Spain’s New Housing Decree: What the September 2026 Rental Reforms Could Mean for Property Owners

Spain is preparing another substantial overhaul of its rental rules. We look beyond the political headlines at what the proposed September housing decree could mean for landlords, tenants, buyers and property owners in Benahavís and the wider Costa del Sol.

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Spain’s housing market rarely stays out of the headlines for long. This autumn, however, the debate could become particularly important for anyone who owns, rents or is considering buying property in Spain.

Pedro Sánchez’s coalition government is preparing a wide-ranging package of housing measures that it hopes to return to after the summer. Originally expected before Spain’s August political break, the proposed Royal Decree-Law was postponed when the government concluded that it did not yet have enough parliamentary support to be confident that Congress would validate it.

If the current proposals remain in the final text, the changes could reach considerably further than another adjustment to rent controls. Seasonal rentals, room rentals, repairs, rental guarantees, the sale of tenanted properties and even the taxation of holiday accommodation are all potentially affected.

For property owners around Benahavís and the wider Costa del Sol, some of these changes may prove relatively remote. Others could alter the way a property can be rented quite significantly.

A Significant Reform — But Not a Finished One

The government has been trying to tighten Spain’s rental rules for some time, particularly where it believes seasonal or room-by-room contracts are being used to avoid the protections attached to ordinary residential leases.

An earlier housing decree introduced during 2026 did not survive parliamentary validation, providing a useful reminder that a government announcement and permanent legislation are not the same thing.

A Royal Decree-Law can take effect after approval by the Council of Ministers and publication in Spain’s official state gazette, the BOE. Congress must then decide whether to validate it within the constitutional period.

That creates an unusual possibility: measures may become legally effective before their longer-term parliamentary future is known.

For owners, buyers and landlords, the sensible approach is therefore to distinguish carefully between what the government proposes, what eventually appears in a published decree and what ultimately survives the parliamentary process.

Seasonal Rentals Are Firmly in the Government’s Sights

Perhaps the most important proposed change for many property owners concerns temporary or seasonal rentals.

These contracts have perfectly legitimate uses. Someone working in another city for several months, a student attending a course, a family temporarily relocating or a person receiving medical treatment away from home may genuinely require accommodation for a limited period.

The government’s concern is different. It believes some homes that are effectively being used as ordinary residences are instead being offered through repeated short contracts, allowing landlords to avoid parts of Spain’s conventional residential tenancy framework.

Under proposals being discussed, a genuine temporary tenancy would need to state a real and demonstrable reason for its temporary character. The landlord would need to be able to justify why the arrangement was genuinely seasonal rather than simply labelling an ordinary residential tenancy as temporary.

A maximum duration of 12 months has been proposed, together with restrictions on repeated consecutive temporary contracts involving the same property and tenant. Where the temporary nature cannot be justified, the arrangement could instead fall within the rules governing a normal residential lease.

This is potentially important on the Costa del Sol, where there is a substantial market sitting between conventional long-term renting and short holiday stays.

A genuine winter rental to someone spending several months in Andalucía, for example, is not necessarily the type of arrangement the government is attempting to eliminate. What would become increasingly important is being able to demonstrate why the stay really is temporary.

Renting Individual Rooms Could Become Much Closer to a Normal Tenancy

Room rentals are another area the government wants to bring more firmly within Spain’s Urban Leases Law, usually referred to as the LAU.

The reported draft would generally treat the rental of an individual room as residential renting rather than allowing it to sit outside much of the conventional tenancy framework.

There is also a proposal intended to prevent owners from dividing a property into individual room contracts simply to charge substantially more than could be charged for the home as a whole. In areas where formal rent controls apply, room-by-room letting could therefore become subject to much tighter limits.

The intention is clear: renting rooms should not become an easy route around residential rental regulation.

For most luxury property owners in Benahavís this may have limited direct relevance. It could, however, be significant for investors elsewhere in Málaga province and for properties acquired specifically for shared accommodation.

Tenants Could Arrange Essential Repairs and Deduct the Cost From Rent

Another eye-catching part of the reported draft concerns essential repairs.

Where a defect affects the habitability, safety or health of a rented home, the proposed system would allow the tenant to notify the owner and request that the problem is resolved.

Reports on the draft indicate that the landlord could have 15 calendar days to respond, arrange the repair or offer an appropriate solution. If the owner failed to respond or refused without adequate justification, the tenant could potentially commission the necessary work and offset the documented cost against future rent.

This should not be confused with giving a tenant freedom to renovate or alter a property at the landlord’s expense. The proposal concerns genuine defects affecting the proper use, safety or habitability of the home.

Nevertheless, it would make prompt communication even more important for landlords.

For professionally managed properties this should normally be straightforward. Owners who live abroad for much of the year and manage a tenancy personally may increasingly benefit from having a dependable local point of contact who can respond quickly when genuine problems arise.

