The Spanish Housing Ministry has given a few clues as to what the seasonal rental regulations in the works will look like.
The Spanish government is working on regulating the seasonal / mid-term rental market (known as temporada in Spain) to prevent owners from dressing up long-term rental agreements as seasonal rental contracts that avoid the high costs and restrictions of the Spanish Housing Law (2023). This week it floated two new measures we can expect in the final regulations, which will be ready after the summer.
First, landlords will be required to justify with documents the temporary nature of a seasonal rental, explaining why it is limited to a certain number of months. “We need to safeguard seasonal rentals for their true purpose, which is for temporary reasons,” said Housing Minister Isabel Rodríguez while presenting the measures this week.
“The contract must be justified to prevent fraud,” officials from her ministry told the press. This means providing a justification for the short rental period, whether for studies or work reasons. It could be nine months for a school year, one month for a sports event, or a longer period of up to year and a half for a work or research project. The specific durations and reasons will be outlined in a decree-law that will develop these regulations after the summer.
Secondly, a new state-level registry (online) will be created to record the documentation for these rentals. Property owners offering temporary rentals will need to provide evidence for the temporary nature of their rentals, such as work or study certificates, or equivalent documents. This platform will facilitate the control of such rentals, as each property will receive a registration number, explained Rodríguez. This registry will include both temporary and tourist accommodations.
The decree-law defining seasonal rental conditions using newly approved EU regulations is expected in September, but creating the registry will take longer and won’t be ready before the end of 2025, suggests the government.
Working group
These clues were given by Housing Minister Isabel Rodríguez following a meeting with the working group established to regulate seasonal rentals. This extensive group includes various ministries, civil society members, property administrators, real estate agents, unions, and employers, as well as the Tenants’ Union, the Confederation of Urban Property Chambers, and Urban Property Owners Associations. This broad coalition aims to address the misuse of temporary contracts, which, along with the issue of tourist rentals, is dragging down the supply of regular rental housing, argues the Spanish government.
The government also plans to address the regulation of tourist rentals, an area where the Barcelona City Council has taken the lead with the mayor’s announcement to eliminate such rentals within five years, ending the current 10,000 tourist rental licences in the city. The Housing Ministry will initiate discussions with parliamentary groups to amend the Horizontal Property Law, requiring community approval for a property to be used for tourist purposes.
“In light of the dramatic situation, we cannot look the other way,” said Isabel Rodríguez, saying that properties with temporary rentals will need to register on a government-run platform, which will monitor their activities.
