The housing decree is aimed at the 29 September Council of Ministers: anti-eviction shield, rent extension to 2028 and the Junts vote

25/09/2026 – ⏱ 5 min

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice or a recommendation of any kind.

The housing royal decree-law that the Government withdrew from the Council of Ministers' agenda in late July has a tentative date again. According to information published on 24 and 25 September 2026, the Executive is working to bring the text to the Council of Ministers on Tuesday 29 September, although none of the parties involved regards the date as settled. The change in timetable follows the eviction in Madrid of an 87-year-old woman who had lived for seven decades in a home under an old-style rent-controlled lease, a case that has reopened the political debate on protecting vulnerable households and revived a negotiation that had been stalled for weeks.

What is known about the timetable

The file has accumulated several failed attempts. On 28 April 2026, Congress refused to ratify Royal Decree-Law 8/2026, which included a 2% cap on rent updates and an extraordinary extension of contracts. The Government then prepared a broader text that it planned to approve on 28 July and withdrew a day earlier for lack of guaranteed support. The target is now 29 September. Two positions coexist within the Executive itself: Sumar wants the decree approved even if the votes are not assured, while the PSOE prefers first to close a deal that guarantees its ratification. A royal decree-law comes into force when published in the BOE, but lapses if Congress does not ratify it within thirty working days.

The new mechanism against evictions

What is new compared with the July draft is the weight given to protection against the eviction of vulnerable people. According to the information published, under the current procedure, when a judge orders the eviction of a vulnerable household, a four-month period opens for the competent authority, whether the autonomous community or the town council, to offer a housing alternative; if that period expires without a solution, the eviction is reactivated. The formula under negotiation would keep the eviction suspended from the fourth month until an alternative exists, but with the costs of the process borne by the authority and not by the owner. It is a middle ground between those demanding that evictions be suspended without a time limit and those warning of the risk of legal uncertainty for landlords.

The rent extension to June 2028

The second pillar is the extraordinary extension, at the tenant's request and on the same terms, of leases of main residences expiring in 2026, 2027 and the first half of 2028. In practice this means keeping the rent on those contracts frozen during the extension period. Estimates used during the legislative process put the potential reach of the measure at around one and a half million households. The draft also provides for bringing seasonal rentals and room rentals within the Urban Leases Act, with a minimum duration of five years for room contracts, seven when the owner is a legal entity, and price limits in areas declared tight markets.

Junts' conditions and the other open fronts

The Junts vote is decisive for ratification. The party has resumed contacts with the Government on the basis of the proposals it submitted at the beginning of September: tax incentives for owners to put homes up for rent, deductions for tenants and for mortgages, tax advantages for housing savings accounts, measures against illegal squatting and respect for regional powers. It also rejects decrees that bundle together heterogeneous subjects. At the other extreme, Podemos opposes tax advantages for landlords and the reform of the Land Act that the draft incorporated to attract Junts and the PNV. The PP and Vox have announced they will vote against. Each concession to one of the partners may open a front with another, which explains the caution over the date.

The tax block affecting invested capital

The drafts that have come to light also included measures with a direct effect on residential investment vehicles: a levy of between 15% and 25% on socimis, reducible if they allocate part of their portfolio to social rental; an increase in VAT on tourist-use housing from 10% to 21%; and a tenant's pre-emption right when the home they occupy is sold, including in bulk transactions. It is not confirmed which of these pieces will remain in the text that reaches the Council of Ministers, nor on what terms.

What is in force today

Until a new text is approved and ratified, there is no extraordinary extension of contracts, seasonal and room rentals remain outside the main-residence regime of the LAU, VAT on tourist housing stays at 10% and there is no specific levy on socimis. The rent limits in municipalities declared tight residential market zones under Law 12/2023 and the reference index for updating leases published by the INE do continue to apply.

Reading for the investor

The decree arrives at a specific moment in the market: average rent in Spain stood in August at 15.1 euros per square metre per month according to idealista, the 12-month Euribor is trading above 3.3% after the ECB's rate rise of 10 September, and the OECD has raised its inflation forecast for Spain in 2026 to 3.7%. In that context, an extension of contracts at a frozen rent reduces landlords' ability to pass inflation on to rents in the affected contracts, and a mechanism suspending evictions with costs assumed by the authority changes the allocation of default risk. For the investor analysing rental housing, the relevant variable is not just the market rent, but the regulatory framework that determines how much of that rent is enforceable and for how long. For new-build development for sale, the effect is more indirect and depends on whether the final text includes land measures or incentives for supply.

It should be remembered that this is a draft under negotiation, whose content may change until the last moment and which, even if approved, needs ratification by Congress to remain in force. All real-estate investment carries risks of illiquidity, default and total or partial loss of the capital, and regulatory changes are part of those risks. At European level, the activity of crowdfunding platforms is governed by Regulation (EU) 2020/1503 and, in Spain, by the implementing rules and supervision of the CNMV.

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