THE LAW FOR THE RIGHT TO HOUSING ENTERS INTO FORCE.
On May 25, the Law for the right to housing was published in the BOE, which came into force the following day, May 26.
The aforementioned law, which entered into force two days before the municipal elections, has -among others- the following objectives:
− Establish a basic regulation of the rights and duties of citizens in relation to housing, as well as those associated with home ownership.
− Facilitate access to decent and adequate housing for people who have difficulties accessing housing under market conditions, paying special attention to young people and vulnerable groups.
− Provide effective instruments to ensure the functionality, safety, universal accessibility and habitability of homes.
− Define the fundamental aspects of state planning and programming in the field of housing, in order to favor the exercise of constitutional law throughout the territory.
− Regulate the basic legal regime of public housing parks, ensuring their development, protection and efficiency to serve those sectors of the population with greater access difficulties.
One of the most outstanding aspects of this Law, directly related to the rental of flats and homes, is that the autonomous communities that so wish may initiate the procedure for the declaration of price-stressed areas, although a state index must be set up to rent control of flats and houses. Following the results of the regional elections on May 28, several regional presidents have publicly stated that they will not initiate these procedures as they disagree with the content of said measure. For this reason, said measure (one of the most outstanding of the Law) will foreseeably have to wait months to become a reality. In order for said measure to be applied, a territorial government must agree with the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda, which coordinates housing policies at the state level, the establishment of a stressed area; In this, limits may be established on the monthly rental income. But it will be done only on the new flat rental contracts and not on the contracts that are already in force. In addition, to set the price ceilings for renting flats for large holders (those with more than 10 flats or homes, or more than 5 if they are all within the stressed area and the autonomous community justifies the need to lower the general limit ) it will be necessary to have a rental price index that is a reference. The Ministry of Transport is reforming the one it already has because it does not respond to the needs imposed by the new standard. For small owners, who are the majority of landlords in the Spanish apartment and home rental market, prices will be limited based on the previous contract. These may also have new tax incentives, although these are the only part of the law that will not come into force until January 1, 2024. Finally, it is worth highlighting the ceilings on renewals of rental contracts for flats and homes. The Law provides that the rental income may not increase more than 2% during the year 2023 and may not increase more than 3% during the year 2024.