Renting in Spain

Renting a property is quite straight forward, like your homeland, you can rent long or short term, furnished or unfurnished.

To rent Long Term, there will be a deposit of one months rent and one month’s rent to pay in advance.An inventory is prepared in order to state what the property contains, all the contents.

Do not get talked into renting a property from ‘the man in the pub’, as has been known and give over deposit, as that will be the last you will see your money, most likely!! Go to a reputable agent or look in the classified ads.

If you find a property yourself, arrange a Holding account for the Deposit, as some Owners will find any excuse to hold on to your money. Normally if the tenant or the Owner wishes to terminate the contract at the end of the rental Period, one months notice is normally expected and should be given.

Find out if all services are included in your agreement, many owners do include bills, except telephone. First and foremost when renting do read your rental agreement and do not sign unless completely satisfied as it’s not easy to get out a tenant especially if Spanish as they know the law.

This is a rough guide to renting and cannot be used in any way for ‘true’ guidance; always if in doubt use the services of a good lawyer.

There is what is known as ‘The Law of Urban Rentals’ this is for private property – there are two types of rental contracts one being ‘Seasonal Tourist Rental Contract’ and Contract for a Dwelling Home’ If you are taking out a long term rental Contract for a Dwelling Home known in Spanish as ‘Destinado Vivienda Habitual’ the law actually protects the tenant and his/her family if you have signed and taken out this contract, the owner is obliged to extend the rental of the property for five years within this law the owner has the right to increase his rent yearly as per the IPC, which is inline with the rate of inflation in Spain.

If you are taking out a rental for holiday/tourist ‘Seasonal Tourist Rental Contract known in Spain as ‘Contrado de Arrendamiento Turisco por Temporada’ This is what it says, tourist and the owner does not have any obligation to extend the contract/tenancy this can be valid long term but less than one year – so even though this can be a long term rental you need to be aware of the different contracts, so do make sure as if any ‘mistakes’ as by defect the law will be in favour of the tenant being classed under ‘Contract for a Dwelling Home’ as the rights are for tenant and family.

If you overstay your agreement under the ‘Seasonal Tourist Rental Contact’ or if you are an owner and have a tenant overstaying their agreement then there are procedures that you have to adhere to. The tenant will receive a letter from a lawyer via certified post with acknowledgement of receipt ‘Certificado con Acuse de Recibo’ requesting that the tenant vacates the property forthwith. The tenant may refuse to leave you will then have to obtain an order for conviction which you will need to go through a tribunal for the order ‘order de lanzamiento’ again seek a good lawyer!

What if a tenant refuses to pay rent?  The owner can demand payment for non payment of rent – if payment is still not forthcoming then it will be a matter of going through the court for the outstanding monies and to evict the tenant, you must of course have evidence of non payment. If payment of rent is paid into an account of the courts and action has been started once the money is in the account, the court can stop eviction. If a tenant decides not to pay his rent again and court action is started then the tenant decides to pay again his rent into account, this will not be allowed.