The new “administrative policing” of rent in Catalonia: penalties, advertising, evidence and inspection after Decree‑Laws 1/2025 and 3/2026

1.Context: from freedom to set the rent to administrative control

The tension between the right to housing and freedom of enterprise and of contract has shifted in recent years towards the formation of the rental price. Art. 17.1 of the “Ley de Arrendamientos Urbanos” —the LAU, Spain's urban tenancies act— enshrines, in principle, the freedom of the parties to set the rent, within the general framework of freedom of contract laid down in art. 1255 of the Civil Code. However, the combination of a crisis of access to housing, the concentration of supply in the hands of “grandes tenedores” —large-scale landlords— and the declaration of stressed residential market areas under State Law 12/2023 on the right to housing has brought about a shift towards public intervention in the formation of the price.

Law 12/2023 configures housing as a service of general interest and provides for the declaration of stressed residential market areas, with effects on the rent under tenancies of dwellings, particularly where the landlord is a large-scale landlord. Against that background, Catalonia has deployed a regulatory framework of its own, resting on its exclusive competence in housing and consumer matters, which takes shape in Law 18/2007 on the right to housing, Law 13/1996 on the register and lodging of tenancy deposits and, more recently, in Decree‑Laws 1/2025 and 3/2026.

The “Decreto‑ley 1/2025” —the Catalan decree-law on urgent measures concerning rent control— was enacted precisely in order to give punitive force to the price-control regime derived from Law 12/2023 and from the declaration of stressed market areas. Its preamble describes the phenomenon in detail: after rent control came into force in the municipalities declared to be stressed, a significant increase was observed in contracts classified as “de temporada” (seasonal) which in reality meet permanent housing needs, with the successive splitting of contracts in order to avoid the LAU and the price limits. The absence of a specific penalty regime and the lack of clear obligations of information and documentation dilute the effect of rent control, which justifies the urgency of strengthening the protection of tenants and the transparency of the market.

The “Decreto‑ley 3/2026” —the Catalan decree-law on urgent measures concerning taxation and the simplification and streamlining of administration in the fields of planning and housing— takes this line further. In its preamble, the Catalan Government stresses the need to strengthen the transparency of the rental market, prevent fraud, improve the effectiveness of inspection and enforcement and increase legal certainty by clarifying the mandatory content of advertising, requiring the document evidencing the price under the reference index to be attached to the contract, providing for the entry of contracts and documents in the “Registro de fianzas”, the register of tenancy deposits, and creating a register of large-scale landlords. What thus takes shape is a genuine “administrative policing of rent”, in which the public authority not only penalises unlawful conduct but equips itself with instruments of information, control and evidence in order to detect overcharging, the false claim of a temporary purpose, the improper passing on of costs and omissions of relevant information.

2.Decree‑Law 1/2025: specific infringements and fraudulent temporary lettings

Decree‑Law 1/2025 amends Law 18/2007 on the right to housing and the “Código de consumo de Cataluña”, the Catalan consumer code, in order to introduce specific infringements linked to the rent-control regime and to the fraudulent use of seasonal contracts. The preamble describes how, in the first quarter in which rent control applied, rental prices in stressed market areas fell, but a rebound was subsequently observed, together with a sharp rise in seasonal contracts, particularly in Barcelona, which came to account for a very high proportion of new contracts. Many of those seasonal contracts are considered to be used fraudulently in order to avoid the regime governing tenancies of dwellings and rent control, splitting the relationship into successive temporary contracts when the real purpose is to meet a permanent housing need.

As regards penalties, Decree‑Law 1/2025 strengthens art. 124 of Law 18/2007, which defines infringements in the field of the protection of housing consumers and users in the property market. A penalty attaches to the failure to state, in advertising and in offers of dwellings, the maximum rent resulting from application of the reference price system or, as the case may be, the last rent in force in the previous five years, as well as to the omission of the landlord's status as a large-scale landlord. A penalty likewise attaches to setting, in tenancy agreements subject to the price-control regime, a rent exceeding the maximum permitted amount, graduated according to the percentage of the difference: a difference of less than ten per cent is a minor infringement, between ten and thirty per cent a serious infringement, and above thirty per cent a very serious infringement, with a range of fines running from 3,000 to 900,000 euros. Also defined as infringements are the failure to state in the contract the maximum rent or the last rent, or the indication of a price higher than that legally applicable, as well as the omission of the landlord's status as a large-scale landlord, and the failure to attach to the contract the document evidencing the rent under the reference price system.

In parallel, Decree‑Law 1/2025 amends the Catalan consumer code so as to classify as a serious infringement the carrying out of unfair practices consisting in entering into temporary tenancy agreements for dwellings when their permanent purpose is in fact established, with the intention of avoiding, by evasion of the law, the urban tenancies legislation and rent control. Temporariness thus becomes a central element of the definition of the offence: the “false claim of a temporary purpose” has consequences not only in civil law, such as the reclassification of the contract as a permanent-housing tenancy, but also in administrative law, as an unfair practice attracting a penalty.

