On 30 September 2026 the BOE published Royal Decree-Law 26/2026: twenty articles, eleven final provisions and over ninety pages that amend, at once, the Urban Leases Act, the Civil Procedure Act, personal income tax, VAT, property tax (IBI) and the SOCIMI regime. This guide explains, with the official text in hand, what each block says and who it affects.
Royal Decree-Law 26/2026 of 29 September, adopting urgent measures to protect the social function of housing and expand affordable housing supply, was published in BOE no. 241 on 30 September 2026. Under its eleventh final provision it enters into force the day after publication (1 October 2026), except for the specific exceptions it sets out. As a decree-law it applies immediately, but Congress must ratify it within thirty days (article 86 of the Constitution) and may process it as a bill, so its content may change.
The Government approved a second decree on lease stability the same day. It was not part of the 30 September publication and is not analysed here.
1. Speculative purchases of housing (article 1)
Until 31 December 2028, any entity, with or without legal personality, whose corporate purpose includes acquiring real estate is restricted from acquiring a home, free of charge or for consideration, at a price below 70% of its appraised market value. It covers used homes and homes in new buildings on residential land that already have a completion certificate.
1.1. Exceptions
The restriction does not apply when the purchase is for affordable or social main-residence housing for at least five years, residences for people needing social-health care, residences for vulnerable groups run by third-sector entities, or the protection of victims of gender violence. Nor does it apply where the corporate buyer proves adherence to a Code of Good Practice agreed with the competent housing authority (deemed met by public social and affordable housing bodies).
1.2. Deals already signed and enforcement sales
It does not apply to transfers already recorded in a public deed when the decree enters into force, even if not yet registered, and those deeds cannot later be amended or extended by addendum. It also excludes acquisitions arising from court enforcement or mortgage foreclosure.
2. Evictions and vulnerability (articles 2 and 5, transitional provision 2)
The decree regulates three different situations, which should not be confused.
2.1. Claimant that buys at a price clearly below appraisal (article 2.1)
Until 31 December 2030, where the claimant is an entity engaged in acquiring real estate or portfolios of unpaid mortgage loans at a price clearly below appraised value, in order to evade the social function of housing or maximise returns (through disproportionate rents, resale or non-residential use), and the defendant is vulnerable with no housing alternative, the court suspends the proceedings by order. Vulnerability is proved by a social services report or the criteria of article 441.7 of the Civil Procedure Act. It also applies after judgment or an eviction order, provided the eviction has not yet been carried out. Public bodies and public social and affordable housing companies are excluded.
2.2. Other claimants (article 2.2)
Until 31 December 2030, and only where the extraordinary “enervation” of article 5.Two does not apply, if the defendant is vulnerable, has no alternative and the authorities have not offered a decent one, the court requests a report from the competent administration on available resources. If there is no reply or no resources, it suspends the case until measures are adopted and adequate housing is guaranteed.
Rules of the regime:
- The suspension is reviewed every twelve months. It is lifted if the vulnerability ends, an adequate alternative is offered, the defendant refuses it without justification, or three years have passed.
- The housing administration bears compensation for the claimant if an individual, or a legal entity dedicated to affordable or social main-residence letting: at most the contractual rent not received plus unpaid utilities. Hypothetical lost profit and moral damages are not compensable. Late payment accrues interest.
- Suspension or compensation does not remove the duty to keep up with the rent.
- Suspension does not apply where the court finds that the claimant’s economic or housing vulnerability should prevail, unless the claimant is a legal entity or a large holder. And the defendant’s vulnerability does not prevail where the claimant is an individual owning two or fewer homes.
