Changes to urban tenancy law introduced by Royal Decree-Law 29/2026 of 6 October

1.A reform in force since 8 October 2026 and awaiting parliamentary validation

Royal Decree-Law 29/2026 of 6 October, adopting urgent measures to protect the social function of housing and to expand the supply of affordable housing, was published in the "Boletín Oficial del Estado" —the BOE, Spain's official gazette— on 7 October 2026 and came into force the following day. Its article 3 amends, in twenty-two points, Law 29/1994 of 24 November, the "Ley de Arrendamientos Urbanos" —the LAU, Spain's urban tenancies act—. It redefines the residential tenancy, creates the temporary residential tenancy, brings letting by rooms within the Act and changes the rules on rent, expenses, guarantees, repairs, early termination, the pre-emption right and the form of the contract, as well as replacing Title V in its entirety. Outside article 3, other provisions of the same Royal Decree-Law directly affect tenancy agreements, such as the extraordinary extension of up to two years in the fifth final provision, the cap on rent updates in the sixth final provision, the transparency obligations for advertisements in article 20, the changes to the definition of "gran tenedor" —large-scale landlord— in article 4 and the measures on possession claims in articles 2 and 5.

It is worth bearing in mind the status of the legislation. Like any Royal Decree-Law, it must be validated or repealed within thirty days of its promulgation (article 86.2 of the Spanish Constitution). As the "Cortes Generales" —Spain's parliament— have been dissolved following the calling of a general election for 29 November 2026, that decision falls to the "Diputación Permanente" —the standing committee— of the Congress of Deputies. While it remains in force, the reform applies in full; if it were repealed, it would cease to have effect from that moment, without affecting, in principle, the validity of anything done while it was in force. What follows describes the regime in force today.

2.Two kinds of residential tenancy, principal-residence and temporary

The most far-reaching change is conceptual. Until now the LAU distinguished between the residential tenancy, intended to meet the tenant's "permanent" housing need and protected by the mandatory rules of Title II, and the tenancy for non-residential use, in which article 3.2 expressly included contracts entered into "for a season" and which was governed, above all, by what the parties had agreed. That second category was the door through which many seasonal contracts escaped the minimum term, the extensions and the rent caps.

The new article 2 defines two types of residential tenancy, both subject to Title II. A principal-residence tenancy is one over a habitable building whose primary purpose is to meet the tenant's housing need, "including the partial letting of a room or space in the dwelling". A temporary residential tenancy is one that meets that same need, also through the letting of a room, where the tenant "is temporarily away from their usual home for a justified and provable reason". The requirement that the housing need be permanent disappears, as does the reference to seasonal tenancies in article 3.2, which now reserves the non-residential category for contracts entered into in order to carry on an industrial, commercial, craft, professional, welfare, cultural or educational activity at the property, "excluding in all cases those whose purpose is the accommodation or lodging of persons". The practical consequence is immediate. A contract whose purpose is to house people can no longer be presented as a non-residential tenancy in order to circumvent the rules protecting the tenant, and it is doubtful whether contracts entered into by companies to house their employees or seconded staff can still be structured in this way. Tenancies of business premises and other non-residential uses are not affected by the reform.

Article 4.2 accompanies that change with another new rule that will attract less attention and is of particular importance in cities such as Barcelona. Its new wording subjects all residential tenancies under article 2 to what the parties agree "within the framework of title II" and, on a supplementary basis, to the "Código Civil", Spain's Civil Code, and removes the exception that until now allowed tenancies of dwellings of more than 300 square metres, or with an initial annual rent above 5.5 times the national minimum wage, to be governed first and foremost by the will of the parties. Since 8 October 2026, tenancies of large dwellings or dwellings with high rents have been subject to the same mandatory rules as any other residential tenancy.

This block is completed by article 7 and subparagraph f) of article 27.2. A residential tenancy does not lose that status even if the tenant does not have their principal residence at the property, provided that their spouse who is not legally or de facto separated or their dependent children live there, or —and this is new— provided that the tenant occupies it under a temporary residential tenancy agreement. Accordingly, the landlord may terminate the contract when the dwelling ceases to be used primarily to meet the housing need of the tenant or of whoever actually occupies it in accordance with article 7; here too the adjective "permanent" has been removed, so this ground for termination applies equally to temporary tenancies.

