The Spanish government’s planned new housing legislation, which includes several measures to favour tenants’ rights over landlords’, faces a rocky path to parliamentary approval in September despite the country’s worsening housing crisis.
While some of the government’s housing laws have been somewhat successful, others have not. They’ve included everything from introducing rent caps and identifying stressed rental zones to giving landlords tax incentives to drop their rents and putting limits on temporary rentals.
Ultimately, however, the housing crisis is still going on, rents are increasing, particularly in the big cities, and people are still unable to find affordable accommodation.
This September, the Spanish cabinet is aiming to pass another set of 11 housing measures aimed at protecting tenants.
While some of the plans are new, others expand on what has already been passed and others try to reintroduce rules which were previously voted down by other parties.
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In order for these new new rules to come into force, the legislation needs to gain majority approval and pass through parliament. Unfortunately for Pedro Sánchez’s leftist government, some points are still facing major criticism from certain parties (including political allies), particularly the points that were rejected before, such as the extension of rental contracts.
Already, the Socialist-led government has had to postpone the vote until September “to reach an agreement with parliamentary groups,” after it was determined that the draft lacked the necessary support for it be approved in July before the parliamentary break.
Ernest Urtasun, spokesperson junior coalition partner Sumar, explained: “It’s true that the parliamentary groups have asked us for a little more time to reach a broad agreement”.
“I want to demand that we move as quickly as possible, because there are many families waiting for their rent extensions to be approved,” he added.
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Currently the government is facing criticism of its new housing policies from Catalan nationalists Junts per Catalunya, hard-left Podemos and the main opposition party, the PP. In fact, the conservative Partido Popular has already said that they will not give the new bill their support unless it’s changed.
Junts per Catalunya also warned it would vote against a new bill if it continued to include measures that “perpetuate squatting and fail to protect either tenants or small landlords”.
They are likely referring to the fact that one of these 11 points covers suspending evictions until alternative housing becomes available.
This has been generating the most criticism because it is an amendment to the Civil Procedure Law. The new legislation states that when a tenant stops paying rent because they’re in vulnerable situation and can’t afford it, they can’t be evicted until they have alternative housing. As a result, judges will suspend legal proceedings until an alternative exists.
This allegedly perpetuates the issue of what’s known as inquiokupación, people who were once legal tenants who then stop paying the rent and essentially become squatters.
Many landlords feel that the more protection given to the tenants, the more protection is being taken away from them, forcing some to leave their properties empty or put them on the market as temporary rentals instead of risking the normal rental avenues.
Spokesperson for Junts in Congress Miriam Nogueras also published a statement on the social network X criticising measures such as the rental price caps, since she believes that “it may seem like a quick solution, but it doesn’t build a single new apartment”.
Podemos also reiterated that they will not change their vote against the land law reform if it remains in the new decree. The party’s spokesperson, Pablo Fernández also criticised the government stating that it intends to “approve an urban development amnesty for major land speculators”.
The PP meanwhile says that this decree is full of “misguided policies” and is also unlikely to give their support.
The PSOE have managed to pass several new housing measures during their time, including the main Ley de Vivienda passed in May 2023.
They also, however, have some failed housing laws which have been rejected and have faced a lot of backlash.
In May 2024, the government tried to reform the land law in order to streamline urban planning regulation, but ultimately it was voted down by the PP, Sumar, and others.
The PSOE has also repeatedly tried to introduce eviction moratoriums for vulnerable families, but these largely failed too due to disagreements with Sumar as well as criticism from Junts and Podemos.
Then came the rental extension decree, which was initially approved and came into force in March of this year, however, it was rejected in parliament at the end of April.
Whether this will pass or not remains to be seen, but it’s looking unlikely unless they make major amendments to gain the support of more parties.
Pedro Sánchez’s mandate has been characterised by the small number of laws actually passed due to his weak parliamentary support, which has meant he’s had to rely on decrees (passing more than any other PM in Spanish history – 168) or ‘slipping in’ measures to wide-ranging omnibus legislation covering not just housing.
This was how he managed to finally axe Spain’s golden visa scheme, for example, after months of parliamentary stagnation.
In Spain, a law (ley) is created by the parliament (Cortes Generales) while a standard decree (real decreto) is an administrative rule issued by the Spanish government to execute that legislation without the need for parliamentary approval or amendments.
Could Pedro Sánchez pull it off again despite the odds being stacked against him?
