Spanish government has passed a new regulation (Real Decreto-Ley 7/2019) on urgent measures regarding housing and rental, which enters into force on March 6, 2019, and resumes the previous Decree approved in the month of December 2018 and revoked in the month of January of 2019, although introducing new modifications.
Although this new law is awaiting validation in Congress, as of March 6, it is applicable to new leases that are signed from that date.
It will therefore be necessary to take into account different laws depending on the date of signing the rental contract:
- Contracts signed before December 19, 2018 are subject to the Urban Rental Law (LAU) approved in 2013.
- To the contracts signed between December 20, 2018 and January 23, 2019 will apply Royal Decree Law 21/2018.
- The contracts formalized between January 24, 2019 and March 5, 2019, will be subject again to the 2013 LAU.
- And the undersigned from March 6, 2019 will be ruled by the last decree 7/2019 , which we discuss in this article.
The modifications introduced for the lease agreements signed from March 6 are similar to those contained in the brief regulation approved in the month of December 2018.
It should be taken into account as main points when signing a lease agreement, the followings:
Información detallada
Duration of the rental
The minimum duration is five years, when the owner is a natural person, and seven years, if the owner is a company. The renewals will be annual up to that term, unless the tenant manifests his wish not to renew one month in advance of each annuity.
Contract renewal
The renewal of the contract for failure to notify completion, once past five or seven years of compulsory minimum duration, it will be by annual periods, up to a maximum of three more years.
Notices
If the owner wants to terminate the contract when the legal term (five/seven years) is completed, the tenant must be notified four months in advance, otherwise the contract will be extended for another three years. On the other hand, in case of wanting to leave the property the tenant has to give a notice of two months in advance to the landlord.
Repossession by the owner due to personal need
Over the five years of duration of the lease contract, the landlord may only recover the house in case of need for himself or his family if expressed in the contract at the time of the firm.
Registration of contracts in the Land Registry
There is no need for contract registration in order to have effects against third parties.
Sale of leased housing
The new owner has to accept the agreed terms with the current tenant.
Subrogation
If the lease is longer than five (or seven years in the case of a company), it can be agreed that, in case of the death of the lessee, the subrogation of the corresponding relative is only for that minimum term, otherwise it will be place for the period of time that the parties have agreed upon until its completion. This waiver does not apply when the persons entitled to subrogation are in situations of vulnerability, whether they are minors or disabled or over 65 years of age.
Deposit
It is limited to one monthly payment plus a maximum of two additional monthly payments to the legal deposit. That is, a maximum of three-monthly payments.
Update of the rent
It is limited during the term of the contract to what the Consumer Price Index goes up in that year. The owner may establish an additional increase in rent, if agreed with the tenant, in the case of carrying out improvement works on the house during the contract, provided that the duration of the same is longer than 5/7 years.
General and management expenses
The parties may agree in writing that the general expenses of the property are paid by the lessee. If the landlord is a company, they must assume the costs of real estate management and formalization of contract, this rise doubts about the commission of the real estate agency, since the rule refers to the cost of managing the contract.