The new housing law, agreed by EH Bildu and ERC with the Spanish government, sets rent ceilings

EH Bildu and ERC have reached an agreement with the Spanish government on a new housing law that considers setting rent ceilings for large and small homeowners.

In a joint press conference with Oskar Matute on behalf of EH Bildu and ERC’s Pilar Vallugera, they reported on the outcome of a “discreet” negotiation that has lasted more than a year with the Spanish government.

Matute stressed that it is an agreement by which the law “finally recognizes the right to housing”, which “improves living conditions”, which is why the 18 votes from EH Bildu and ERC in Congress they will allow it to be approved, which they hope will be approved in this legislature.

The deputies have clarified that the most important measures will affect the areas that communities or town halls declare as “stressed”. What conditions must an area (census district) meet to be declared stressed? That tenants spend more than 30% of their average income on rent or mortgage payments and base costs, or that prices have risen 3% above CPI over the past 5 years. Meeting one of the conditions is enough to indicate a stressed area.

At this point, Matute recalled that in the CAV, the average payment for housing reaches 30.26%, which means “The entire community can be declared a stressed area“However, he admitted that the declaration of the zones will always depend on the will of the communities or town halls, but emphasizes that there are already tools to limit prices.

All rentals in stressed areas are regulated and capped “in all cases”.. This will be effective for both large and small owners, as well as for real estate contracts already on the rental market and for new contracts.

The ceilings will be determined, depending on the type of contract and property, by the indexation of the previous rent in force for small owners and by the application of the price control index for large owners.

“Always below the CPI”

As a general measure, rents may not rise more than 2% in 2023 and 3% in 2024, and from 2025 the calculation will be based on an undetermined index, albeit “always below the CPI”.

In addition, the agreement includes changes to the definition of “big fork“, so that the Autonomous Communities, depending on their powers and taking into account their realities, can reduce this condition from the ten properties established by the government project to the five that will eventually be included in the law.

Thus, owners who own five or more properties in a stressed area will be considered as large owners and the specific measures and particulars for this type of owner will be applied, aiming to prevent speculation and the hoarding of properties from the “funds”. vulture” and other investment funds.

evictions

In terms of evictions, those without a predetermined date and time will be banned, a “historic demand of housing movements to end tenant uncertainty and defenselessness,” according to ERC and EH Bildu.

It also includes new extensions to the starting procedures, which will delay trials for more than two years, and establishes mandatory access to out-of-court settlement procedures for vulnerable persons.

In addition, the Autonomous Communities will be able to formulate their own mediation and housing mechanisms as they see fit, forcing the large owners who carry out their evictions to submit to them.

For the first time, the possibility of using funds from state housing plans to provide housing alternatives to people at risk of eviction through subsidized social rents, rehousing of people in vulnerable situations or any other similar policy will be recognized.

real estate costs

The agreement known today also provides for protection measures for tenants; Thus, the real estate costs and fees arising from the rental of a property will always be borne by the owner.

Likewise, it is prohibited to increase rental income through new expenses that would force tenants to pay community fees, waste fees, or other non-attributable costs not previously agreed upon.