2.3. Extraordinary enervation in non-payment evictions (article 5.Two)
Article 5 adds a paragraph 6 to article 22 of the Civil Procedure Act. In evictions for non-payment, if the tenant’s economic vulnerability is proved and the administration offers no adequate housing alternative, it must halt the claim by paying or depositing everything claimed and accrued to date. The administration has a maximum, non-extendable period of two months from notification, during which the case and the eviction are suspended. If it pays in time, the claim is declared halted and the lease continues. If two months pass with no alternative and no payment, the administration is automatically subrogated as debtor in the tenant’s place, there is no eviction and the lease continues until it expires while the vulnerability persists.
This is independent from ordinary enervation, does not count as a prior enervation, and can occur even if the landlord has served a formal demand for payment. The State compensates the regions for the cost, except late-payment interest. In the Basque Country and Navarre, financing will be agreed bilaterally.
2.4. Foreclosures and ongoing proceedings
Mortgage foreclosure claims (article 685.2 of the Civil Procedure Act) must state whether the property is the debtor’s main home and whether the claimant is a large holder. If the claimant says it is not, it must attach a Land Registry certificate listing its homes. Transitional provision 2 applies these regimes to ongoing enforcement without a completed eviction; the debtor may request their application even if the step was previously resolved, and the court clerk provisionally suspends the eviction until the court rules.
3. Reform of the Urban Leases Act (article 3)
3.1. Main-residence lets, temporary lets and rooms
New article 2 expressly includes the partial letting of a room, both as main-residence and as temporary lets. A temporary residential lease covers the housing need of someone temporarily displaced from their usual home for a justified, provable reason. Article 3 excludes contracts for the lodging or accommodation of people from the “other than housing” category. Article 5 exclusions are adjusted: tourist lets under sector rules may never exceed thirty-one days, and non-profit third-sector room lets in reception programmes are excluded.
3.2. Seasonal (temporary) lets
- Cause: the contract must expressly state the reason for the tenant’s temporary displacement, which must be real and provable. The landlord bears the burden of proof. Without it, the contract loses its temporary nature and is governed by main-residence rules with retroactive effect (new article 7.2).
- Term: more than thirty-one days and, as a general rule, no more than twelve months, extendable by express agreement while the cause lasts (new article 9 bis).
- Reclassification: if it exceeds twelve months without justification, or more than two consecutive temporary leases are renewed or succeed one another between the same parties on the same home, the first is treated as a main-residence lease, with the minimum term and extensions of articles 9 and 10.
- Rent: in successive temporary leases on the same home, later rents cannot rise by more than the current IRAV annually (article 17.8).
- Termination by tenant: a temporary tenant may withdraw after one month on ten days’ notice (article 11.2). A main-residence tenant, after six months on thirty days’ notice.
- Maintenance: the landlord must keep the home habitable and reply to repair notices within five working days, after which the tenant may repair and deduct the cost (article 21 bis).
- Existing contracts: seasonal contracts signed before entry into force remain “other than housing” until their agreed term ends and then expire without extension. If renewed, they fall under the new rules (transitional provision 8).
3.3. Rent: what the decree limits
- Annual update (article 18.1): only on the contract anniversary and as agreed. Without an express clause there is no update. If an update is agreed without an index, the IRAV applies, and in any case the increase cannot exceed the IRAV change.
- Stressed areas (article 17.6): a new contract’s rent cannot exceed the last rent of the past five years for that home, after applying its update, nor shift new charges to the tenant. A maximum 10% increase is allowed if there was renovation in the previous two years, energy improvements saving 30% of non-renewable primary energy, accessibility improvements, or a lease of ten or more years (or a voluntary tenant extension of ten or more).
- Large holders in stressed areas (article 17.7): the initial rent cannot exceed the reference price index limit. The same applies to homes with no lease in the past five years if the zone’s declaration says so.
- Rooms (article 17.9): the sum of rents of simultaneous partial contracts cannot exceed the rent of a single lease of the whole home. In stressed areas, paragraphs 6, 7 and 8 also apply.
3.4. Charges, repairs and guarantees
- General expenses (article 20): may be passed to the tenant in writing with the annual amount at the contract date. Never property taxes, unless the tenant is the taxpayer. In buildings without horizontal property, community charges cannot be passed on. In horizontal property, only the share matching the unit.
