Spain's five-year rent extension faces Friday vote

Five more years on a rental contract in Spain: a new government decree sets out automatic extensions, but a vote in Madrid, Spain, on Friday could bring the rule down almost immediately. The decree appeared in Spain’s Official State Gazette on Thursday, 1 October 2026. PP, Vox and Junts have said they will vote against it.

What the decree would change

When a rental contract ends, it would roll on in successive five-year periods unless the tenant or landlord has given notice properly and on time. If the landlord is a company or another legal entity, each extension would last seven years.

A landlord who validly declines to renew would generally have to pay the tenant at least twelve months’ rent for a comparable home. The payment could not be less than one month’s rent for each year the tenant has lived there. Exceptions include a planned sale, the landlord needing the home for themselves or certain relatives, and the two sides signing a new contract. No payment would be due if the tenant rejects a qualifying offer of a new contract.

Friday’s vote puts it at risk

Spain’s Congress is due to vote at 11am on Friday. The government has chosen not to use the full 30 days available for a vote on the decree. With PP, Vox and Junts opposed, the new rule could be repealed almost as soon as it takes effect.

The decree also provides extensions of up to one year in cases of social and economic hardship, and up to three years in areas with strained housing markets. For existing residential leases, the new rules would apply to contracts or extensions that expire after the decree takes effect. Leases already being extended under the previous rules would stay under them until that period ends.

Topics: Housing · Politics · Economy

Source: Europa Press / Mallorca.com