Rental decree Spain 2026 repealed: the 2-year extension and rent cap no longer apply

Update 03.10.2026: on 2 October Congress repealed the 2026 rental decree, that is, Royal Decree-law 26/2026 and 27/2026 (BOE-A-2026-20526, BOE-A-2026-20527). The measures in this article do not apply. The agreement is explained in the news article on the repeal.

Royal Decree-law 26/2026, published in the BOE on 30 September, provided for an extraordinary extension of contracts, a cap on rent rises and new rules for temporary and room rentals. It entered into force on 1 October and Congress repealed it on the 2nd.

What changes for you today

Nothing the decree provided for applies. Renting is governed again by the LAU and Law 12/2023 without the September changes, as our guide to tenant rights for foreigners explains. If you signed or requested something relying on the decree between 1 and 2 October, check it with a professional. The articles we reviewed contained no nationality or legal-residence requirement.

What happened

The Government approved Royal Decree-law 26/2026 on 29 September, its urgent housing package: it protected the residential use of homes and aimed to expand affordable supply. A royal decree-law is a rule with the force of law that the Government passes by urgency, without going through Parliament first. It applies from the day it enters into force, but Congress must vote on it within 30 days of its promulgation and can validate (confirm) or repeal it (Article 86 of the Constitution).

The BOE published it on 30 September and, under its eleventh final provision, it entered into force the next day, 1 October. On 2 October Congress agreed to repeal it and the BOE published the agreement that day (BOE-A-2026-20526). The BOE text is a single sentence and does not say what happens to what was done between 1 and 2 October. In the LAU, the BOE now marks the decree's amendments as without effect.

Royal Decree-law 27/2026 (BOE-A-2026-20385), published on 1 October, provided for rewriting Article 10.1 of the LAU: extensions of 5 years (7 if the landlord is a legal entity), the landlord's notice 6 months ahead, and compensation to the tenant if it did not extend, with exceptions. Congress repealed it too (BOE-A-2026-20527) and Article 10.1 goes back to its earlier wording.

Royal Decree-law 26/2026 was broad: 20 articles in six titles, with measures on taxes, public housing, home purchases by entities and savings accounts. This article covers only what affected people who rent. On rentals, it amended the Urban Leases Act (LAU), Housing Law 12/2023 and the Civil Procedure Act (LEC), and added a suspension of evictions (Article 2) and two final provisions on extensions and rent.

How it works now

After the repeal, under the LAU, Law 12/2023 and our guide:

• Extension: a main-home contract lasts at least 5 years, or 7 if the landlord is a legal entity. If you agree less, it is extended year by 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 (Articles 9 and 10).
• Rent rises: once a year, on the contract anniversary and if you agreed it. Without an express agreement there is no rise. If the agreement names no index, the IGC (Competitiveness Guarantee Index) applies, and the rise cannot exceed the change in the CPI (IPC) (Article 18.1). The eleventh additional provision provides for an INE reference index, known as the IRAV (Reference Index for the Annual Update of Housing Rental Contracts), as a reference limit for that article, but the current Article 18.1 does not name it.
• Guarantees and costs: the deposit is 1 month's rent. An extra guarantee is voluntary and capped at 2 months' rent in contracts of up to 5 years (7 if the landlord is a legal entity). The agency and contract-signing costs fall on the landlord (Article 20.1).
• Repairs: the landlord carries out those needed to keep the home habitable, without raising the rent for them (Article 21).
• Sale of the home (Article 25): the tenant has a right of first refusal (tanteo): buying before anyone else, within 30 calendar days of being notified of the sale. The tenant also has a right to buy after the sale (retracto), within 30 calendar days, if the notice was not properly given. There is no tanteo or retracto if the home is sold together with the landlord's other homes and premises in the same building, and the parties may agree a waiver, with 30 days' prior notice.
• Tensioned zones and large landlords: a tensioned zone is one that the competent housing authority declares because affordable housing is short. For a new contract there, the starting rent cannot exceed the last rent of the previous 5 years on that home. In addition, a large landlord (gran tenedor: more than 10 residential properties, or 5 or more in the zone if the region sets it) must keep to the reference price index, once it is approved for that zone.
• Temporary rentals (alquiler de temporada): they count as rentals for a use other than housing. What the contract says governs, without the minimum term or the extension of a main-home rental (Articles 3.2 and 4.3).
• Eviction of a vulnerable person: if you prove economic vulnerability, the court can suspend the case for up to 2 months if the claimant is an individual, or up to 4 months if it is a legal entity (Article 441.6 of the LEC).

What would change under the repealed decree

These measures were in the repealed decree and none of them applies.

