introduction: Rental Agreements

Find out which one is best for you.

If you are considering renting out your home, the three most frequent rental agreements are: for (primary) residence; for usage other than a dwelling (seasonal); and tourism.

While the first kind is distinguished by serving the tenant’s needs indefinitely, in terms of the house being their primary dwelling over time,

Seasonal rentals are not intended to be the tenant’s permanent home, but rather to provide temporary lodging (for job, study, or leisure/tourism reasons).

The tourist rental agreement is the third sort of rental agreements. It varies from the previous ones in that it is not subject to the Law on Urban Rentals (LAU). This means that the law does not control this sort of rental, and each autonomous community must do so while adhering to the norms in sectoral legislation.

To be deemed a tourist rental, however, it must relate to the fully equipped house to be utilized immediately, via marketing and frequent promotion in tourism channels.

These factors distinguish this kind of rental from seasonal rentals, which are not offered as tourist apartments or with immediacy or regularity.

Furthermore, if sectoral regulations require it, such as in the Autonomous Community of Valencia, you must first apply for a favorable urban compatibility certificate from your Town Hall in order to gain access to the register of tourist apartments at the Territorial Service of Tourism, where you will be issued a license number, which must be included in any property advertisement.

Contracts for long-term and seasonal use must contain required minimum conditions, such as the demand for a deposit, which for the use of a (main) dwelling will be a payment of one month, and for those intended for use other than that of residence (seasonal) will be a payment of two months.

Concerning the deposit for the use of the primary house (long term), you should be aware that the landlord/owner is required to declare the rental agreements and keep safe the deposit, which the renter may claim back at the conclusion of the contract.

Finally, there have lately been regulatory changes as a result of a change in the LAU, meaning that the new long-term leases are more appealing to renters.

Long-term rentals

Regarding long-term rental agreements, people who sign with the intention of making the property their primary home should be aware that, as of the enactment of this new decree, rental contracts, although being established yearly, will have the following legal assurance in favor of the tenant:

For new contracts signed now: although being agreed for a term of one year, the tenant’s simple presence in the property will be seen as desiring to stay for another year, and so on up to a length of five years.

If the property is held by a company, the same thing will happen, but only for 7 years.

Once these terms have expired, if the landlord does not provide advance notification of at least 30 days, there will be a tacit contract renewal, which means an extension for another three years.

As a result, the contract may be continued tacitly, annually, as long as the homeowner provides no notice of termination.

The only possibility to refuse the mandatory extension of 5/7 years at first, and the following 3 years of tacit renewal, is if the owner needs the property for the use of his or her family in the first degree of kinship after the first year of the rental agreement. This must be notified in writing to the renter.

Tourist facilities

With respect to tourist lodgings, they must be sold via tourism channels exclusively, and with the necessary description according to the current tourism legislation applicable. In addition, it contains an upgrade to the horizontal property regime that permits the owners’ communities to restrict or condition the exercise of this activity.

Procedures for eviction

Finally, a new mechanism is included with the eviction proceedings, which means that when vulnerable families are impacted, the process is halted until the remedies considered suitable by social services are implemented.