Renting a home in Spain: tenant rights and contract terms

Which law applies to your lease

The LAU covers a home let as a place to live. Holiday lets marketed through tourist channels are excluded (article 5.e), as are some special cases such as tied staff housing and university housing (article 5). Everything below concerns a normal residential lease. Regions do not write their own tenancy contract law, but they run deposit offices, declare stressed housing market areas and manage rent aid, which are covered in separate guides.

Minimum duration and the first extensions

Under article 9.1 the duration is freely agreed. If it is less than 5 years (7 if the landlord is a legal person), then on each expiry the contract is extended compulsorily by one-year periods until it reaches 5 (or 7) years. Only the tenant can stop this, by telling the landlord at least 30 days before the end of the contract or of any extension that they do not wish to renew. A lease with no stated term, or an indefinite one, is treated as a one-year lease with the same right of annual extension (article 9.2).

The landlord’s room to end the lease early is narrow. After the first year, and only if the contract stated at signing that the landlord might need the home within five years, an individual landlord may recover it as a permanent home for themselves, first-degree relatives or an ex-spouse under a final court judgment, giving two months’ written notice (article 9.3). If the person does not move in within three months, the tenant may choose to be restored for up to five years or to receive compensation of one month’s rent per year left to reach five years.

What happens after five (or seven) years

This is where the rules are in motion.

• Until 14 November 2026. Article 10.1 as consolidated provides that, unless the landlord gave at least 4 months’ notice or the tenant at least 2 months’ notice not to renew, the lease continues year by year for up to three more years.
• From 15 November 2026. Real Decreto-ley (RDL) 28/2026 of 6 October 2026, published in the BOE on 7 October 2026, replaces that mechanism with a landlord notice of 6 months, tacit extension in successive periods of 5 years (7 if the landlord is a company), and compensation owed by a landlord who refuses to extend, equal to the greater of 12 months’ rent calculated on the upper value of the state reference range or one month per year the tenant has lived there. It lists exceptions, for example where an individual landlord needs the home for themselves or relatives up to the second degree.

Both decree-laws are in the BOE, but a decree-law needs the Congress to validate it, and the BOE consolidated text on 15 October 2026 shows no validation. Earlier decree-laws on the same subject (RDL 26/2026 and RDL 27/2026) were repealed by the Congress on 2 October 2026, so treat any of these rules as in force but provisional, subject to validation by the Congress.

Extraordinary extensions

Besides the ordinary mechanism, the LAU contains three exceptional extensions, all on the tenant’s request:

1. Vulnerable tenant (article 10.2). Up to one year, supported by a social services report issued in the last year. It must be accepted by a large holder (gran tenedor, someone with more than 10 urban residential properties or more than 1,500 m²).
2. Stressed area (article 10.3). Where the home is in a declared stressed housing market area and the declaration is in force, annual extensions of up to three years, which the landlord must accept unless a listed exception applies. See the guide on stressed housing market areas.
3. Temporary measure (RDL 29/2026, final provision 5; in force since 8 October 2026, subject to validation by the Cortes). For leases in force on 8 October 2026 whose compulsory period ends before 31 December 2028, a tenant who is up to date with rent and has been for the previous eight months may request annual extensions up to two more years, on the same terms. It does not apply if the parties agree a new contract with rent at least 5% lower, and it yields to the stressed-area extension.

Ending the lease yourself

After six months the tenant may leave by giving at least 30 days’ notice, with no compensation owed to the landlord (article 11.1). The article states that withdrawal exercised this way “no generará derecho de indemnización” in the landlord’s favour. For a temporary lease the tenant may leave after one month with ten days’ notice (article 11.2). A spouse or stable partner living with the tenant may continue the lease if the tenant leaves (article 12).

Temporary leases are narrower since October 2026

RDL 29/2026 added article 9 bis: a temporary-housing lease must state the real reason for the temporary stay, last more than 31 days and, as a rule, no more than 12 months. If it exceeds 12 months without justification, or more than two successive temporary contracts are signed between the same parties for the same home, the first is treated as a normal residential lease with the 5/7-year rules. The same decree-law is in force since 8 October 2026 and carries the same validation caveat. A “seasonal” label does not remove your protection if no real reason is written in the contract.

If the landlord sells

The buyer takes over the landlord’s position during the first five years (seven if the previous landlord was a company), even if the buyer is protected by the Mortgage Law (article 14). You also have a right of first refusal: after a formal notice of the sale decision, price and conditions you have 30 calendar days to buy on the same terms, and a right of redemption if you were not notified correctly (article 25).

Repairs

The landlord must carry out repairs needed to keep the home habitable, without raising the rent, unless you caused the damage; small repairs from ordinary wear are yours (article 21). Under article 21.5 you may serve a written request with a reasonable quote; the landlord has 15 calendar days to accept, propose an alternative or do the work, after which you may do it and deduct the cost from future rent.

Which professional to consult

A lawyer registered with a Spanish bar association (colegio de abogados) can read your contract against the current text of the LAU. For a dispute over the deposit, rent or repairs, consumer offices of your region and the courts are the routes; Payotte does not list lawyers. See also property lawyer.