2. What changes if you have an empty home and want to let it?

Anyone about to sign a new lease should bear in mind the rules the decree introduces in the LAU, a new tax incentive and the growing cost of keeping a home empty.

Choosing the right type of lease

Temporary lets now require a genuine, provable reason why the tenant is away from their main home. They must last more than 31 days and, as a general rule, no more than twelve months. If the twelve months are exceeded without justification, or more than two temporary leases are chained between the same parties for the same property, the first one is treated as a main-home lease, with its minimum term and extensions. Between successive temporary leases, the rent cannot rise by more than the reference index for updating housing leases (IRAV).

When letting by the room, the total of the rents cannot exceed the rent for the whole home, and in stressed areas the limits in article 17 LAU apply. In Catalonia, the regional rules on temporary and room lets also continue to apply, as the decree expressly preserves them.

What can and cannot be asked of the tenant

• Any guarantee on top of the deposit cannot exceed two months' rent (one for temporary lets).
• The tenant cannot be required to take out rent-default insurance.
• Estate agency and lease formalisation costs cannot be passed on to the tenant, nor can the taxes on the property, unless the tenant is the taxpayer.

What the listing must state

Every rental listing must show the reference price index, the rent of the last lease in the previous five years (if any), the applicable rent cap, whether the landlord is a large holder and, where it exists, the property's registration number or code. In Catalan municipalities declared stressed areas, leaving the maximum price or large-holder status out of the advertising was already an infringement under Decree-law 3/2026.

The incentive to let, and the cost of not doing so

For leases signed from 2 December 2026, a home let for the first time has its own reduction in personal income tax (IRPF) of between 50% and 100% of net income, which large holders cannot apply. Works to prepare the home can be taxed at 10% VAT. Keeping it empty, on the other hand, will cost more: deemed income from property under IRPF rises from 2027 and, in stressed areas, the property tax (IBI) surcharge on homes empty for more than two years will no longer be limited to owners of four or more (details in block 4). Remember that in Catalonia legal entities already pay the regional tax on empty homes.

For those who would rather sell, the capital gain obtained by an individual on transferring a home that has been unoccupied for the previous two years to a public housing body is exempt until 31 December 2027: fully up to a transfer value of €200,000, and on a decreasing scale up to €800,000.

3. What changes in evictions?

The decree distinguishes according to who brings the claim and the tenant's situation.

Suspension until 2030 for vulnerable households with no alternative housing

Until 31 December 2030, proceedings to recover a home from vulnerable people with no alternative housing can be suspended, under two different regimes:

• If the claimant is an entity that buys below value. When the claimant acquires properties or loan portfolios at a price clearly below their appraised value, the court suspends the proceedings by order, even if judgment has been given, as long as the eviction has not been carried out. There is no compensation.
• In all other cases. The suspension is reviewed every twelve months and lasts no more than three years. Only individuals and entities devoted to affordable or social rental are entitled to compensation: at most, the rent not received, unpaid utilities and legal costs, with no loss of profit or non-material damages. It is paid by the public authority responsible for housing, with interest if payment is late, and the tenant remains obliged to pay the rent.

The suspension does not apply if the owner's vulnerability prevails, or if the owner is an individual with two homes or fewer and the tenant's vulnerability is financial.

An extraordinary way to halt evictions for non-payment

When a tenant sued for non-payment is financially vulnerable, the public authority has a maximum, non-extendable period of two months to offer them suitable alternative housing or to pay or deposit the debt, the costs and the sums accrued. In the meantime, the proceedings are suspended. If it pays, the proceedings end and the lease continues. If it does neither, the authority is subrogated to the tenant's position as debtor, there is no eviction and the lease remains in force while the vulnerability persists. This mechanism (an extraordinary enervación) is separate from the ordinary one and is available even if the demand for payment has already been made, but it does not apply when the claimant is one of the entities that buy below value.

Mortgage enforcement and proceedings under way

In mortgage enforcement proceedings, the claim must state whether the property is the debtor's main home and whether the enforcing party is a large holder; if it is not, it must provide a certificate from the Land Registry. Large-holder status is generally proven by a Land Registry certificate.

The new rules also apply to proceedings already under way (eviction, occupation without title, protection of possession or of registered property rights) in which the eviction has not yet been carried out.