3.The temporary residential tenancy, its requirements and its conversion into a principal-residence tenancy

The new arrangement replaces the seasonal tenancy and rests on four rules. The first is the reason. The contract must expressly state the reason for the tenant's temporary relocation (article 7.2). The Act does not contain a closed list; instead it requires a "justified and provable" reason for being away from one's usual home, which covers, by way of example, a temporary work posting in another city, a period of study, medical treatment or building work on the tenant's own home, but always presupposes that the tenant keeps another usual home from which they are away. The reason must be genuine and provable, and the burden of proving it lies with the landlord, not the tenant. If the contract does not properly set out a reason for the temporary nature of the tenancy, it loses its temporary character and becomes subject to the principal-residence regime "with retroactive effect from the conclusion of the contract", that is, to the minimum term of five years, or seven if the landlord is a legal entity, to the extensions, to the rent caps and to all the other safeguards of Title II.

The second rule is the duration (article 9 bis). The parties agree it freely, but it must be longer than thirty-one days and must not, as a general rule, exceed twelve months, having regard to the reason for it. If the contract was concluded for a shorter term and the reason for its temporary nature still exists when it ends, it may be extended by express agreement of the parties, without exceeding twelve months in total as a general rule, unless the reason for the temporary nature continues thereafter. The minimum term and the mandatory extension in paragraphs 1 to 3 of article 9 do not apply to these contracts.

The third rule is conversion into a principal-residence tenancy. If the temporary tenancy lasts longer than twelve months without the reason for its temporary nature justifying it, or if more than two temporary residential contracts are novated or follow one another consecutively between the same parties and over the same dwelling, the first of them is deemed to have been concluded as a principal-residence tenancy and all the provisions applicable to such contracts apply to it, including the minimum term and the extensions under articles 9 and 10. In other words, the chain of temporary contracts with the same tenant stops at the second, because the third turns the whole relationship into a principal-residence tenancy from the outset, with all that this entails.

The fourth rule is the rent. Where several temporary residential contracts are concluded successively over the same dwelling, the rent under the later ones may not represent an annual percentage increase greater than the current value of the "IRAV" —the reference index for updating residential rents— (new article 17.8). The rule attaches to the dwelling, even if the tenant changes, and puts an end to the practice of raising the rent with each new season. And, since the temporary tenancy is a residential tenancy, in stressed residential market areas it is also caught by the rent caps in paragraphs 6 and 7 of article 17, which are discussed below.

The temporary tenancy also has its own rules in four areas. The statutory deposit under article 36.1 becomes one month's rent, as in any residential tenancy, rather than two, as applied to seasonal tenancies as a non-residential use. The tenant may terminate the contract once at least one month has passed since it was concluded, giving at least ten days' notice and without any compensation for the landlord (article 11). The additional guarantee on top of the deposit may not exceed one month's rent (article 36.5). And upkeep of the dwelling is governed by the new article 21 bis, which is more demanding for the landlord than the general regime. The landlord must in all cases keep the dwelling in a habitable condition for the agreed use and also bear the minor repairs required by wear and tear from ordinary use, which in a principal-residence tenancy are borne by the tenant (article 21.4). The tenant must notify the landlord of any damage as soon as possible after detecting it, and the landlord must respond within no more than five working days; if that time passes without a response, the tenant may carry out the necessary repairs and claim the cost immediately or, after providing supporting evidence, deduct it from the following month's rent.

4.The transfer of use of tourist flats may not exceed thirty-one days

Subparagraph e) of article 5 continues to exclude from the LAU the temporary transfer of use of a dwelling that is furnished and equipped ready for immediate use, marketed or promoted through tourist accommodation channels, for profit and subject to a specific regime derived from sectoral tourism legislation, but with two new clarifications. The exclusion now extends to the transfer of the whole "or part" of the dwelling, in accordance with the rules of the public authorities responsible for tourism. And the maximum duration of the transfer, set by those authorities, "may in no case exceed thirty-one days". The boundary is thus drawn precisely. Up to thirty-one days, tourist use subject to its sectoral legislation; beyond that, a temporary residential tenancy, with a stated reason and under the rules described above, or a principal-residence tenancy. There is no third way.

The new subparagraph f) of article 5 also excludes from the Act the transfer of use of rooms or spaces in a dwelling by third-sector social action organisations, on a non-profit basis, within reception, inclusion or housing programmes for vulnerable people and for the duration of the programme.

