# New laws on property rental



## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

> The Spanish government is trying to jumpstart the country’s almost nonexistent rental market with a new set of measures that grant owners greater legal safeguards against defaults and gives tenants greater flexibility to end their leases.
> 
> On Friday Public Works Minister Ana Pastor and Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría presented the draft legislation that the government will take to Congress. The overarching goal, Pastor said, is to strike a “balance” between landlords and tenants in a country with a home-ownership rate of around 82 percent, and a marked aversion for renting out one’s property on the belief that the law clearly benefits the tenants — even those who fail to pay the rent.
> 
> ...


New rules for rental market aim to ?strike a balance? | In English | EL PAÍS


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Alcalaina said:


> New rules for rental market aim to ?strike a balance? | In English | EL PAÍS


it will be interesting to see what form the changes take if/when they actually get passed into law

the 'fast track evictions' have been around for a couple of years now though - I'm surprised you don't hear of them being used much tbh

I'm going to link to this on the 'sticky'


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## mayotom (Nov 8, 2008)

Quiet positive news in my opinion


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## agua642 (May 24, 2009)

Who's liable for painting rooms in a rental house, tenent been there 4 years, place in desperate need of fresh paint


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

agua642 said:


> Who's liable for painting rooms in a rental house, tenent been there 4 years, place in desperate need of fresh paint


if it's a long let - which it seems it is - then the tenant would usually decorate

it depends if it's mentioned in the contract though

I wouldn't expect my landlord to repaint inside - outside, yes


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Our landlord, a very decent one, has had problems with every tenant apart from us. He has just managed to evict a tenant who has paid no rent for ten months and left him with massive electricity bills.


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## thrax (Nov 13, 2008)

Our first landlord very glibly told us that we had to paint the outside of the villa as well as the inside and that if we didn't do this every year we would lose our deposit. It wasn't mentioned in the contract but the point he was making was that he had no intention of giving us back our deposit. He was a man of his word.

Our new landlord fixes everything on the outside and fixes apliances on the inside first time the go wrong but not afterwards on the grounds that we are using them so we are liable for wearing them out. Our pool skimmers have failed and this autumn he is having the back end of the pool dug up and renewed. He is also having the 5000 sq m of land behind the villa cleared and mangoes planted (yummy if we are here long enough). We just renewed our contract and he made it clear he didn't want a rental increase, just tenants he could trust who wanted to stay for a long time. He runs three restaurants in town and keeps asking us to go in for a free meal and some beer! He never comes round unexpected and in fact we hardly ever see him unlike the previous landlord who turned up every two or three days and walked in uninvited. You live and learn.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

thrax said:


> Our first landlord very glibly told us that we had to paint the outside of the villa as well as the inside and that if we didn't do this every year we would lose our deposit. It wasn't mentioned in the contract but the point he was making was that he had no intention of giving us back our deposit. He was a man of his word.
> 
> Our new landlord fixes everything on the outside and fixes apliances on the inside first time the go wrong but not afterwards on the grounds that we are using them so we are liable for wearing them out. Our pool skimmers have failed and this autumn he is having the back end of the pool dug up and renewed. He is also having the 5000 sq m of land behind the villa cleared and mangoes planted (yummy if we are here long enough). We just renewed our contract and he made it clear he didn't want a rental increase, just tenants he could trust who wanted to stay for a long time. He runs three restaurants in town and keeps asking us to go in for a free meal and some beer! He never comes round unexpected and in fact we hardly ever see him unlike the previous landlord who turned up every two or three days and walked in uninvited. You live and learn.


the antique dishwasher in our house broke down 3 days after we moved in & the landlord had it repaired

it then broke down again a couple of months later - he had the guy back, the guy took it away, stripped it down, got all the calc out of it, brought it back .................. and asked me for 300€ for the repair 

I told him to go see the landlord

next rent day the landlord asked my OH for the 300€ - you can imagine what he said 

when the blue air had cleared he told him that if it went wrong again we'd just buy a new one & he could either buy it off us when we moved out or we'd take it with us


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

> One of the more controversial aspects of the draft legislation is the elimination of the use of the Consumer Price Index as the basis for raising the rent year on year. From now on, both parties will be able to freely set the rent, something that consumer organizations argue will favor abusive behavior by landlords.


Are any of you tenants worried about this? Or do you think the market is sufficiently depressed that they won't hike up your rents unfairly?


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## thrax (Nov 13, 2008)

Well it remains a renters market and whilst it does I suspect most landlords will keep their rentals the same without looking for unreasonable hikes. We only have to give one month's notice to quit - it's in the contract - so if, next year, he says he has to increase the rent by anything more than €25 a month, then it will be the end of a beautiful relationship....


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Alcalaina said:


> Are any of you tenants worried about this? Or do you think the market is sufficiently depressed that they won't hike up your rents unfairly?


I'm sure some will try it - but you can always move out 


I just negotiated a total of 200€ a month _off_ my rent


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

I have zero worries on that score. If we said we were moving, our landlord would lie in front of the removal van. He is here now on a week's visit from Austria where he lives and has made sure we have no worries. I'm taking him back to the airport on Tuesday.

As for rental increases...there are two sides to this. Local taxes and community charges have risen as well as IVA and you can't expect landlords who aren't charities - to take a hit on their rental income. Most sensible landlords won't ask for an increase in this depressed market but from the landlord's point of view rents have gone down and other expenses have increased.

Buying or inheriting property to rent like any other business transaction involves risk, we all know that. Not all landlords are business tycoons owning many properties. Most I suspect are relying on rental income to pay off other expenses.

