Spain’s tenants want empty homes for social rent

Empty homes from an owner’s third property onwards could become social rentals across Spain: tenants’ unions are calling for their temporary, compulsory use. The Confederation of Tenants’ Unions unveiled the proposal in Madrid, Spain, on Monday 9 November, two days before a general strike over housing and the cost of living. It is part of a reform plan called Casas para vivir.

Empty homes and holiday lets

The plan would bring vacant properties into public use regardless of who owns them. It would also ban holiday lets in municipalities where rents have surged and introduce taxes aimed at stopping owners from amassing homes.

The confederation wants a public stock of one million rental homes, funded by tax changes it says would raise about €20 billion a year. Rent in those homes would be capped at 20% of family income. For other tenants, it proposes contracts that renew automatically for periods of five to seven years, with rents capped at 25% of the median income in each neighbourhood.

A wider push for tenants’ rights

The unions also want a constitutional change giving the right to housing priority over freedom to conduct business when the two conflict. Their plan would let tenants negotiate collectively and withhold rent as a form of strike without facing eviction for doing so. It calls for a ban on evictions without suitable alternative housing.

These are proposals, not changes to the law. For now, the confederation is urging people to join the 11 November strike.

Topics: Housing

Source: Europa Press / Mallorca.com