LegislationES

Ley 12/2023 de 24 de mayo

Spain's 2023 Housing Rights Law (Ley por el Derecho a la Vivienda), enacted 24 May 2023, establishing tenant protection, rent-control areas, and the legal basis for subsequent rental decrees.

Last refreshed: 2 July 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic

Key Question

Will Spain's July housing decree finally close the seasonal-rental loophole?

Timeline for Ley 12/2023 de 24 de mayo

#9 28 Jun

Spain moves to close the temporada gap

Nomads & Communities

#2 28 Apr

Spain's Congress sinks the rent-freeze extension

Nomads & Communities

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Background

Ley 12/2023 de 24 de mayo (the Ley de Derecho a la Vivienda, Spain's national Housing Act) is the statutory basis for the seasonal-rental royal decree-law that government spokesperson Elma Saiz confirmed on 29 June 2026 the Coalition would bring to approval in July, regulating temporada and room lettings with a forced-extension prorroga, IRPF rebates and a VAT rise on tourist flats from 10% to 21%. INE's tourist-housing inventory rebounded 3.4% to 341,001 units in May, the backdrop against which the decree was announced.

The law establishes housing as a constitutional right and requires each autonomous community (CCAA) to declare a stressed rental zone (zona de mercado residencial tensionado) before its Article 17 rent-cap mechanism applies there. PP-governed regions, including Madrid, Andalusia and Murcia, have declared none, and an attempt to extend the law's emergency rent-freeze provisions was voted down in Congress on 28 April 2026 after PP, Vox and Junts opposed it, exposing the Coalition's lack of a majority to use the law's most contested tool.

The law's implementing regulations sit alongside a wider deregulation trend: the Tribunal Supremo's STS 620/2026 voided the national short-term-rental registration number created under a separate 2024 decree on competence grounds , handing regulatory authority back to the CCAA. The 2026 Plan Estatal de Vivienda draws its supply-side mandate directly from this law, pairing rent-side tools with EUR 7,000 million in construction funding.

Common Questions

What does Spain's Housing Act say about rent caps?

Article 17 allows CCAA to cap rents at IPCA or a special index in declared stressed rental zones; PP-governed regions including Madrid have not declared such zones, leaving residents outside the cap.Source: BOE / Ley 12/2023

Why did Spain's rent freeze fail in Congress in April 2026?

The progressive Coalition lacked a majority to extend emergency rent caps; Junts and other regional parties withdrew support, reflecting the fragmentation of Sanchez's parliamentary base.Source: El Pais

What does Spain's Housing Law do about seasonal rentals?

It is the legal basis for a royal decree-law the government previewed for July 2026, which would regulate temporada and room lettings with a forced-extension prorroga, IRPF rebates, and a VAT rise on tourist flats from 10% to 21%.Source: nomads-and-communities/9

Is Spain raising VAT on tourist flats in 2026?

Yes. The seasonal-rental royal decree-law previewed for July 2026 would raise VAT on tourist flats from 10% to 21%, alongside IRPF rebates for landlords who switch to long-term contracts.Source: nomads-and-communities/9

Did Spain's top court strike down the national short-term-rental registry?

Yes. The Tribunal Supremo's STS 620/2026 voided the mandatory national registration number for short-term rentals on constitutional competence grounds, returning regulatory authority to the seventeen autonomous communities.Source: nomads-and-communities/7

How the World Sees Them

Vox

Opposed the law entirely; views it as a violation of property rights and an instrument of socialist economic intervention.

PSOE-Sumar

The law is the legislative foundation for all progressive housing policy; losing the rent-freeze extension vote does not repeal it but reveals the government's minority parliament problem.

Tenants' rights groups

The law created the legal architecture for rent controls but the stressed-zone opt-out by PP regions means millions of tenants in the highest-pressure markets cannot access it.

PP and PP-governed CCAA

Argues the law unconstitutionally centralises a regional competence; Madrid, Andalusia and Murcia have refused to declare stressed zones, neutering the rent-cap mechanism in their territories.