More changes to the Spanish Tenancy Act- Here we go again….

 

As indicated in one of our recent posts, on the 18th December 2018 the Spanish Government´s Gazette published Royal Decree-Law 21/2018 which implemented some changes on the previous tenancy law which seemed to favour the tenant in some of its aspects and provided him with more protection against landlords. The said changes were implemented and applied from the 19th December 2018 onwards. Then, on the 22nd January 2019, in an unexpected turn of circumstances the Spanish Parliament revoked the said law and hence reverting the situation back to where it was on the 17th December. This means that the changes announced in our post of the 13th January 2019 have now been revoked and tenancy agreements will go back to their previous regulation. Furthermore, this change of heart from the Spanish Parliament has created a very strange situation whereby the tenancy agreements signed between the 18th December and the 22nd January will be regulated by the law amended by Royal Decree-Law 21/2018 and the rest of tenancy agreements will be regulated by the old tenancy Act, which is now back to normal with the same articles that were of application before the 18th December.

We take the opportunity to summarise some of the main points of the old tenancy Act, which are now of application again:

  • The minimum period of time goes back to 3 years.
  • The landlord who needs the property for himself or for close relatives will have to serve a notice of two months on the tenant.
  • If the landlord fails to serve termination notice to the tenant one month before the agreement´s expiry date, the agreement will be automatically renewed for another year.
  • The legal costs of the tenancy agreement and the estate agent´s fees will be borne by the tenant
  • The bond or deposit will continue to be 1 month for residential properties and 2 months for commercial properties. However, and as any person who has rented property in Spain in the past knows, many landlords request 2 or, sometimes, 3 months deposit.
  • For further information on Spanish Tenancy Agreements contact Antonio Guillen on antonio.guillen@gunnercooke.com or Claudia Font on claudia.font@gunnercooke.com

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