5.Letting by rooms comes within the Act, and the total of the rents may not exceed the rent for the whole dwelling

The letting of a room or space is now expressly a residential tenancy, either a principal-residence or a temporary one depending on the need it meets (article 2), with all the consequences of that classification: a minimum term and extensions if it is a principal-residence tenancy, a stated reason and a maximum term if it is temporary and, in both cases, the rules on rent, deposit, guarantees, expenses and repairs. Until now these contracts occupied a grey area that the Act now resolves.

The new article 17.9 adds a rent cap. The total of the rents agreed in the partial contracts in force at the same time over the same dwelling may not exceed the rent under a single tenancy agreement for the whole dwelling, that is, what would be obtained by letting the entire dwelling as a unit. This limit applies throughout Spain. If the dwelling is in a stressed residential market area, moreover, the rent under the single contract or, failing that, the total of the rents under the partial contracts in force at the same time must comply with the limits in paragraphs 6, 7 and 8 of article 17. Splitting a dwelling into rooms is no longer a way of multiplying the rent or escaping the legal limits.

6.The extension regime of article 10 remains, and an extraordinary extension of up to two years is added

Article 10 has been reworded but essentially retains the regime in force since Law 12/2023, now expressly referring to the principal residence. Once five years of the contract have elapsed, or seven if the landlord is a legal entity, if neither party notifies the other of its wish not to renew —four months in advance in the landlord's case and two in the tenant's—, the contract is compulsorily extended for annual periods up to a maximum of three further years, and the tenant may withdraw at the end of any year by giving one month's notice. At the end of the mandatory extension under article 9.1 or the tacit extension under article 10.1, a tenant who proves a situation of social and economic vulnerability, by means of a report or certificate from the municipal or regional social services issued within the last year, may request an extraordinary extension of up to one year, which a large-scale landlord is obliged to accept unless the parties have signed a new contract. And if the dwelling is located in a stressed residential market area and the declaration is still in force, the tenant may request an extraordinary extension for annual periods up to a maximum of three years, which any landlord —whether or not a large-scale landlord— must accept, unless other terms have been agreed, a new contract has been signed within the rent limits of article 17 or the landlord has given notice, within the time limits and on the conditions of article 9.3, of the need to occupy the dwelling for themselves, for their first-degree relatives by blood or adoption, or for their spouse following a final judgment of separation, divorce or annulment. In all cases, the terms and conditions of the contract in force continue to apply during the extension.

The real novelty as regards extensions is not in the LAU but in the fifth final provision of the Royal Decree-Law, which creates an extraordinary extension of up to two additional years, in annual periods, for principal-residence tenancies subject to the LAU that were in force when the Royal Decree-Law came into force and in which the mandatory extension period under article 9.1 ends before 31 December 2028, or the tacit extension period under articles 10.1 and 10.2 ends, or, where applicable, the period of tacit renewal ("tácita reconducción") under article 1566 of the Civil Code ends. The extension applies at the tenant's request; the tenant must be up to date with the rent and must have been so in each of the preceding eight months, and during the extension the terms and conditions of the existing contract continue to apply. The landlord is obliged to accept it, unless the parties have agreed other terms or conditions, a new tenancy agreement has been signed or the landlord has given notice, within the time limits and on the conditions of article 9.3, of the need to occupy the dwelling for themselves or for their relatives; this last exception applies even if the contract did not expressly provide for the right to recover the dwelling early on grounds of need, provided there is a genuine and proven reason. The extension is incompatible with the three-year extension under article 10.3 and takes precedence over it. And it does not apply where the landlord and tenant agree to renew the contract or to enter into a new one with a rent at least 5% lower than that of the existing contract, which allows the parties to replace the extension with a renewal at a reduced rent.

Those who requested the extraordinary extension under Royal Decree-Law 8/2026 of 20 March do not need to repeat the request, because the first transitional provision preserves the validity of those requests and notices, without prejudice to withdrawal by the tenant, and subjects those made from now on to the new regime.

7.The IRAV as the ceiling on any rent update, and an extraordinary 2% cap until 31 December 2027

Article 18.1 clearly sets out the rules for the annual update. The rent may only be updated on each anniversary of the contract and on the terms agreed; without an express agreement, there is no update; if the agreement provides for an update mechanism without specifying the index or method, the rent is updated by the annual change in the reference index for the annual updating of residential tenancy contracts (IRAV), the index published monthly by the "Instituto Nacional de Estadística" (INE), Spain's national statistics institute, an index which since 2025 has replaced the "IPC" (Spain's consumer price index) as the benchmark for rents; and, in all cases, the increase may not exceed the percentage change in the IRAV at the date of each update, taking the latest published index as the reference. An agreement to update the rent by the IPC or any other index is therefore only valid to the extent that it does not exceed the IRAV.

