Spain housing decrees: Podemos wants both withdrawn

Tax breaks for 1.6 million tenants hang on Spain’s housing vote: Podemos wants the government to withdraw both housing decrees before Friday’s decision. In Madrid, Spain, on Wednesday, 30 September, party leader Ione Belarra challenges the government’s decision to split its measures in two. The Spanish Congress is due to vote on the decrees on Friday.

One decree would automatically renew rental contracts and make them open-ended. The other contains measures to stop evictions and prevent funds described as “vulture funds” from buying homes. Belarra wants a single decree and calls for the government to go further, including by expropriating homes held by those funds.

First deputy prime minister and economy minister Carlos Cuerpo urges Podemos to back the measures. He says that if they fail, there will be no social protection for vulnerable people through 2030, no controls on seasonal or room rentals, and no tax breaks for 1.6 million tenants. He says a tenant paying around €970 a month could deduct up to 10% of their rent — about €1,163 a year.

Cuerpo also presses the conservative People’s Party to say how it will vote. Its MPs do not reveal their position, leaving the outcome open ahead of Friday’s vote.

Topics: Housing · Agriculture · Politics

Source: Europa Press / Mallorca.com