3.Decree‑Law 3/2026: advertising, documentation and the register of large-scale landlords

Decree‑Law 3/2026 strengthens the system introduced by Decree‑Law 1/2025 through further amendments to Law 18/2007 and to Law 13/1996. As regards advertising, it is made clear that every offer of a dwelling to let must state the maximum rent resulting from application of the reference price system or, as the case may be, the last rent in force in the previous five years, as well as the landlord's status as a large-scale landlord where applicable and the reference of the “cédula de habitabilidad” —the certificate of habitability— and of the energy performance certificate. The omission of those particulars or the indication of a price higher than that legally applicable is classified as a very serious infringement under art. 124 of Law 18/2007.

As regards the contract, it must state the last rent or the maximum rent resulting from the reference system, the document evidencing the reference price obtained through the public consultation system established by the competent authority must be attached, and the certificate of habitability and, where applicable, the energy performance certificate must be incorporated. The failure to incorporate that documentation is defined as a specific infringement. Art. 66 of Law 18/2007, as amended, strengthens the obligation to lodge the deposit in the register of tenancy deposits for urban property tenancies, in which the tenancy agreements and the documents evidencing the rent under the reference price system must be entered, in accordance with Law 13/1996. The purpose is twofold: to safeguard the tenant against the failure to return the deposit and to provide the public authority with an exhaustive database of contracts and prices enabling it to detect overcharging and fraudulent practices.

Decree‑Law 3/2026 also amends art. 11 of Law 13/1996 to provide that public authorities and public-law bodies holding information on tenancies or on rent subsidies are under a duty to communicate it to the authority competent for the registration and lodging of deposits, extending the penalty regime of Law 18/2007 to tenancies of urban property for uses other than housing and services. Finally, it introduces a new additional provision into Law 18/2007 creating the register of persons who are large-scale housing holders, an administrative register attached to the Catalan Housing Agency, in which the individuals and legal entities qualifying as large-scale landlords under Law 24/2015 and State Law 12/2023 must be entered. Registration is compulsory from the moment the requirements are met, and the Agency may require the status of large-scale landlord and the number of dwellings held to be notified to it. That register performs a key function in the “administrative policing” of rent: it makes it possible to identify at once those subject to stricter rent limits in stressed market areas, it facilitates inspection and the cross-checking of data against the register of tenancy deposits and other public registers, and it strengthens the transparency of the market.

4.From civil control to administrative enforcement: penalty, restitution and nullity

Traditionally, the control of overcharging in “viviendas de protección oficial” —publicly subsidised housing— and, in general, in tenancies subject to rent limits has been articulated in civil law through the nullity of clauses and the restitution of sums improperly received. The case law of the “Tribunal Supremo”, Spain's Supreme Court, has evolved from regarding an agreement on a rent higher than the legal maximum as no more than an administrative infringement, without affecting the validity of the contract, to recognising the supervening nullity of the rent clause by application of the first additional provision of the 1994 LAU, with the rent adjusted to the legal maximum and, in certain cases, repayment of the excess charged.

In the new Catalan model, civil control coexists with intense administrative enforcement. Law 18/2007 defines overcharging as an administrative infringement, with penalties which, depending on the graduation, may range between 3,000 and 900,000 euros, and provides for the obligation to return to the tenant the sums improperly received as a result of the infringement, particularly in the field of publicly subsidised housing. The administrative penalty does not replace civil restitution but complements it: the public authority may impose the fine and order repayment, while the tenant retains the civil action to claim the sums and, where appropriate, the nullity of clauses.

The relationship between administrative penalty and restitution raises delicate questions. On the one hand, the imposition of a fine does not prevent the tenant from claiming repayment of the overcharge before the courts, nor the judge from declaring the rent clause void for contravening mandatory rules of civil law. On the other, a final administrative decision establishing the infringement and quantifying the overcharge may carry strong evidential weight in the civil proceedings, even though it does not bind the judge as to the legal characterisation. In the field of publicly subsidised housing, the case law of the Catalan courts in “contencioso‑administrativo” proceedings —judicial review of administrative action— has recognised that penalties may be imposed for overcharging and that repayment of the excess charged may be ordered, the amount of the penalty being adjusted in the light of the principle of proportionality and of the offender's legitimate expectations placed in intermediary professionals. The coexistence of penalty and restitution has been held to be compatible with the principle of non bis in idem, since they are consequences of a different nature, punitive and compensatory.