This general rule is supplemented by an extraordinary, temporary cap, laid down in the sixth final provision and applicable to all residential tenancy agreements subject to the LAU, whether or not they are in a stressed area and whoever the landlord may be. Where the rent is due to be updated because a year of the contract is completed between 8 October 2026 and 31 December 2027, the tenant may negotiate the update with the landlord subject to two conditions. If the rent is above the maximum price limit applicable under the state system of reference price indices, no increase is permitted; in all other cases, the increase is whatever the parties newly agree and, in the absence of agreement, may not exceed 2%. In practice, during that period the contract's update clause is limited. No increase is possible if the rent is already above the maximum value that the reference system assigns to the dwelling, and the increase may not exceed 2% in all other cases, unless the parties agree otherwise, and in no case may the IRAV be exceeded. The state rental price reference system of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Agenda allows the price range for any dwelling to be checked online.

In stressed residential market areas declared under Law 12/2023 —as is the case in Barcelona and much of Catalonia— the limits in paragraphs 6 and 7 of article 17 remain, with two adjustments. The initial rent under a new contract may not exceed the last rent under a residential tenancy agreement in force over the same dwelling in the previous five years, once its annual update clause has been applied; the reference is now the last rent under any residential tenancy agreement, not just a principal-residence one. No new conditions may be set that pass on to the tenant charges or expenses not provided for in the previous contract, and an additional increase of up to 10% is only allowed in the specified cases of renovation, energy-efficiency or accessibility improvements in the previous two years, or of contracts of ten years or more. Where the landlord is a large-scale landlord, the rent may not exceed the maximum limit of the reference price index system, and the new wording specifies that no conditions may be set either which, by passing on charges, expenses, taxes, levies or other similar items, directly or indirectly result in that limit being exceeded. That same limit applies to dwellings in stressed areas that have had no tenancy agreement in the previous five years where the Ministry's resolution so provides.

8.Taxes on the dwelling can no longer be passed on to the tenant, and agency fees remain payable by the landlord

Article 20 undergoes changes with major financial implications. The parties may still agree that the general expenses for the proper upkeep of the building, its services, charges and liabilities that cannot be individually allocated and that relate to the dwelling or its appurtenances are to be borne by the tenant, but "taxes relating to the dwelling may in no case be imposed on the tenant, except where the tenant is the taxpayer". The very common clause passing on to the tenant the "Impuesto sobre Bienes Inmuebles" —the IBI, Spain's local property tax— or other taxes for which the owner is the taxable person is no longer permissible in new contracts. In buildings under the condominium regime ("propiedad horizontal"), the expenses that can be passed on are those attributable to the rented property according to its share of ownership; in buildings that are not under the condominium regime, common charges may not be passed on to the tenant. The agreement on expenses must be in writing and state their annual amount at the date of the contract, and during the first five years (seven if the landlord is a legal entity) the sum paid by the tenant for this item may only be increased annually, by agreement, and never by a percentage greater than twice the percentage by which the rent may be increased under article 18.1. Individually metered services are, in all cases, payable by the tenant.

Property management and contract formalisation costs —any arising from services provided for the preparation, formalisation, management, novation or renewal of the tenancy— may not be passed on to the tenant "either directly or indirectly, under any heading or name". The prohibition, which Law 12/2023 had already established for all landlords, is now shielded against the formulas that sought to get around it. Any other service that is not essential for the conclusion of the contract may only be charged to the tenant if the tenant has expressly requested it in writing, having been informed beforehand of its optional nature and its cost.

9.Additional guarantees capped at two months' rent, one in temporary tenancies, and a ban on requiring rent-default insurance

The statutory deposit under article 36.1 does not change and remains one month's rent for residential tenancies and two for non-residential ones. What changes is the additional guarantee. The parties may still agree on a guarantee of performance of the tenant's obligations in addition to the cash deposit, but "the tenant may in no case be required to take out rent-default insurance or other similar cover"; a landlord who wishes to be insured may take out the insurance, but at their own expense. In residential tenancy agreements of up to five years, or up to seven if the landlord is a legal entity, the value of the additional guarantee may not exceed two months' rent; in temporary tenancies, one month's rent.

