the IBI to the lessee in the social rental of housing by Administrations or public entities is eliminated, while the municipalities with surplus may use it to promote their public housing stock or exercise their right of trial and error in the sale of entire buildings with tenants inside.
At the tax level, the town councils will also have the possibility of establishing a bonus of up to 95% on the IBI quota for housing subject to rent at a limited price.