Check-In and Check-Out Reports Could Become Far More Important

Anyone who has rented out a furnished home knows how easily disagreements can arise over whether a mark, broken fitting or piece of damage was already present.

The proposed reforms attempt to reduce that uncertainty by giving greater importance to written documentation recording the condition of the home when possession is handed over.

If no signed report identifies existing defects or damage, the property could generally be presumed to have been handed over in good condition unless there is evidence to the contrary.

In practical terms, careful landlords are already doing much of this.

A dated inventory, clear photographs, meter readings and a properly signed check-in report protect both sides. If the proposed changes survive, that documentation could become even more important.

Owners May No Longer Be Able to Pass IBI to the Tenant

Under existing arrangements, certain property-related costs can sometimes be allocated to a tenant where the contract and applicable tenancy rules permit it.

The reported draft would tighten this position and prevent property taxes such as IBI from simply being transferred to the tenant where the landlord is the person legally responsible for paying them.

For the owner of a single home this may not radically change the economics of renting. Alongside insurance, maintenance, community fees and taxation, however, it is another expense that should be included when calculating the genuine net return from a tenancy.

Rent-Default Insurance Could No Longer Be Imposed on the Tenant

The government also wants to prevent landlords from requiring tenants to purchase rent-default insurance or a similar product as a condition of obtaining the property.

An owner could still choose to insure themselves against non-payment, but the proposed changes would make it more difficult to transfer that obligation or expense directly to the prospective tenant.

This would not prevent an owner from checking affordability or asking for appropriate evidence of income. Rather, it changes who is expected to pay for the landlord’s insurance against the risk of default.

Selling a Rented Property Could Become Slightly More Complicated

Spanish tenants already have certain preferential acquisition rights known as tanteo and retracto in circumstances where their rented home is sold.

The proposals would strengthen those rights.

Reports on the draft suggest that contracts may no longer be able simply to waive the tenant’s preferential purchase right. Where an individual rented property forms part of a larger portfolio or package transaction, an identifiable value may also need to be assigned to it so that the tenant has a meaningful opportunity to exercise the relevant right.

For the typical owner selling one apartment or villa, this is more likely to be a procedural issue than an obstacle to selling.

It does, however, reinforce something we would recommend anyway: establish the tenancy position before putting a rented property on the market rather than discovering complications once a buyer has already been found.

Some Expiring Rental Contracts Could Be Extended Until 2028

One of the politically most contentious parts of the package is an extraordinary extension for certain existing residential leases.

PSOE and Sumar have backed a proposal intended to protect qualifying tenants whose contracts expire before 30 June 2028, potentially allowing them to remain under an extended arrangement rather than facing an immediate end to the tenancy.

This is also one of the reasons the proposed decree has proved politically difficult.

A similar attempt earlier in 2026 failed to survive Congress, while several parties whose votes the government needs have demanded changes or additional protections for smaller landlords.

This is therefore one of the sections we would be particularly cautious about presenting as inevitable before the final decree is published.

The Most Controversial Question: Vulnerable Tenants and Eviction

Another proposed measure concerns tenants who are formally recognised as being in a vulnerable financial position.

The reported draft could allow courts to suspend certain eviction proceedings where a vulnerable tenant has no suitable alternative accommodation and the relevant authorities have not provided a housing solution.

Where the landlord is a private individual rather than a large property holder, the proposals have also included mechanisms intended to compensate the owner during a qualifying suspension.

This is one of the politically most sensitive areas of the package, with different parliamentary parties seeking very different levels of protection for tenants and landlords.

It is therefore entirely possible that this part of the proposal will change during negotiations in September.

The Proposed 21% IVA on Holiday Rentals — and an Interesting Benahavís Detail

For many Costa del Sol owners, the proposal attracting the greatest attention is a possible 21% IVA charge on certain short-term accommodation.

At present, the straightforward rental of furnished holiday accommodation without hotel-style services is generally treated differently for IVA purposes from hotel accommodation.

A PSOE parliamentary proposal would remove the IVA exemption for certain furnished residential rentals of 30 nights or fewer where the property is situated in a municipality meeting the legislation’s population threshold.

The published proposal refers to municipalities with at least 10,000 residents, based on the relevant annual population census.

That creates a particularly interesting position for Benahavís.

The latest 2025 municipal information published by the Junta de Andalucía places Benahavís just below that proposed threshold, at 9,765 residents.

If the same wording were eventually adopted and that remained the relevant official population figure, Benahavís could potentially sit outside this particular IVA provision while larger neighbouring municipalities fall within it.

There is, however, an important caveat.

Benahavís has been growing quickly. The population figure that ultimately matters would depend on the precise legislation enacted and the official census specified when the rule applies. No owner should therefore structure a rental investment around the assumption that Benahavís will remain below 10,000 inhabitants.