The new paragraph 7 of article 36 introduces a formality that every landlord would do well to adopt. At the end of the contract, the parties must record in writing the condition of the dwelling at the time possession is handed over, by means of an end-of-tenancy document signed by both. If that document is not signed, or if it does not record any damage, it is presumed, unless proven otherwise, that the dwelling was returned in a proper state of repair. The consequence is obvious. A landlord who does not document the damage at the time of handover will find it very difficult to retain the deposit or claim for the damage later.

10.If the landlord does not answer a repair request within fifteen days, the tenant may carry out the repair and deduct it from the rent

Article 21 retains the landlord's obligation to carry out, without being entitled to raise the rent, all repairs needed to keep the dwelling in a habitable condition, and the tenant's right to carry out urgent repairs themselves, after notifying the landlord (paragraph 3). The new paragraph 5 adds a broader self-help procedure. Where there is damage or deterioration affecting the habitability, safety or sanitary condition of the dwelling, or, more generally, repairs of the kind provided for in paragraph 1 are needed, the tenant may require the landlord in writing to carry out the necessary repair, enclosing a reasonable quote for the work. The landlord has fifteen calendar days from receipt of the request to accept the quote, propose an alternative repair or carry out the repair directly. If that period passes without a response, or in the event of an unjustified refusal, the tenant may carry out the necessary work and deduct its cost from future rent, provided that the cost is reasonable and proportionate to the damage to be remedied and is supported by documentary evidence. For landlords, the message is clear. Every repair request must be answered in writing within that period. In temporary tenancies the even more demanding regime of article 21 bis, described above, applies, with a response period of five working days.

11.Agreed compensation for early termination by the tenant disappears

Article 11 retains the right of a principal-residence tenant to terminate the contract once at least six months have elapsed, giving the landlord at least thirty days' notice, and adds, for temporary tenancies, termination once at least one month has elapsed since the contract was concluded, with ten days' notice. The new element is paragraph 3, under which, in both cases, termination exercised in this way "shall not give rise to any right to compensation for the landlord". The possibility, hitherto expressly provided for in the Act, of agreeing that the tenant compensate the landlord with one month's rent for each year of the contract remaining is therefore gone. The compensation clause found in most contracts cannot be included in those signed from now on. Termination before those minimum periods is not covered by article 11 and is governed by the general rules on breach of contract.

12.Non-waivable rights of first refusal and redemption that survive block sales

Article 25 is entirely rewritten to strengthen the tenant's pre-emption right. The basic scheme remains. If the rented dwelling is sold, the tenant may exercise the right of first refusal ("tanteo") within thirty calendar days of being given formal notice of the decision to sell, the price and the other essential terms, the effects of that notice lapsing after one hundred and eighty calendar days; and the tenant may exercise the right of redemption ("retracto"), in accordance with article 1518 of the Civil Code, where no notice has been given or any of the required particulars has been omitted from it, or where the actual price turns out to be lower or the other essential terms less onerous, within thirty calendar days of the purchaser giving formal notice of the terms of the sale together with a copy of the deed. The right takes precedence over any other similar right, except the co-owner's right of redemption or a contractual right of redemption registered in the "Registro de la Propiedad", the Land Registry, when the tenancy was entered into, and in order to register the sale of a rented dwelling it must be shown that the notices have been given; if the dwelling is not rented, the seller must declare so in the deed, on pain of falsification of a public document.

There are two new features. The first concerns joint or block sales. Until now, the tenant had no right of first refusal or redemption when the dwelling was sold together with the landlord's other dwellings or premises in the same building. The new paragraph 7 reverses the rule, so that the tenant's rights "shall not lapse because the rented dwelling is transferred together with other dwellings, premises, properties or assets, provided that the dwelling is legally separable". To give effect to them, the notice of the right of first refusal must state the price attributed to the rented dwelling and the objective criteria used to determine it, and the deed must set them out; that price is the one resulting from the proportional allocation of the overall price according to objective and verifiable criteria, preferably based on the cadastral reference value or, failing that, on an independent valuation, and price allocations intended to prevent or hinder the exercise of the right are ineffective against the tenant. Failure to state the attributed price or the criteria opens the way to the right of redemption. In joint sales, and in a subsidiary capacity to the tenant's right, housing legislation may grant the rights of first refusal and redemption over the whole building to the body designated by the competent public authority. For anyone buying or selling buildings with rented dwellings, the transaction now requires individual notice to each tenant with a defensible attributed price.

