The Government and ERC and Bildu reached an agreement on April 14 to implement the new Housing Law, which highlights the issue of rent. The Executive has also incorporated into the agreement a series of measures that apply to both tenants and owners with the aim of guaranteeing that access to housing is carried out in affordable conditions. At Finques Ollé we tell you about the implications of this new standard.
A significant change is included in the discussion of the bill on the form of rent payment.
The Law establishes that the lessee must pay the rent “through electronic means”. Although exceptionally, it is possible, if one of the parties does not have a bank account or access to electronic means of payment and at their request, it can be done in cash and in the rented home.
The tenant will not make a monthly payment to the agency: The fact that the new law obliges rental property owners to cover the costs of real estate agencies is another novel aspect of the new legislation.
The current law establishes that when the lessor is a legal person, such as a company, he is responsible for paying the expenses of real estate management and formalization of the contract. However, the private owners are not mentioned.
When the landlord contracts with the agency, the tenant will no longer be responsible for paying the agency’s fees under the new rule. The tenant can pay a monthly fee, a monthly rent plus VAT for the real estate agency, as well as a monthly fee as a deposit to access the rental property, thanks to this additional payment, which has been common until now.
Rent Caps Will Be Included: Rent caps will be part of the housing law. For 2023 and 2025, it would remain at 2% and 3%, respectively.
Large holders (those with more than 5 homes) are required by law to reduce rents based on the deprived area real estate benchmark.
Areas in which one of the two conditions is met:.
• In the last five years, rents have risen three points more than inflation.
• They do so in such a way that it accounts for more than 30% of the average annual rent of the tenants.
It is the Autonomous Communities that have the authority in matters of housing, so these areas must be established by them.
When a smallholder contract is signed or renewed, the new rent may not exceed the upper limit established by the previous contract. It would initially take effect 18 months after final approval, but the rule will take 6 months to take effect before the year-end general elections.
