Living on rent in Spain is synonymous with “severe poverty” and “financial stress.” This is what the report confirms Living on rent: insecurity guaranteed by lawpublished this Wednesday by the Barcelona Urban Research Institute (IDRA). The authors calculate that one in three households dedicates more than 50% of their income to pay the rent. The situation is more critical – if possible – in the large capitals: two-thirds of tenants have to reserve more than 60% of their payroll to pay the monthly payment; the percentage rises to 69.7% in Madrid and 64.8% in Barcelona. What are the causes of the “insecurity” that drags down the rental market in our country?
The lack of protection of tenants is nothing new, in fact, it began four decades ago with the Boyer Decreewhich eliminated by default open-ended contracts with regulated prices. The “old rent” rentals have been disappearing, until they remain somewhat residual: only one in ten tenants currently has a permanent contract and therefore “safe”. Jaime Palomera, IDRA researcher, exposes the consequences of this model: “Temporary contracts are normalizing the vital and residential insecurity of young and not so young people.”
He Boyer Decree and the legal arrangements of 1994 and 2013 promised to “invigorate” the market and increase supply. Lie. The number of rental homes fell continuously between 1960 and 2007, mainly due to the orientation of public policiesfocused on promoting the purchase and sale of real estate. The outbreak of the real estate bubble forced a change of trend. Rental housing has grown “remarkably” since the 2007 crisisgoing from representing 13.5% of the total fleet to representing 18.7% in 2023. All the laws approved in recent years have maintained temporality as a guiding principle.
The lack of protection of tenants has worsened in the last decade, not only due to the conversion of housing into a financial assetbut also by the legal framework that allows it. “The different governments of the last 40 years have opted for temporality and this means that people cannot build a life project; it makes it very difficult to build a home,” says Jaime Palomera. 47% of families do not know if they will lose their home in the next six monthsaccording to the latest IDRA report.
Germany, Austria, Denmark, France, Sweden either Netherlands They have shielded indefinite contracts and landlords can only terminate them for a justified cause, such as needing the home for residential purposes. Rents have risen across the continent, but Residential insecurity in Spanish homes is “much greater” than that of the rest of the European Union; In fact, it exceeds the community average by 18 points in the case of young households. Temporary contracts are only functional to satisfy the interests of three key subjects: landlords, agencies and real estate portals.
The battle for seasonal rentals
The Urban Leases Law (LAU) of 1994 established a minimum duration of five years for contracts, but Mariano Rajoy’s Government lowered the contractual limit to three years and the notice of termination up to 30 days, that is, one month. The popular They also eliminated basic rights of tenants, such as the preferential purchase of properties in the event of sale. The legislative reform of 2019 has attempted to correct this loss of rights, recovering the minimum terms of between five and seven yearsbut seasonal contracts and room rentals make it even more difficult to comply with a standard that social groups have always considered “insufficient.”
The data from the real estate portals reveal the tricks of the rentier class: Ads for homes for seasonal rental grew by 55% in a year to mid-2024, while residential rental listings fell by more than 15% in the same period. Half of the tenants in Madrid and Barcelona are in the room market, and nine out of ten live unprotected against invisible evictions and abusive price increases, despite paying their rent every month.
Families, drowned by rent
The 2023 Living Conditions Survey (ECV) shows that the average price of Rents have increased by 33.3% in the Community of Madrid and 30.3% in Catalonia in the last decade. The Bank of Spain reports increases of between 28.5% and 32.8% between 2015 and 2022 at the state level. He Barcelona Urban Research Institute He claims in his report that real estate portals push the market upwardswith offer prices 30.92% above actual rates. The increases not only affect new contracts, but also tenants who are forced – by their landlords – to renew their contracts, a practice that, according to experts, verges on legal fraud.
The growing economic “overexertion” of tenants leads them to vulnerability: 45% of people who rent are at risk of poverty severe. “The temporary nature leaves the door open to a series of constant and volatile increases. Households practically work to pay the rent, almost everything they earn ends up in the hands of their landlords, people who generally have much higher purchasing power and they usually have other properties,” highlights Jaime Palomera.
The report confirms that half of Spanish families allocate more than 40% from their income to pay the monthly payment and the expenses of the apartment – electricity, water, heating; a percentage that exceeds 50% in one in three homes. The lack of protection that perpetuate temporary contracts and abusive price increases translates, ultimately, into high residential insecurity: six out of ten tenants in Madrid and Barcelona have been in the same home for less than five years and three out of ten moves are forced.
The role of public administrations
The Spanish scenario has evolved towards a structure increasingly similar to that of other European countries, prioritizing rental as a modality, but with a big difference: public policies have not focused on the well-being of households. The IDRA report calls, in this sense, to link the financial situation of tenants to the regulation of rental prices, limit tourist rentals and bet on indefinite contracts to end temporality. “Spain has real estate insecurity that we do not see in the rest of Europe,” the organization states.
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