From what I have seen at first hand no way would I be a landlord in Spain. It's good that the laws have enabled faster evictions. There is virtually no chance of getting back money from tenants who fail to pay rent and trash your property. My landlord owns two properties and has had to take legal action on more than one occasion. This time he is over 8000 euros out of pocket and I have seen the house the defaulting tenant vacated.....disgusting.

Just as workers are also consumers, a fact often conveniently overlooked by many, landlords are often people in more precarious financial circumstances than their tenants.

We had a bad landlord or at least agent experience when we first rented here but we simply broke the terms of our contract and stayed for the two months we'd paid deposit for. Our current landlord advised us to do that and I doubt he'll be expecting us to do otherwise when we leave.

When we were landlords we were fair and acted as any decent person should to another. I know there are bad landlords out there - as a housing activist in London I attended and on occasion helped prevent evictions. But there are also very many bad tenants - we had experience of them to the point where we sold the properties and got out of renting altogether..

Laws need to be mindful of the rights and duties of both parties to rental contracts.


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Alcalaina said:


> Are any of you tenants worried about this? Or do you think the market is sufficiently depressed that they won't hike up your rents unfairly?


'Hike' and 'unfairly' are emotive terms, don't you think?

Look at the situation from the landlord's viewpoint. S/he may own one mortgaged property the value of which may have fallen by up to 50% but the mortgage repayment may be at the same level and othercosts,charges and taxes may have risen.

I suspect many landlords are more worried than tenants in the current renters' market and I'm glad I am no longer a landlord!!


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

mrypg9 said:


> 'Hike' and 'unfairly' are emotive terms, don't you think?
> 
> Look at the situation from the landlord's viewpoint. S/he may own one mortgaged property the value of which may have fallen by up to 50% but the mortgage repayment may be at the same level and othercosts,charges and taxes may have risen.
> 
> I suspect many landlords are more worried than tenants in the current renters' market and I'm glad I am no longer a landlord!!


my landlord is always pleading poverty- but the house next door has just come on the market & he is considering buying it.............for cash 

and then letting it out............

it has one bedroom less than ours - & we have one more than we _need_......... so fingers crossed.........


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

xabiachica said:


> my landlord is always pleading poverty- but the house next door has just come on the market & he is considering buying it.............for cash
> 
> and then letting it out............
> 
> it has one bedroom less than ours - & we have one more than we _need_......... so fingers crossed.........


That would suit both parties Here's hoping...

My landlord has decided to leave his other house empty rather than risk having another tenant like the last one. Can't say I blame him.


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## lanzaken (Jan 7, 2013)

*Landlord*



thrax said:


> Our first landlord very glibly told us that we had to paint the outside of the villa as well as the inside and that if we didn't do this every year we would lose our deposit. It wasn't mentioned in the contract but the point he was making was that he had no intention of giving us back our deposit. He was a man of his word.
> 
> Our new landlord fixes everything on the outside and fixes apliances on the inside first time the go wrong but not afterwards on the grounds that we are using them so we are liable for wearing them out. Our pool skimmers have failed and this autumn he is having the back end of the pool dug up and renewed. He is also having the 5000 sq m of land behind the villa cleared and mangoes planted (yummy if we are here long enough). We just renewed our contract and he made it clear he didn't want a rental increase, just tenants he could trust who wanted to stay for a long time. He runs three restaurants in town and keeps asking us to go in for a free meal and some beer! He never comes round unexpected and in fact we hardly ever see him unlike the previous landlord who turned up every two or three days and walked in uninvited. You live and learn.


Hi Thrax, your landlord seems perfect !! we are moving to Malaga area from Lanzarote in a month or two and wondered could you ask your landlord if he has any other good properties as it would save us a lot of headaches. 
many thanks
Ken


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## spnoe (Mar 6, 2014)

*Non payment of rent and eviction under the new regulations in Spain*

Could any one advise. My Tenant (that is the person who had the Tenancy) decided to seperate from her partner and visited to give the keys back to us and as she owed rent she agreed to sign a letter, informing us that she left the house on a certain day and agrees on the rent owed. However, her partner is still in the property making excuses as to how long it will take him to find other accommodation. He is not in work and is not paying any rent.

What are his legal rights and what are mine under the new law in Soain.

Any help or advice most welcome.
Steve


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

spnoe said:


> Could any one advise. My Tenant (that is the person who had the Tenancy) decided to seperate from her partner and visited to give the keys back to us and as she owed rent she agreed to sign a letter, informing us that she left the house on a certain day and agrees on the rent owed. However, her partner is still in the property making excuses as to how long it will take him to find other accommodation. He is not in work and is not paying any rent.
> 
> What are his legal rights and what are mine under the new law in Soain.
> 
> ...


were/are they married?

if yes, he might have some rights - if not then I'm pretty sure he has none at all, if his name isn't on the contract

you really need to see a lawyer though


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## spnoe (Mar 6, 2014)

xabiachica said:


> were/are they married?
> 
> if yes, he might have some rights - if not then I'm pretty sure he has none at all, if his name isn't on the contract
> 
> you really need to see a lawyer though




Thank you for the prompt reply. No this couple were not married. 

I will take your advice and seek legal advice.


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## kimuyen (Aug 8, 2013)

Alcalaina said:


> Are any of you tenants worried about this? Or do you think the market is sufficiently depressed that they won't hike up your rents unfairly?


We are landlords in the US and where we are now, there is no restricted rate of rent or rent increase. We can set our rent but it does not mean that we want to "spike" it too high to then sit on the house for months without a taker. Even when I raise the rent, I check comparables first to see what would be "reasonable" so my good tenants would not move out. It is costly to move one renter out and find another good one. Any prudent landlord anywhere, including Spain, would do their homework. We will be renters in Spain when we move in July. We believe that the market will set the rent and the increase. Not the landlords. Of course, any landlords can set the rate and increase but there are consequences for being greedy.


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