- Agency and formalisation fees: cannot be passed on to the tenant, directly or indirectly, under any name. Non-essential services may be charged only if the tenant requests them in writing after being told they are optional and their cost.
- Repairs (article 21.5): the tenant may request repairs in writing with a reasonable quote. The landlord has fifteen calendar days to accept, propose an alternative or carry them out. If there is no reply or an unjustified refusal, the tenant may do the works and deduct the cost from future rent, provided it is reasonable and documented.
- Additional guarantee (article 36): landlords cannot require rent-default insurance. The guarantee beyond the deposit cannot exceed two months’ rent for leases up to five years (seven if the landlord is a legal entity) and one month for temporary lets.
- End of lease: the parties must sign a document recording the state of the home. If not signed, or if it shows no damage, the home is presumed delivered in good condition.
- Written contract (article 37): mandatory at the tenant’s request, although a missing writing does not affect the oral contract’s validity.
3.5. Pre-emption rights (article 25)
The tenant has a thirty-calendar-day right of first refusal from formal notice of the decision to sell, the price and conditions. If the home is sold together with other properties or assets, the notice must state the price allocated and objective criteria, and the right survives if the home is legally separable. Price allocations meant to obstruct the right are ineffective against the tenant. Housing legislation may grant a subsidiary pre-emption right over the whole building to a body designated by the administration. The right cannot be waived.
3.6. Short-term rental platforms
The new Title V regulates sanctions for online platforms that breach data obligations under the Single Digital Rental Window and Regulation (EU) 2024/1028: a fine of one million euros for very serious breaches (up to 2% of global annual turnover), five hundred thousand for serious ones (up to 1%) and one hundred thousand for minor ones.
3.7. Regional law
Additional provision 12 clarifies that the rules on temporary lets and rooms are without prejudice to regional regulations issued under their competences, including foral or special civil law.
4. Extraordinary extension and rent updates through 2027
4.1. Extraordinary extension (final provision 5)
For main-residence leases in force whose mandatory extension ends before 31 December 2028, or whose tacit extension or tacit renewal ends, a tenant who is up to date with rent, and has been monthly for the previous eight months, may request an extraordinary extension in annual periods up to two additional years, on the same terms. The landlord must accept unless the parties set other terms, a new contract was signed, or the landlord has notified in time a real, proven need to occupy the home for themselves or family. It is incompatible with the extension of article 10.3 LAU, which takes precedence. It does not apply where the parties agree to renew or sign a new contract at a rent at least 5% lower.
Extensions requested under Royal Decree-Law 8/2026 are deemed validly made without new notice, and any later request is governed by this decree (transitional provision 1).
4.2. Extraordinary limit on updates (final provision 6)
For leases whose anniversary falls between entry into force and 31 December 2027, the tenant may negotiate the update on these terms: if the rent exceeds the maximum under the reference price index system, no increase applies; otherwise the increase is whatever is agreed and, absent agreement, cannot exceed 2%.
5. Act 12/2023: the large holder (article 4)
Status is proved by Land Registry certificate. The threshold stays at more than ten urban residential properties or more than 1,500 m² of residential use, excluding garages and storerooms, and may drop to five properties in stressed areas with regional justification. Where a registered property comprises a building with several residential units, each counts as one property even without registered horizontal division. Contracts predating Act 12/2023 can also access the article 10 LAU extensions and are subject to the update cap.
6. Taxation (articles 6 to 10)
6.1. Personal income tax for landlords: reduction of rental income
From entry into force, net positive rental income from main-residence lets is reduced, for non-large-holder landlords:
- New contract by the same landlord with a rent cut over 5%: 100% (same tenant after the minimum term, or another tenant with rent below the index), 95% (stressed area and tenant aged 18 to 35), 90% (stressed area), 85% (tenant aged 18 to 35) or 70% otherwise.