In our view, the automatic subrogation of the public authority leaves open questions that owners should watch: when and how it will pay, and what happens when the vulnerability ends. For anyone with proceedings under way, what matters is documenting their own position as claimant from the outset and planning for longer timescales.

4. What tax changes does it include?

Title II of the decree amends five taxes, with different effective dates.

Landlord's personal income tax

For leases signed from 2 December 2026, the reduction on net income from letting a home no longer starts from a general rate of 50% and instead depends mainly on how the rent compares with the previous lease:

• between 70% and 100%, if the rent falls by more than 5%;
• 50%, if it stays the same or falls by up to 5%;
• between 40% and 15%, if it rises, depending on the increase.

There are specific rates for a home let for the first time (50% to 100%, depending on the rent compared with the reference index, the area and the tenant's age), for a home ceded to a public authority or non-profit entity for social rental or a public programme (70%) and for a home refurbished in the previous two years (60%). If several apply, the highest is used. Large holders can only apply the 70% or 60% rates; otherwise, they get no reduction.

Leases signed up to 1 December 2026 keep the previous regime. In addition, during a tacit extension an 80% reduction is available if the rent does not exceed the reference index and the landlord is not a large holder.

Tenant's personal income tax

A new state deduction of 10% of the rent paid for the main home is created for taxable bases below €33,007.20. The maximum base is €11,630 a year up to a taxable base of €23,007.20 and decreases progressively above that. It cannot be claimed by anyone who has another home less than 50 kilometres away.

Deemed income and sales to public bodies

From 1 January 2027, deemed income from properties that are not let follows a progressive scale from 1.1% to 3% according to the taxpayer's total cadastral values. In 2026 the 1.1% rate continues to apply to properties in municipalities whose cadastral values have been revised since 2012. The exemption for sales to public bodies is explained in block 2.

VAT

From 1 December 2026, letting furnished flats or homes to the same tenant for up to thirty nights is no longer exempt and is taxed at 10%, unless it is the landlord's main home. The 10% rate is extended to renovation and repair works on homes intended for residential rental, and the 4% super-reduced rate to the delivery of protected housing with permanent status.

IBI (property tax)

From 2027, and provided the local tax bylaw so provides, councils will be able to apply a surcharge to the IBI of homes left empty for more than two years without justified cause. In stressed areas, the surcharge of up to 50% applies to any owner and rises to 100% for owners of four or more; outside them, it only affects owners of four or more homes. In both cases it can increase after three years of vacancy.

In stressed areas, properties used for tourist accommodation may bear a surcharge of up to 50% of the tax due, rising to 100% if the owner has two or more and to 150% if they have four or more.

SOCIMI and municipal capital gains tax

Listed real estate investment companies (SOCIMI, the Spanish REITs) will bear, for financial years starting in 2026, a special levy of 25% (compared with the general 15%) on undistributed profits from residential letting. It is halved if more than 80% of the portfolio is used for affordable rental, with lower transitional rates for 2026 and 2027, and disappears if, in addition, the profit is reinvested in affordable rental within three years.

For the tax on the increase in value of urban land (IIVTNU), known as plusvalía municipal, new maximum coefficients are set for the objective calculation method, applicable from 1 December 2026.

5. What else does the decree include?

The rest of the decree focuses mainly on housing supply, although some measures affect investors and families.

• Limit on certain purchases until 2030. Entities that buy homes or non-performing loan portfolios below market value, large holders that are legal entities and the entities in their group cannot acquire homes free of charge or for less than 70% of their market value, as set by an independent appraisal. There are exceptions, such as use for affordable or social rental for at least seven years.
• Public housing stock. Properties owned by the State and by the Social Security system can be contributed to Casa 47, the state housing company. The sale price of public housing is also capped on subsequent transfers.
• Affordable housing. This is housing whose price or rent, including expenses, does not exceed 30% of the median household income in the municipality.
• Financing supply. A €400 million Social Impact Housing Fund, guarantees from the Official Credit Institute (ICO) of up to €2,000 million for developers of social or affordable rental housing and a further €280 million for SMEs in industrialised construction.
• TU CASA programme. Interest-free loans to buy a first main home with a mortgage: up to 20% of its value, capped at €50,000, repayable over ten years. The home is then subject to a maximum sale price and, if let, to a rent cap.
• Cuenta de Ahorro e Inversión Financia Europa. A tax-deferred savings product, with an option to reinvest the gain from selling homes. Its launch depends on a ministerial order.