The second new feature is categorical, since "the parties may not agree that the tenant waives the pre-emption right". The rule that allowed such a waiver in contracts with an agreed term of more than five years, or seven if the landlord was a legal entity, no longer applies, and the waiver clause, common in long-term contracts, cannot be included in new ones.

13.Written form and transparency in advertisements

Article 37 adds a new rule to the right of either party to require the other to put the contract in writing. At the tenant's request, putting it in writing is mandatory. Failure to comply with that obligation does not affect the validity or effectiveness of the oral contract, but may give rise to administrative liability under the applicable sectoral legislation.

Outside the LAU, article 20 of the Royal Decree-Law imposes on residential tenancy offers and advertisements, in any medium, the principles of truthfulness and transparency and a minimum content, consisting of the reference index for residential rental prices; where applicable, the rent under the last principal-residence tenancy agreement in force in the previous five years; the rent limit applicable in areas subject to a legal cap; the landlord's status as a large-scale landlord, where applicable; and the identification number, code or title of the rented unit, if any, such as the registration codes of tourist-use dwellings. All of this is without prejudice to the inspection and penalty powers of the public authorities.

14.Large-scale landlord status is proved by a Land Registry certificate and counts the dwellings in the same building

Article 4 of the Royal Decree-Law amends Law 12/2023 on a point that conditions many of the foregoing rules. The thresholds for large-scale landlord status do not change. They remain more than ten urban properties for residential use, or a built residential floor area of more than 1,500 square metres, excluding garages and storage rooms, with the existing option for the autonomous community to apply the status from five or more properties in stressed areas, with specific reasons. What is new is, first, that the status must be proved by a Land Registry certificate and, second, that the count includes units capable of residential use within the same property even where no horizontal division has been registered, so that the owner of an entire undivided building counts all its dwellings. The same article rewords the fourth transitional provision of Law 12/2023, under which contracts predating that Law may benefit from the extensions under article 10 of the LAU and their rent updates are subject to the cap in the eleventh additional provision of the LAU, while otherwise retaining the regime in force when they were concluded.

15.Possession claims suspended until 31 December 2030, and an extraordinary reinstatement of the tenancy at the public authority's expense

Although they do not amend the LAU, two measures in the Royal Decree-Law have a direct bearing on the landlord's position in the event of non-payment. Article 2 provides, until 31 December 2030, for the suspension of possession claims against vulnerable people with no alternative housing. Where the claimant is an entity engaged in acquiring properties or portfolios of non-performing mortgage loans, the court suspends the proceedings by order, even if judgment has been given, as long as the eviction has not taken place and without compensation for the claimant. In other cases where the extraordinary reinstatement of the tenancy does not apply, the suspension is subject to periodic review, to grounds for lifting it and to a maximum duration of three years, with compensation for claimants who are individuals and for legal entities engaged in affordable or social renting, on the conditions and within the limits laid down in the article itself.

Article 5 amends the "Ley de Enjuiciamiento Civil" —the LEC, Spain's Civil Procedure Act— and introduces an extraordinary reinstatement of the tenancy in possession claims for non-payment of rent or equivalent amounts where the tenant is economically vulnerable. The competent public authority has two months, which cannot be extended, from notification to offer suitable alternative housing or to pay, or pay into court, the full amount claimed, the amounts that have since fallen due and the costs; during that period the proceedings and, where applicable, the eviction are suspended. If it pays, or pays into court, the full amount, the tenancy is reinstated, the proceedings end and the contract continues. If the two months pass without alternative housing or full payment, the public authority is automatically subrogated to the debtor's position, the eviction does not go ahead and the contract continues until it expires for as long as the vulnerability persists. In addition, in mortgage enforcement proceedings the claim must state whether the property is the debtor's principal residence and whether the enforcing party is a large-scale landlord, providing, if it declares that it is not, a Land Registry certificate of the dwellings registered in its name. The second transitional provision extends these measures to enforcement proceedings under way in which the eviction has not yet taken place.