- New contract without a rent rise: 50%. With a rise: 40% down to 15% depending on the percentage (up to 5%, 10%, 15%, 20% or more).
- Home let for the first time: 100%, 95%, 90%, 85% or 50%, by reference rent, area and age.
- Lets to public bodies or non-profits for social letting: 70%. Home renovated in the previous two years: 60%.
- Tacit extension with rent within the reference limit and non-large-holder landlord: 80%.
The highest reduction applies if several fit. It does not apply to undeclared income or improper deductions regularised in an audit, nor to contracts breaching article 17.6 LAU. Transitional provision 38 covers contracts predating Act 12/2023 and those signed up to 1 December 2026.
6.2. Personal income tax for tenants: new deduction
Taxpayers with a tax base below €33,007.20 may deduct 10% of rent paid on their main residence. The maximum base is €11,630 if the tax base does not exceed €23,007.20, tapering between that figure and €33,007.20 (€11,630 minus 1.163 times the difference). It requires that for at least half the tax period neither the taxpayer nor their household owns another home within fifty kilometres of the rented one, unless a decision prevents its use.
6.3. Sale of empty homes to public bodies and reinvestment
From entry into force to 31 December 2027, the capital gain on a paid sale of a home to public bodies or public social and affordable housing entities is 100% exempt if the sale value is up to €200,000, and on a sliding scale up to €800,000, provided the home was continuously vacant without justification during the previous two years. The non-exempt part may qualify for reinvestment relief in the Financia Europa Reinvestment Savings and Investment Account, up to €800,000 within six months, applicable to sales made after thirty working days from entry into force.
6.4. Other income tax measures
The 1.1% imputation applies for 2026 in municipalities with cadastral values revised since 2012. From 1 January 2027 a scale for imputed property income applies (1.1%, 1.5%, 2% and 3% by total cadastral value). The decree also creates the Financia Europa Savings and Investment Account and the Financia Europa long-term savings insurance (Title VI); they cannot be marketed until the ministerial orders in the eleventh final provision are issued.
6.5. VAT (from 1 December 2026)
Furnished apartment or home lets lose their exemption where the landlord provides hotel-type services or the stay does not exceed 30 nights (unless it is the landlord’s own main home), and move to the reduced rate of article 91.One.2.2. The reduced rate extends to renovation and repair works on homes let as main residence, with bank payment, construction or refurbishment completed two years earlier and supplied materials not exceeding 40% of the base. Protected housing with permanent or indefinite protection joins the super-reduced rate, with up to two parking spaces.
6.6. Property tax, IBI (article 8)
With indefinite effect, town councils may apply two surcharges. On permanently vacant homes (over two years without justification), up to 50%, reaching up to 100% depending on owner and vacancy time, with listed justified causes (job relocation, works, litigation, being offered for sale up to one year or for rent up to six months, among others) and a prior hearing for the owner. And, in stressed areas, on tourist-use accommodation: up to 50% of the tax bill, 100% for owners of two or more and 150% for owners of four or more.
6.7. SOCIMIs and municipal capital gains tax
A 25% special levy applies to undistributed profits from residential letting (including tourist and short-term uses), reducible by 50% or 100% if more than 80% of the portfolio is affordable (with reinvestment within three years for the full reduction). Transitional thresholds are 60% for 2026 and 70% for 2027. From 1 December 2026 new maximum coefficients apply to the municipal land value increase tax, from 0.17 (under one year) to 0.30 (twenty years or more).
7. Public housing, affordable housing and financing (articles 11 to 19)
- CASA 47: the sale price of its homes cannot exceed registered area times the highest protected-housing module in the region, and the limit extends to later transfers. State and Social Security property will be contributed to CASA 47 by ministerial order, without prior valuation.
- Affordable housing (article 14): sale or rent price, including all associated costs, not exceeding 30% of the median income of the usual household unit in the municipality.
