Renting in Spain as a foreigner: tenant rights under Law 12/2023

In short: as a tenant in Spain, your rights under the Tenancy Act (LAU, Law 29/1994) and the Housing Rights Act (Law 12/2023) apply regardless of your nationality or immigration status; the tenancy contract and its protections (deposit, extensions, eviction safeguards) apply equally to all.

Royal Decree-laws 26/2026 and 27/2026 provided for changes to extensions, rent, temporary lets and evictions, but Congress repealed them on 2 October 2026 (BOE-A-2026-20526 and BOE-A-2026-20527); they do not apply. If you signed or requested something relying on them between 1 and 2 October, check it with a professional.

In person or by representative? Not applicable as a procedure. Signing a rental contract is a private transaction between landlord and tenant.

Rights not dependent on your immigration status:

Law 12/2023 (art. 6) recognises that «all persons have the right to use and enjoy decent and adequate housing», meeting the legal and contractual requirements. The LAU contains no requirements of nationality or legal residence to sign a residential tenancy.

Length and extensions (arts. 9, 10 and 11 LAU):

• The length is freely agreed. If it is under 5 years (7 if the landlord is a legal entity), at expiry the contract is extended year by year until it reaches that minimum, unless you give at least 30 days' notice (art. 9.1).
• Exception: if the landlord is an individual and stated in the contract that they would need the home for themselves or first-degree relatives within 5 years, there is no mandatory extension after the first year. They must give you 2 months' notice and, if they do not occupy the home within 3 months, you can choose between returning to it or compensation (art. 9.3).
• Once the minimum is reached, if neither party gives notice (the landlord 4 months ahead, you 2 months ahead), the contract is extended year by year for up to 3 more years. You can decline to renew by giving 1 month's notice before the end of each year (art. 10.1).
• Extraordinary extension at your request, when the mandatory or tacit extension ends (art. 10.2): up to 1 year if you prove social and economic vulnerability with a social services report from the last year. The landlord must accept it if it is a gran tenedor, unless a new contract was signed.
• Extraordinary extension in a tensioned zone (art. 10.3): up to 3 years in yearly periods, also at your request. The landlord must accept it unless other terms were agreed, a new contract was signed within the rent limits of art. 17.6 and 17.7, or a need for the home was notified under art. 9.3.
• You can leave the contract after 6 months by giving 30 days' notice. The contract may provide compensation of 1 month's rent for each year left to run (art. 11).

Temporary (seasonal) rentals: lets by season (summer or any other) count as rentals for a use other than housing (art. 3.2): what the contract says governs (art. 4.3), without the minimum term or the extension of a main-home rental. What matters is the main purpose of the property (arts. 2.1 and 3.1).

Legal deposit (art. 36 LAU): A cash deposit is mandatory and equals:

• 1 month's rent for main-home tenancies
• 2 months for non-residential use (commercial, offices)

An additional guarantee on top of the cash deposit can be agreed. For housing contracts of up to 5 years (7 if the landlord is a legal entity) it cannot exceed 2 months' rent (art. 36.5 LAU). The landlord also cannot require more than 1 month's rent in advance (art. 17.2). Each region may require the landlord to lodge the deposit with its regional body (additional provision 3); ask whether yours does.

Return of deposit: if it is not returned within 1 month of handing back the keys, the outstanding amount earns legal interest (art. 36.4 LAU).

Costs and agencies (art. 20 LAU): property management and contract formalisation costs are borne by the landlord. The building's general costs (community charges, services, taxes that cannot be split per unit) are at your cost only if agreed in writing and the agreement states their annual amount at the contract date. Consumption measured by individual meters is always yours (art. 20.3).

Rent updates (art. 18 LAU and additional provision 11): Rent may only be updated once per year, on the contract anniversary and as agreed. Without an express agreement it is not updated. If the agreement names no index, the yearly change in the IGC (Competitiveness Guarantee Index) applies, and in no case can the rise exceed the change in the CPI (IPC) (art. 18.1). The updated rent is due from the month after written notice stating the percentage applied (art. 18.2).