16.The new Title V penalty regime targets short-term rental platforms

Title V of the LAU (articles 38 to 51) is replaced in its entirety by a penalty regime that does not affect landlords or tenants, because it is aimed solely at online short-term rental platforms that fail to comply with the data supply and exchange obligations laid down in Regulation (EU) 2024/1028 and linked to the "Ventanilla Única Digital de Arrendamientos" —the Digital Single Window for Rentals—. Failing to collect or transmit the required data monthly or quarterly is a very serious offence, punishable by a fine of one million euros, which may be raised to up to 2% of global annual turnover; transmitting incomplete or inaccurate data is a serious offence, with a fine of five hundred thousand euros, which may be raised to up to 1%; and failing to connect to the Single Window or complying late is a minor offence, with a fine of one hundred thousand euros. Penalty powers lie with the bodies of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Agenda, and final penalties for serious and very serious offences are published in the BOE. The legislation preserves the powers of the autonomous communities over housing, tourism, consumer affairs or planning, and those of all public authorities to inspect and penalise conduct relating to the offering, advertising, intermediation, conclusion or performance of contracts.

17.What happens to contracts already signed

The eighth transitional provision of the LAU settles the question for seasonal contracts. Seasonal tenancies, temporary residential tenancies and similar contracts concluded before 8 October 2026 retain their status as non-residential tenancies and continue to be governed by the regime that applied to them until the agreed term ends, at which point they terminate with no possibility of extension. If the temporary tenancy is renewed, the renewal is governed by the new rules, so it must state the reason and comply with the maximum term and the rent cap in article 17.8.

For principal-residence tenancies currently in force, the Royal Decree-Law expressly declares applicable the extraordinary extension of up to two years and the cap on rent updates until 31 December 2027, and the extensions under article 10 continue to operate as before, including for contracts predating Law 12/2023. As regards the other amendments —taxes and expenses, compensation for early termination, guarantees, waiver of the right of first refusal, the repair procedure—, the legislation contains no general transitional provision. The starting point is non-retroactivity. Contracts are governed by the law in force when they were concluded (article 2.3 of the Civil Code and the Code's own transitional provisions), so clauses validly agreed in contracts predating 8 October 2026 remain, in principle, effective, and the new rules apply to contracts concluded or renewed from that date. It cannot be ruled out, however, that the application of some of these rules to earlier contracts —in particular, passing on the IBI and the waiver of the right of first refusal— will be disputed and end up in the courts.

18.Catalonia and regional legislation

The new twelfth additional provision of the LAU states that the Act is enacted under the State's exclusive competence over civil legislation (article 149.1.8.ª of the Constitution), without prejudice to the preservation, amendment and development by the autonomous communities of their own civil law, "as in the Autonomous Community of Catalonia", and to their powers over housing. In particular, the provisions on temporary residential tenancies and letting by rooms are without prejudice to the provisions that the autonomous communities have enacted or may enact in the exercise of those powers, which will apply within their respective territories. For contracts relating to dwellings located in Catalonia, therefore, the amended LAU must be read together with Catalan housing legislation and with the rules that the Generalitat, Catalonia's regional government, has approved or may approve on seasonal tenancies and letting by rooms, as well as the declaration of stressed residential market areas that already applies across much of the territory.

19.What landlords and tenants should review now

The reform makes the principal residence, justified temporariness and rent control the pillars of the LAU, and does so with precise rules that require contractual practice to be reviewed. Landlords must adapt their standard contracts. They must state and document the reason in temporary tenancies and not chain more than two; remove clauses passing on the IBI and other taxes, compensation for early termination, the requirement for rent-default insurance and the waiver of the rights of first refusal and redemption; limit additional guarantees to two months' rent (one in temporary tenancies); answer every repair request in writing within fifteen calendar days (five working days in temporary tenancies); sign the end-of-tenancy document recording the condition of the dwelling; check that the total of the room rents does not exceed the rent for the whole dwelling; include the mandatory information in advertisements; and, when selling buildings, notify each tenant of an objective attributed price. Tenants, for their part, have new tools, such as the extraordinary extension of up to two years, the 2% cap on updates until the end of 2027, the conversion of a temporary contract without a stated reason into a principal-residence tenancy, the repair procedure with deduction from the rent, early termination without compensation and non-waivable rights of first refusal and redemption. All of this is subject to the uncertainty of pending parliamentary validation, which makes it advisable to follow the parliamentary process closely and, in contracts signed during this period, to provide expressly for the consequences of a possible repeal.

Alburquerque Abogados|José Manuel Alburquerque|Barcelona 09/10/2026

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