My tenancy agreement predates the reform and says I pay the IBI: do I still have to pay it?

Question

José Manuel Alburquerque · Accepted Answer

In principle, yes, provided the clause was properly agreed. The ban on making the tenant pay the IBI, the local property tax, has been in force since 8 October 2026 and says nothing about earlier agreements, which are still governed by the law in force when they were signed. Before that date, the term was valid if it was in writing and set the annual amount. If your agreement did not set any figure, the clause was not valid even then. It cannot be ruled out that the courts will have to decide whether the ban also applies to bills that arrive from now on. Why it is still valid Laws do not apply retrospectively unless they expressly say so. The October reform has no special rule for expenses under agreements already signed, so the IBI clause in an earlier agreement remains, in principle, effective. The same applies during extensions, because the terms of the agreement continue to apply in all of them. That includes the mandatory extension of the first years, the annual extension that follows and the extraordinary extension of up to two years that can be requested under the reform. An extension, even if it comes about automatically and without anything being signed, continues the same agreement and is not a renewal. In addition, as the IBI is a tax, what you pay for it can go up each year by as much as the bill goes up, without the limit that the law places on other expenses during the first years of the tenancy. When you do not have to pay it If the clause did not set the annual amount. A sentence such as “the IBI shall be borne by the tenant”, without any figure, did not meet the legal requirements, either then or now. If you sign a new agreement or a renewal with the landlord on or after 8 October 2026. It can no longer be included in them. If your agreement was a seasonal letting and it is renewed. Until the agreed term ends it keeps its own rules, but the renewal is governed by the new ones and cannot pass the IBI on to you. Before you stop paying If the IBI was properly agreed and you stop paying it, the landlord can claim it from you and, in principle, even seek eviction, as if you had stopped paying the rent. Before suing, the law requires an attempt at negotiation. If you think your clause is not valid, take advice before you stop paying or claim back what you have already paid. Old-style protected tenancies (“renta antigua”), signed before 9 May 1985, have their own rules on the IBI, which differ from these.