In Spain, the law governing rents definitively adopted

The text, presented by the executive as the "very first housing law" in Spain since the end of the Franco dictatorship in 1975, was adopted at the end of April by the deputies. He received the green light from the Senate on Wednesday with 134 votes in favor out of 252.

With this text, "housing will cease to be a luxury good to become a right", welcomed socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Twitter, welcoming a "historic day".

The Spanish government wanted a rapid adoption of this text, so that it can come into force before the elections of May 28, considered as a first electoral round before the legislative elections at the end of the year.

The law, which is part of the package of reforms promised to Brussels in exchange for funds from the post-Covid mega-recovery plan, should help people having difficulty finding housing, by limiting property speculation and developing supply in "tense" areas.

The result of long negotiations between the socialists and the radical left party Podemos, partners in the government, it plans to cap the rise in rents, usually indexed to inflation, at 3% in 2024 - a new rent review index to be created for 2025.

It also grants regional authorities the power to classify neighborhoods where particularly high prices force tenants to move into "tight areas", in order to control rents and develop the supply of housing there.

Finally, it penalizes landlords leaving several empty dwellings, extends the eviction freeze for vulnerable tenants and requires that people threatened with eviction be informed of the exact date and time when they must leave the premises.

This law has drawn strong criticism from homeowners' associations, who have said they fear a scarcity of housing supply. The text will be applied "to the last comma", however assured Ione Belarra, Minister of Social Rights and head of Podemos.

Rising rents are at the center of concerns in Spain, still traumatized by the housing crisis of 2008, which put thousands of families on the street unable to repay their loans.