Spanish Property News

Great news for landlords in Spain! Ana Pastor, Minister of Fomento (Ministry of development in Spain) has published new laws for long-term rentals. Non-paying tenants are required to provide a valid excuse for non-payment of rent. If a valid argument is not provided and payment is still not made within 10 days, the court will rule the immediate eviction of the non-paying tenant. 

 This is a slight amendment to what was announced back in October regarding the non payment of rental and was not entirely clear as to when the courts would announce an eviction date. Now it appears to be much clearer. "Immediate court eviction", being the most important factor.

If any of our readers has to evict a tenant since the passing of this new law please tell us how you have got on with the whole process. It would be great to know that the amendments made in the eviction process on paper are actually reflected in reality too. It is a no brainer though, less paperwork and court hours for the judges and less headaches for the landlords.... 

Other changes were also made with regards to the duration of long-term rental agreements. Before, a standard rental agreement was required, offering a 12 month long term tenancy that could be forcefully renewed by a tenant for the maximum period of 5 years. 

The new law now states that the maximum renewal period is for as much as 3 years and in the event that it is absolutely necessary, a landlord can express his/her will to rescind their agreement by simply offering 60 days notice. This can only happen however, when it is for personal or direct family reasons and means that as a result the property that is being rented is needed to provide a home for those family members.

This is not actually a new law that has been passed and has in fact always been the case, however the government has reminded property owners of the measures that can be taken in unforeseeable circumstances.

It is recommended however that if you have a respectful and good long-term tenant in your property, that a suitable and flexible agreement, with a longer notice period, be negotiated when unforeseen circumstances arise. 

This new legislation has been passed in an aim to boost the long-term rental market in Spain and hopefully fill the thousands of empty properties that have been purchased for “investment purposes”.

The new plan also tips the balance in the favour of landlords so that long-term rentals from hell are hopefully going to be a thing of the past. 

Fomento have also announced that they will be working on a new database to register and store the names of bad paying tenants that have been evicted or reported by landlords making it easier for estate agencies to check the track record of all potential long-term rental candidates. I suppose it is will be similar to ASNEF that is currently used to register bad debtors in Spain. 

As a final and useful tip it should also be drafted into your long term agreement that in the event of an unforeseen incident, that the tenant has the obligation to communicate it to the landlord immediately and in the meantime payment of the rent should continue unless agreed otherwise between the two parties.

This way if a tenant tries to make excuses and deliberately find problems in the property in order to refuse payment, the landlord can still force the tenant to continue paying the rent whilst a solution is being found in an agreed and respectful timescale. A tenant dies not have the right to cease payment as a result of a problem that has occurred in the property unless the landlord has agreed otherwise. 

Communication of the new laws should also be notified to existing tenants that are renting your property by means of a "burofax con acuse de recibo", * Recorded letter with a notification to the sender that the letter has been received.

Do you rent a property in Spain? What do you think of the new legislation?