Spain’s eviction proposals face test over landlords and housing supply
The coalition wants to extend rental contracts and halt evictions until 2030, but parliamentary support is uncertain and critics say the plans leave longer-term housing needs unresolved.
Spain’s coalition government has proposed two decrees to extend rental contracts and halt evictions until 2030, after the eviction of 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal prompted protests. Parliament is due to vote on the measures on Friday, but the minority government faces an uncertain path to approval.
The proposals would also broaden rules on “vulture funds” to cover funds or companies the government says buy housing for speculation. Housing Minister Isabel Rodriguez Garcia cited the firm that owns Abascal’s apartment as an example of a company that could fall within the expanded definition.
The proposals have exposed divisions over how to regulate landlords. Junts, whose support is needed for passage, says it wants safeguards for small landlords and has not agreed to all the measures. Its parliamentary spokesperson, Miriam Nogueras, said the proposals risk treating people who invested savings in property like large institutional investors. The conservative People’s Party says it will oppose the legislation.
Abascal was evicted from her rent-capped Madrid home on 23 September. Her lawyer, Beatriz Duro, said the property owner had offered a preliminary agreement for her to return at a rent of about €500 a month. The terms and completion of that agreement remain unclear.
Housing costs are a central pressure behind the debate: in 2024, 28.1 per cent of market-rate renters spent more than 40 per cent of disposable income on housing. Marta Soler Gallart, a University of Barcelona sociologist, told Al Jazeera the decrees do not address medium- and long-term needs, including the provision of public social housing.
