Is it legal to let a flat by rooms and what does the reform change?

Question

José Manuel Alburquerque · Accepted Answer

Yes, it is legal. Since 8 October 2026, the “Ley de Arrendamientos Urbanos” (LAU), Spain's urban tenancies act, has expressly stated that renting a room to live in is a residential tenancy, either of a main home or temporary depending on the tenant's needs, with the same rules as the letting of a whole flat. Until then these contracts were in a grey area and many courts left them outside the LAU. In addition, the total rent for rooms let at the same time cannot exceed the rent for the whole flat. In Catalonia, the housing law has regulated letting by rooms since January 2026 and in July 2026 it extended the rent limits of stressed residential market areas (“zonas tensionadas”) to any arrangement for making a room available. What it means for each room Each room let is a residential contract with its own rules: If the tenant lives in it on a settled basis, the contract lasts at least five years, or seven if the landlord is a legal entity, such as a company, with the statutory extensions. If the tenant is away from home for work, study or another temporary reason, it is a temporary tenancy. The reason must be stated in the contract, which will last more than 31 days and, as a rule, no more than twelve months. The statutory deposit (the “fianza”) is one month's rent. Any additional guarantee cannot exceed two months' rent, or one month's in a temporary tenancy. The tenant cannot be charged the letting agent's fees or the taxes on the property, such as the IBI, the local property tax. Repairs needed to keep the home habitable are the landlord's responsibility. In a temporary tenancy, so are minor ones. The Catalan rules In Catalonia, the rules of Catalan housing law also apply: Letting a room means giving the tenant exclusive use of it and the right to use the shared areas of the flat in return for a price. The minimum floor area per person set by housing regulations and the maximum occupancy stated in the certificate of habitability (“cédula de habitabilidad”) must be respected. Dividing the flat into rooms does not stop it being a residential tenancy. In stressed residential market areas, those declared as such because of the difficulty of accessing housing, the total of the rents cannot exceed the maximum rent for the whole flat. Since July 2026, those limits have extended to any arrangement that grants the use of a room to live in, whether a tenancy, a licence to occupy or a sublet. The statutory deposit is lodged with the “INCASÒL” (the Catalan public body that holds tenancy deposits) and the details of the contract and its purpose are registered. Everything charged for the room counts as rent, including expenses, services and fees. Arrangements designed to get round the limits are not valid, nor can the tenant be charged management fees or fees for drawing up the contract. Law 11/2025, which introduced the first of these rules, has been partly challenged before the “Tribunal Constitucional”, Spain's Constitutional Court, but the challenge does not suspend it. Other cases Residences and so-called co-living schemes that house people can no longer be presented as commercial leases (“uso distinto del de vivienda”) to avoid these rules. If it is genuine lodging, with hotel-like services, each case will have to be examined. If the tenant of a whole flat wants to let rooms, they need the landlord's written consent. What they charge cannot exceed what corresponds to their own rent. In Catalonia, a holiday let (tourist accommodation) is let as a whole, not by rooms. Room contracts signed before 8 October 2026 are governed, in principle, by the law in force when they were signed. In Catalonia, those signed since January 2026 were already subject to Catalan law.