The Spain rent decree 2026 is gone, and with it the extraordinary extension of rental contracts: Congress repealed Royal Decree-law 26/2026 and Royal Decree-law 27/2026 on 2 October. Their changes to the rental law and to income tax lose effect, including the 10% state deduction for rent. The rules from before the decrees apply again.
What changes for you today
Unless you signed or requested something relying on the decrees (see "What you can do"), your rental contract and your taxes follow the rules from before. If you are a tenant, they are in our guide to tenant rights for foreigners. If you rent out your home to someone else, they are in the guide to taxes on renting out a flat. Our two earlier articles on the rental decree and the rent deduction in the IRPF describe measures that no longer apply.
What happened
The Government approved the two decrees on 29 September. A royal decree-law is a rule with the force of law that the Government passes by urgency, without going through Parliament first. Congress must vote on it within the following 30 days and can validate (confirm) or repeal it (Article 86 of the Constitution).
Royal Decree-law 26/2026 (housing and tax measures) was published in the BOE on 30 September and came into force on 1 October. Royal Decree-law 27/2026 (stability of rental contracts) was published on 1 October and came into force on 2 October.
On 2 October Congress agreed to repeal both, under Article 86.2 of the Constitution. BOE number 245 of that day published the resolutions: BOE-A-2026-20526 for 26/2026 and BOE-A-2026-20527 for 27/2026. Each states the agreement in one sentence; the list of rules whose changes lose effect is in the BOE's analysis. They do not say what happens to anything signed or requested in those days.
How it works now
These rules of the Urban Leases Act (LAU) apply without the decrees' changes. We checked them in the consolidated text of the LAU as of 3 October 2026.
- Term and extension (Articles 9.1 and 10.1): a main-home contract lasts at least 5 years, or 7 if the landlord is a legal entity. If a shorter term is agreed, it renews each year until it reaches that minimum, unless the tenant gives 30 days' notice. After that it renews each year for up to 3 more years, unless the landlord gives 4 months' notice or the tenant gives 2 months' notice.
- Other extraordinary extensions (Articles 10.2 and 10.3): they were already in the LAU and are not the decrees' ones. At the tenant's request: up to 1 year if vulnerability is shown, and the landlord must accept it if it is a gran tenedor (large landlord, an owner of many homes). Also up to 3 years in a tensioned zone (one declared by the regional government), with exceptions. They apply to contracts signed from 26 May 2023; earlier ones keep their own rules unless both parties agree to adapt them (transitional provision 4 of Law 12/2023).
- Rent rises (Article 18.1): the rent is updated only on the contract anniversary and as agreed. Without an express agreement there is no update. If the agreement does not say which index to use, the Competitiveness Guarantee Index (IGC) applies, and in any case the rise cannot exceed the change in the CPI (IPC). Additional provision 11 of the LAU also provides for an INE reference index (known as the IRAV) as a limit for Article 18. Article 18.1 does not name it: check which index your contract sets and, if in doubt, ask a professional.
- Taxes: the resolutions remove the effect of what the decrees changed in the IRPF, VAT and other rules (the full list is in the analysis of BOE-A-2026-20526). The text that applied before is back.
What changes
With the repeal, these measures from the decrees stop applying, and the rules in "How it works now" and in our guides come back:
- Extensions: the extraordinary extension of up to 2 years in Royal Decree-law 26/2026 and the one in 27/2026, in periods of 5 years with 6 months' notice from the landlord and compensation if it does not extend (with exceptions).
- Rent rises: the cap on rises set by 26/2026.
- Temporary and room rentals: the new rules of 26/2026, including Articles 9 bis and 21 bis that it added to the LAU.
- Rent deduction in the IRPF: the 10% state deduction (paragraph 6 of Article 68 of the IRPF law).
- Landlords who rent out: the changes to the tax reductions in Article 23 of the IRPF, with a new scale for contracts signed from 1 December 2026.
- Imputed rental income: the change to Article 85 of the IRPF planned from 2027.
- Sale of a home to a public social or affordable housing body: the exemption in additional provision 65 of the IRPF.
- VAT: the 4% rate for protected housing from 1 December 2026.
What happens next
- Neither the resolutions nor the BOE say whether a new text on these measures will follow. We do not know whether the Government will present a bill, and there are no dates.
- The consolidated text of each law (the law with all its changes up to date) can take a few days to update. As of 3 October, the LAU text already marks the decrees' changes as without effect. Those of the IRPF law, its regulation, VAT and the housing law still showed the decrees' changes without marking them as without effect: do not take that wording as in force. The AEAT (Tax Agency) note of 30 September on the tax measures did not mention the repeal either.
- If a new text appears, we will update this article.
What you can do
- If you signed, requested or paid something relying on either decree on 1 or 2 October (for example an extension, a rent rise or a temporary contract), talk to a professional. The resolution of Congress does not say what happens to those acts.
- If you rent a home as a tenant, see the guide to tenant rights for foreigners.
- If you rent out your home to someone else, see the guide to taxes on renting out a flat. If you own a home in Spain, see taxes for owning a home (IBI and imputed rental income). If you sell it, see taxes on selling a home.
- For your annual return as a resident: income tax return for resident foreigners.
- If a website, video or chat presents the 10% deduction or the 2-year extension as in force, check its date: the decrees were repealed on 2 October.
Official source: BOE-A-2026-20526 (repeal of Royal Decree-law 26/2026) · BOE-A-2026-20527 (repeal of Royal Decree-law 27/2026).
Informational only; check the official source and a professional for your specific case.
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