In the field of open-market lettings subject to rent control, the scheme is similar: the administrative infringement of overcharging does not exclude the civil nullity of the clause or the restitution of sums. What is new is that the public authority now has evidential instruments and databases which facilitate the detection of overcharging and proof of the previous rent and of the applicable index. The interplay between the penalty regime and the civil nullity of clauses calls for careful coordination if overlaps are to be avoided and legal certainty ensured.

5.Evidence and inspection: the role of INCASÒL and of the registers

Law 13/1996 creates the register of tenancy deposits for urban property tenancies, attached to the “Instituto Catalán del Suelo” (INCASÒL), the Catalan land institute, in which the particulars of tenancy agreements whose deposits are subject to compulsory lodging must be entered. Art. 1 of Law 13/1996 sets out the particulars which must be stated: the location of the property, its ownership, the cadastral reference, the year of construction and of refurbishment, the floor area, the certificate of habitability and the energy performance certificate, the identification of the parties, the characteristics of the contract (date, duration, rent, updating mechanism, additional guarantees, payment of utilities, whether it is let furnished), the amount of the deposit and the date of lodging, and any other particulars needed to draw up the reference index of rental prices.

Art. 2 of Law 13/1996 lays down the obligation to register contracts and to cancel the entry when the contract comes to an end, guaranteeing the confidentiality of personal data and regulating access by local authorities to the data relating to properties situated within their territory. Art. 7 provides that INCASÒL must apply the amount of the deposits to investment in public housing, particularly rented housing, and that a specific committee is created within the “Consejo Asesor de la Vivienda”, the Housing Advisory Council, to monitor that investment.

Decree‑Law 3/2026 strengthens that system by requiring that, together with the deposit, the contract and the document evidencing the rent under the reference price system be lodged, and by empowering other public authorities to communicate to INCASÒL information relating to tenancies and rent assistance. Art. 11 of Law 13/1996, as amended, provides that authorities and public-law bodies holding information on tenancies or on rent subsidies are under a duty to communicate it to the authority competent for the registration and lodging of deposits.

From an evidential standpoint, INCASÒL's data acquire a central value. The public authority may use the register of tenancy deposits to detect contracts whose deposits have not been lodged, overcharging, the false claim of a temporary purpose and omissions of information. Law 18/2007 allows the authority to use data from the “padrón”, the municipal population register, from other public registers, from the deposit database, from abnormal utility consumption, from owners' declarations and from checks carried out by inspection staff in order to detect anomalous uses of dwellings, such as unjustified vacancy or overcrowding. In the penalty proceedings, INCASÒL's data may serve as documentary evidence of the rent agreed, of the duration of the contract, of the landlord's status as a large-scale landlord and of the declared purpose. An owner's unjustified refusal to allow checks, taken together with other indications, may be treated as an indication of non-occupation or of anomalous use. In civil proceedings, INCASÒL's certification concerning the contract and the deposit may be adduced in evidence, with the weight proper to administrative documents.

The creation of the register of large-scale landlords adds a further layer: it allows information on contracts and deposits to be cross-checked against the status of large-scale landlord, which is relevant in determining the applicable rent-control regime and the gravity of the infringement. The public authority can direct inspection and enforcement more efficiently towards those with the greatest capacity to affect the market. Taken as a whole, Decree‑Laws 1/2025 and 3/2026 have transformed the Catalan model of rent control, moving from a scheme centred on freedom of contract and the civil control of clauses to a system of “administrative policing” of rent, in which the public authority has at its disposal regulatory, punitive and evidential instruments with which to monitor the rental market.

6.Conclusions

Decree‑Laws 1/2025 and 3/2026 have consolidated in Catalonia a model of administrative enforcement of rent which complements and strengthens traditional civil control. The specific definition of infringements for overcharging, the false claim of a temporary purpose, the improper passing on of costs and the omission of relevant information, together with the obligations of advertising, documentation and deposit and the creation of registers of tenancy deposits and of large-scale landlords, make up a genuine “administrative policing” of rent.

The relationship between the administrative penalty, restitution to the tenant, nullity or ineffectiveness of clauses and the evidential value of INCASÒL's data is complex but coherent: the penalty does not replace civil restitution or the nullity of clauses but complements them; the administrative decision may serve as evidence in the civil proceedings; and the registers become key elements in the detection and proof of overcharging and of fraudulent practices. There remains open, however, the question of legislative competence and the possible constitutional review of this model. The line between the regulation of housing and planning and the regulation of essential elements of the tenancy contract is a fine one, as recent case law has shown. In the meantime, legal practitioners and the courts will have to work with a regulatory framework in which the administrative enforcement of rent in Catalonia is already a reality, with significant practical consequences for the proof and penalising of overcharging, the protection of the tenant and the legal certainty of tenancy agreements.

Alburquerque Abogados|Laura Garriga|Barcelona 07/04/2026

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