All tenants

• Extraordinary extension (final provision five, repealed): it provided that the tenant could ask for up to 2 more years, in yearly periods and on the same terms. It covered main-home contracts in force on 1 October whose mandatory extension (Article 9.1) or tacit extension ended before 31 December 2028. It required the rent to be up to date and to have been so every month for the previous 8 months.
• Exceptions to that extension: the landlord had to accept it, unless other terms were agreed, a new contract was signed (including one with rent at least 5% lower) or the landlord notified in time that they needed the home for themselves or relatives.
• Rent rises (Article 18.1 and final provision six, repealed): it provided for the IRAV as the default index and as the cap on the annual rise. In addition, for updates between 1 October 2026 and 31 December 2027, without an agreement between the parties the rise could not exceed 2%, and if the rent already exceeded the maximum of the reference price indices there was no rise.
• Guarantees and costs (Articles 20, 36 and 37): it provided for banning a requirement to take rent-default insurance and capping the extra guarantee at 1 month's rent in temporary rentals. Property-management and contract-signing costs could not be charged to the tenant, directly or indirectly. Neither could property taxes, unless the tenant was the taxpayer, or community costs in buildings without a homeowners' community. It also provided for a document on the condition of the home at the end of the contract and making a written contract mandatory if the tenant asked; today either party can already require it (Article 37).
• Leaving the contract (Article 11.3): it provided that the landlord would have no right to compensation when the tenant gave up the contract.
• Repairs (Article 21.5): it provided for a written procedure with a quote, a 15-calendar-day period for the landlord and the option to do the works and deduct them from the rent.
• Sale of the home (Article 25): it provided that, if the home was sold together with other assets, the notice had to state the price assigned to it, and it banned agreeing a waiver of tanteo and retracto.
• Tensioned zones and large landlords (Articles 17.6 and 17.7 of the LAU and 3.k of Law 12/2023): it provided for rewriting these paragraphs and for counting each home in a building as a separate property even without a registered horizontal-property division. The earlier rules remain in force.

Temporary rentals and rooms

• Definition and length (Articles 2, 5, 7, 9 bis and 11 of the LAU): it provided that renting a room counted as a housing rental and that a temporary rental required a justified, provable reason in writing; without it, it would be treated as a main-home contract. It had to last more than 31 days and, as a general rule, no more than 12 months.
• Repairs and rent (Articles 17.8, 17.9 and 21 bis): it provided that the landlord answer a breakdown within 5 working days, that the rent of successive temporary contracts not rise each year by more than the IRAV and that, in room rentals, the sum of the rents not exceed that of the whole home.
• Temporary contracts already signed (eighth transitional provision): it provided that those signed before 1 October stay as rentals for a use other than housing until the agreed term ended.

Evictions

• Buyer entities (Article 2.1): it provided, until 31 December 2030, for suspending the case if the tenant was vulnerable and had no housing alternative. It applied when the claimant was an entity that buys properties or unpaid loan portfolios far below their appraisal value.
• Other claimants (Article 2.2): it provided that the court ask the administration for a report and suspend the case until a suitable alternative existed, with a review every 12 months, a maximum of 3 years and compensation to the claimant.
• Payment by the administration (Article 5): it provided that, in an eviction for non-payment of a vulnerable tenant, the administration had 2 months to offer an alternative or pay the debt. This would also have reached cases already under way (second transitional provision).

What happens next

1. The decree is repealed: there is no pending vote on it.
2. The agreement published in the BOE does not say what happens to what was signed or requested between 1 and 2 October. If that is your case, check it with a professional.
3. No new rule on these measures has been published, and no dates are known.

What you can do

• Check what type of contract you have (main home or temporary), when it ends and what notice periods the LAU sets in Articles 9 and 10.
• If you are offered a rent rise, check that your contract provides for an update, on what date and with which index (Article 18 of the LAU).
• If you are charged agency or contract-signing fees, remember that Article 20.1 of the LAU puts them on the landlord.
• If you signed or requested something relying on the decree between 1 and 2 October, check it with a professional and keep a copy of what you sent.
• If you face an eviction, ask social services (usually your town hall's) for the vulnerability report and look for free legal advice (duty lawyer scheme, Consejo General de la Abogacía Española). The basic steps are in our guide to tenant rights for foreigners.
• Check your region's housing portal to see whether your area is a declared tensioned zone.

Official sources: repeal of Royal Decree-law 26/2026 (BOE-A-2026-20526) and of Royal Decree-law 27/2026 (BOE-A-2026-20527); original text: Royal Decree-law 26/2026 of 29 September (BOE-A-2026-20266).

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

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