- Social Impact Housing Fund (article 13): no legal personality, indefinite duration, attached to the Ministry of Housing.
- Guarantees: up to €2 billion, for up to 35 years, for social or affordable rental developers (article 16), and up to €280 million to 2040 for industrialised construction (article 17). Industrialised components may be subject to chattel mortgage (article 15).
- TU CASA (article 19): ICO-managed loans for a first mortgaged main home, for the lower of 20% of value and €50,000, up to ten years, at 0% and without fees. The homes are permanently subject to a maximum resale price, recorded in the Land Registry. Requirements will follow by Council of Ministers agreement.
- Social housing providers (additional provision 1): the Government will regulate their certification within six months, with Housing Associations as a model.
8. Assignment of mortgage loans (final provision 1)
New article 25 bis of Act 5/2019: the borrower may raise against the assignee the same defences as against the original lender, including set-off. Assignment of overdue mortgage loans of debtors covered by Royal Decree-Law 6/2012 is banned, and when an overdue loan on a main home is assigned, the debtor must be told about that option; if they prove eligibility within six months, the assignor must repurchase the loan at the assignment price.
9. Practical cases
A landlord who lets a flat seasonally to the same person every year. With more than two consecutive temporary leases on the same home, or a term over twelve months without justification, the first is treated as a main-residence lease, with five- or seven-year minimum terms. Each contract must state the real reason for temporariness and the landlord must be able to prove it.
A tenant whose lease ends in 2027 and who has always paid. They may request the extraordinary extension of up to two years, in annual periods. The landlord may refuse only if it has already notified in time a real need to occupy the home, if another contract was signed, or if other terms were agreed.
A landlord claiming six months’ rent from a vulnerable tenant. They can continue the eviction, but the administration has two months to offer an alternative or pay the debt. If it does not, it is subrogated as debtor and there is no eviction. If article 2.2 applies, they may seek compensation for rent not received, within the text’s limits.
A fund or company buying a home at a 40% discount to appraisal. Until 31 December 2028 the deal may be blocked by article 1, unless it is for affordable or social housing for five years or the buyer adheres to a Code of Good Practice.
An owner letting rooms separately. The sum of rents cannot exceed the rent for the whole flat, and in stressed areas the article 17 caps also apply.
10. Summary: key points
- Royal Decree-Law 26/2026 was published in the BOE on 30 September 2026 and enters into force on 1 October, with specific exceptions. Congress must ratify it.
- Purchases below 70% of appraisal value restricted until 31/12/2028 for property entities, with exceptions.
- Evictions of vulnerable people suspended until 31/12/2030 (regimes differ by claimant), and extraordinary enervation by the administration within two months in non-payment evictions.
- Seasonal lets only with a real cause: over 31 days, generally up to 12 months, reclassified as main-residence if more than two are chained.
- No rent update without an express clause, and with one it is capped by the IRAV. Until 31/12/2027, an extraordinary 2% limit absent agreement.
- Rooms: the sum of rents cannot exceed the whole flat’s rent.
- Extraordinary extension up to two years for tenants up to date with rent, ending by 31/12/2028.
- Taxation: 10% tenant deduction, landlord reductions up to 100%, reduced VAT on stays up to 30 nights from 1/12/2026, IBI surcharges and a 25% SOCIMI levy.
Need legal advice?
If you are a landlord, tenant, investor or property administrator and want to know how Royal Decree-Law 26/2026 affects a specific contract or transaction, Quikprokuo has advised on real estate law for more than 25 years. Contact our firm and we will review your case.
Legislation cited: Act 29/1994, Urban Leases Act, Act 1/2000, Civil Procedure Act, Act 12/2023, right to housing, Act 35/2006, personal income tax, Act 37/1992, VAT, Act 5/2019, mortgage credit contracts and the Spanish Constitution.
Main source: BOE-A-2026-20266.