What About ‘Stressed Housing Areas’?

Some of Spain’s strongest rental measures only apply, or become significantly more restrictive, in officially designated zonas de mercado residencial tensionado — stressed residential market areas.

These should not be confused with simply living somewhere where property is expensive.

A formal legal process is required before the special stressed-area regime applies.

Benahavís is not currently listed among the formally declared stressed residential market areas on the Ministry of Housing’s official register.

That distinction matters. Measures associated specifically with stressed areas do not automatically apply to Benahavís merely because property values and rental demand are high.

The position could of course change in the future if Andalucía and the relevant authorities pursued a formal designation. For now, however, Benahavís should not simply be described as a stressed housing area in the legal sense.

Would These Measures Push Property Prices Down?

Probably not in any simple or uniform way.

Spain’s housing problem is partly one of affordability, but it is also fundamentally connected to the availability of suitable housing in the places where people want and need to live.

Tighter rental regulation may give existing tenants greater security. At the same time, if some landlords decide that conventional renting has become less attractive, properties may be sold, retained for personal use or moved into other forms of occupation.

The effects can therefore pull in different directions.

In a market such as Benahavís, international purchasers, lifestyle buyers, second-home owners and high-value primary residences make up an important part of demand. Changes to Spain’s conventional long-term rental regime are therefore unlikely, on their own, to determine property values.

Changes to holiday-rental taxation could be more relevant for apartments and homes bought primarily for their rental return. Even then, the impact will depend on the eventual tax rules, the municipality, the property’s regional tourist status, community regulations and the buyer’s intended use.

For most people buying a permanent or second home in Benahavís, the quality of the property, setting, security, views, community, location and scarcity of comparable homes are likely to remain far more important influences on value.

We explored this issue in greater detail in our article on whether Costa del Sol property prices fall when communities restrict short-term rentals.

Will the Spain Housing Decree 2026 Actually Pass?

This is the question behind all the others.

The government postponed the decree precisely because it had not secured enough support to be confident that Congress would validate it.

PSOE and Sumar broadly agree on many of the proposed protections, but the government needs support from other parliamentary groups whose positions differ on issues such as landlord protections, taxation, eviction rules, rent extensions and wider housing policy.

That does not mean the legislation will fail.

There is considerable political pressure to introduce further housing measures, and some aspects of the regulation of seasonal and room rentals enjoy support beyond the governing coalition.

However, the experience of 2026 already provides a useful warning against assuming that every housing proposal announced by the government automatically becomes permanent law.

September could therefore bring a substantial change to Spain’s rental rules — or another period of negotiation, amendment and compromise.

What Should Property Owners Do Now?

For the moment, very little needs to change simply because a new decree has been proposed.

There is no obvious reason for an owner to abandon a legitimate seasonal rental strategy, rewrite an existing contract or make a major investment decision solely on the basis of a draft law that has not yet been approved.

What does make sense is paying attention.

Owners using seasonal contracts should already be clear about why the tenancy is temporary and retain documentation that supports that position. Landlords should keep detailed inventories, respond promptly to genuine maintenance issues and ensure rental agreements accurately reflect the intended use of the property.

Anyone considering selling a property with a sitting tenant should establish the tenant’s legal position before marketing the home.

Holiday-rental owners should also follow the IVA proposals carefully, particularly in fast-growing municipalities such as Benahavís where a population threshold could eventually become relevant.

Owners relying on holiday-rental potential should additionally consider the separate regional, community and municipal rules governing tourist accommodation. Our updated Touristic Licences in Spain guide explains the current 2026 position in more detail.

Most importantly, decisions should be based on legislation that is actually published and in force rather than on advance drafts or political headlines.

Spain’s housing rules are clearly moving towards greater regulation. Exactly how far they move this September remains an open question.

Related Reading

Spain’s Holiday Rental Tax Proposals

What the proposed changes to tourist-rental taxation could mean specifically for property owners and buyers in Benahavís.

Do Property Prices Fall When Tourist Rentals Are Restricted?

We examine what actually happens to Costa del Sol property values when communities restrict or prohibit short-term rentals.

Can Owners Request a New Vote on Short-Term Rentals?

How Andalucía’s community voting rules work and whether an earlier decision can be reconsidered.

Sources and further reading: This article draws on publicly reported proposals together with material from the Spanish Government, Congreso de los Diputados, BOE and Ministry of Housing. The position may change during the September negotiations and should be checked against the final legislation if and when it is published.

Important: This article reflects proposals and publicly reported draft legislation available in August 2026. The wording, scope and implementation of any measures may change before approval, and some proposals may not become law. This article provides general information only and does not constitute legal, tax, financial or property valuation advice. Owners and buyers should obtain independent professional advice based on their individual circumstances.