Additional provision 11 of the LAU provides that the INE defines a reference index for the annual update (known as the IRAV, Reference Index for the Annual Update of Housing Rental Contracts) as a reference limit for art. 18, but the current art. 18.1 does not name it. If you are notified of a rise, check which index your contract sets and ask a professional which one applies to your case. Contracts signed before Law 12/2023 (May 2023) remain governed by the legal regime that applied to them (transitional provision 4 of Law 12/2023); if that is your case, ask a professional.

Repairs (art. 21 LAU): the landlord carries out, without raising the rent, the repairs needed to keep the home habitable, unless the damage is attributable to the tenant. You must tell the landlord as soon as possible. If it is urgent to avoid imminent damage or serious inconvenience, you can do it after informing the landlord and demand the cost immediately (art. 21.3). Small repairs from ordinary wear are at your cost (art. 21.4).

Sale of the home (art. 25 LAU): you have a right of first refusal (tanteo, buying before anyone else) for 30 calendar days from when you are formally notified of the decision to sell, the price and the terms. If you are not properly notified, or the real price was lower, you can exercise the buy-back right (retracto, buying after the sale) within 30 calendar days. There is no tanteo or retracto if the home is sold together with the landlord's other homes and premises in the same building. The parties may agree that you waive this right; the landlord must then tell you at least 30 days before the sale is signed.

Written contract (art. 37 LAU): either party can require the contract to be put in writing.

Tensioned residential market zones (art. 18 Law 12/2023): Declared by the competent housing authority when there is a special risk of too little affordable housing. A declaration lasts 3 years and can be extended each year. In a tensioned zone:

• For a new contract, the starting rent cannot exceed the last rent charged for that home in the past 5 years (with the annual update already applied), nor pass on to you fees or costs that were not in the previous contract (art. 17.6 LAU). The only exception is an increase of up to 10% over that last rent, on top of the annual update. It is allowed when the home had renovation or accessibility works finished in the previous 2 years, an improvement saving 30% of non-renewable primary energy (shown by energy certificates), or the contract runs for 10 years or more (or gives you an optional right to extend for 10 years or more).
• If the landlord is a gran tenedor, the starting rent of a new contract cannot exceed the maximum under the reference price index system (art. 17.7 LAU). This applies only once that system is approved for the area of your home (transitional provision 7 LAU). The same cap applies, whether or not the landlord is a gran tenedor, to a home with no lease in the previous 5 years, if the housing ministry's resolution on that zone says so.
• To check whether your municipality or neighbourhood is a declared tensioned zone, see your region's housing portal.

Large landlord / gran tenedor (art. 3.k Law 12/2023): A person or company owning more than 10 urban residential properties (or over 1,500 m² of residential floor area, excluding garages and storage rooms) qualifies as gran tenedor. In tensioned zones, the region may lower the threshold to 5 or more properties in that zone, if it justifies this in the declaration report.

Your landlord being a gran tenedor does not change your obligations as a tenant; it does trigger limits on their side in tensioned zones and information they must give in an eviction case (see below).

(Note 2026-08-04: the large-landlord information obligation under art. 16 of Law 12/2023 was declared unconstitutional and void by the Constitutional Court in STC 79/2024, confirmed by loss of object in STC 53/2026, BOE-A-2026-16928, and is no longer enforceable.)

Eviction protection (Final Provision 5 Law 12/2023, amending the Civil Procedure Act, LEC):

• A claim to recover possession of a home must state whether it is the occupant's main home and whether the claimant is a gran tenedor. If it says it is not, it must attach a Land Registry certificate (art. 439.6 LEC).
• The occupant is told that they can go to the housing and social assistance authorities, and the court notifies those authorities of the case so they can check the vulnerability (art. 441.5 LEC).
• The court decides by order whether to suspend the case so the authorities can act, for a maximum of 2 months if the claimant is an individual, or 4 months if it is a legal entity (art. 441.6 LEC).
• To assess economic vulnerability, the court may consider that rent plus utilities exceed 30% of the household's income and that this income is below 3 times the monthly IPREM, with increases for dependent children, people over 65 or disability (art. 441.7 LEC).

Steps if you face an eviction:

1. At the first court notice, check whether you meet vulnerability criteria (income, family situation).
2. If so, tell the court and your town's social services.
3. Ask for legal advice (bar associations offer duty lawyers and free guidance; Consejo General de la Abogacía Española).

Informational only; check the official source and a professional for your specific case.

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