The tenancy has ended and the tenant will not leave: what should I do?

If it really has ended

For residential property, the law extends the tenancy even if it was signed for a shorter period:

• At least five years, or seven if you are a legal entity, such as a company. Until then it is extended year by year and you can only end it on specific grounds, such as non-payment or your need for the property if the contract provided for it.
• Once that period has ended, if you did not give at least four months' notice that you were not renewing it, it continues year by year for up to three more years.
• In Barcelona and the other stressed residential market areas (“zonas tensionadas”), those declared as such because of rising rents, the tenant can ask at the end for an extraordinary extension of up to three years. You can only refuse if you agree otherwise, if you sign a new contract or if you notified the tenant in time that you need the property for yourself or for your parents or children.
• If the tenancy was already in force on 8 October 2026, a tenant who is up to date with payments and has been for the previous eight months can ask for up to two more years, which are not added to the previous extension.
• If you are a large-scale landlord (“gran tenedor”), as the law calls the owner of many homes, a tenant who proves with a social services report that he or she is in a vulnerable situation can ask for up to one more year.

If you did not give notice in time or the tenant requested an extension to which he or she is entitled, a possession claim on expiry of the term is not possible.

How to recover the property

• Send the burofax before the tenancy ends or as soon as it ends, with a genuine offer, for example a few more weeks to move out. The Barcelona “Audiencia Provincial”, the provincial appeal court, also requires that attempt to reach an agreement in these evictions.
• If the tenant stays in the property for fifteen days with your consent and without your having asked him or her to leave, the tenancy may be treated as renewed month by month. If the tenant pays you, make it clear in writing that you are accepting the money as compensation for the occupation and not as rent.
• If the tenant does not leave, bring a possession claim on expiry of the term, with a lawyer and a court agent (“procurador”). The claim must state whether the property is the tenant's principal residence and whether you are a large-scale landlord, or it will not be admitted. As long as the tenant remains in the property, he or she owes you the rent or an equivalent amount for occupying it.
• If it is the tenant's principal residence and he or she is in a vulnerable situation, the judge can suspend the eviction by the court bailiffs (the “lanzamiento”) for up to two months, or four if you are a legal entity. If the tenant also has no other home, the suspension may last longer, because it remains to be seen whether the special regime in force since 8 October 2026 extends to this kind of eviction. The mandatory social rent offer required of large-scale landlords in Catalonia does not apply to this kind of eviction.
• Do not change the locks, cut off the utilities or remove the tenant's belongings. Even though the tenancy has ended, the property is still the tenant's home and doing so may be a criminal offence.

If it is commercial premises

With commercial premises, what was agreed governs and there is no minimum term and no statutory extensions. The lease ends on the date set, but still send a burofax before it expires or, at the latest, within the following fifteen days, so that it is not treated as renewed. As with residential property, you must offer to negotiate before bringing a claim and you cannot change the locks. It is advisable to state in the claim that the premises are nobody's principal residence.