Blog · Legal process

Buying a let flat while the new rent decree is pending

§ 1Three clocks, one flat

You find a flat you like. It has a tenant, the agent says "the tenant can stay, no problem", and the price looks a little kinder than the empty flats next door. Before you say yes, it helps to know that three clocks are running at the same time.

The first clock is the lease: when it began, how long it was agreed for and when it can end. The second is the rule set that applies once the minimum period is over. The third is your own completion date, the day you sign the deed. This month the second clock is moving, because of a decree published on 7 October. Each clock is set out below, then all three on one imaginary flat.

The basics of the lease, the deposit and the questions for the seller are in what to check when the tenant stays. The dates are a separate question, and the decree makes them the hard part.

§ 2Clock one: the lease you are buying

The lettings act says that the buyer of a let home takes over the landlord's rights and duties for the first five years of the lease, or seven years if the seller was a legal person such as a company. Taking over means the rent, the deposit, the repairs and the notices all become yours on the day of the deed. The tenant does not need to agree, and you cannot ask the tenant to leave because you bought.

Picture a lease that began in March 2023 on the usual terms. Its minimum period runs to March 2028. If you complete in December 2026, you have bought a flat that will be occupied for at least another fifteen months, whatever the agent hopes. That is the shortest case. Whether it is the real case depends on the lease, which is why you need to read it before you sign anything, and not only the summary the agent gives you.

Two details are worth checking on the paper itself. The first is the start date, which is the date written in the lease, not the date the tenant first moved in. The second is the landlord's name, because the seven-year minimum applies when the landlord is a company. Flats are sometimes held through a company, so the longer minimum is not a purely theoretical case.

§ 3When the agreed term is longer

Some leases are signed for more than the minimum. A tenant and a landlord can agree on ten years, for example. The act has a special rule here, and it is the rule most buyers have never heard of.

For a longer agreed term the buyer is bound for the whole term, unless the buyer meets the conditions of article 34 of the Mortgage Law. That article protects people who rely on what the property registry shows. If you do meet them, you are bound only for the minimum period, and the seller owes the tenant compensation of one month of rent per year, counted over the years that remain on the contract. We did not read the Mortgage Law itself, so we cannot tell you whether a buyer in your position would qualify. A lawyer who checks the registry can.

What we can say is that the registry matters. Ask your lawyer to look at what is registered before you decide how long you are really committed. The note on the registry extract known as a nota simple shows what that document contains, and the one on charges that can sit on a property covers what else can be attached to a flat. A let flat with a long lease and an unclear registry is a flat to price carefully or to walk away from.

§ 4Clock two: what happens after the minimum period

At the moment, when the minimum period ends, the lease does not simply stop. The text of the current act extends it year by year, for up to three more years, unless one side gives notice in time. The landlord has to give at least four months of notice before the end date to stop an annual renewal.

There is a second exit that interests buyers who dream of moving in. After the first year, a landlord who is a private person can take the home back for personal use, but only if the lease said so at signing, and only with two months notice before the date the home is needed. If the owner then fails to move in within three months, the tenant can choose between going back or being compensated. The wording of these rules is written for the landlord. Whether a new buyer can use a clause that the seller signed is a question we cannot answer from the text, so ask your lawyer in writing.

One more thing the text of the act mentions is the tenant's preferential purchase right. We did not find the article that sets its conditions in the part we could read. Before you pay a deposit on a let flat, ask your lawyer whether the tenant has to be told of the sale first, and what happens if that step is skipped.

§ 5What the decree would change

On 7 October the official gazette published a royal decree-law, number 28 of 2026, on the stability of leases of a main home. Its main points, as we read them in the official text, are these.

The first change is the renewal. After the minimum period, the contract would renew tacitly and compulsorily for five-year periods. The second is the notice. The landlord would have to give at least six months of notice not to renew, and the tenant would still give two months. The third is the money: a landlord who refuses to renew would pay the tenant the greater of twelve monthly payments or one per year of residence. The sums are calculated on the upper value of the flat's range in a state reference system for rents, and they are paid when the keys are handed back.

There are listed exceptions in which no compensation is owed, for instance when the owner or close family need the home to live in. The text we read does not explain how the reference system works, so we cannot tell you what number would apply to a particular flat. A lawyer or the ministry's reference tool will have to give you that.

Here is an invented example of the arithmetic only. If a flat's upper reference value were €900 a month, twelve monthly payments would come to €10,800. A tenant who had lived there for fifteen years would instead get fifteen payments, €13,500, because that is the larger of the two. These figures are made up to show the method and are not a forecast.

§ 6The part buyers miss: the compensation moves with the flat

This is the point that deserves your attention. The decree says that a sale does not affect the tenant's right to compensation, and that the duty falls on the buyer takes over the position unless one of the listed exceptions applies. In plain words, if you buy a let flat and later decline to renew, the bill is yours, not the seller's.

That changes how you should read the agent's sentence "the tenant can stay". For you, the useful question is what it would cost to end the lease at the first date when the law lets you, and whether you are prepared to pay it or to live with the tenant.

§ 7Is it law yet?

A decree-law enters into force on the date it states, here 15 November 2026. Congress has to validate it, and because the Cortes are dissolved for the election, the standing committee called the Diputación Permanente decides. Press reports say the vote is planned for around 12 November, and that the Basque party PNV has said it will vote against this decree, which on the reported numbers could leave it short of a majority. On 26 October the Congress website showed no session convened, so we cannot confirm the date or the result. The consolidated lettings act on the official site also carries notes saying that two earlier decrees on housing were revoked by Congress, so a refusal is a real possibility. If the decree is not validated it never takes effect, and the older rules in this note apply.

What does that mean for a buyer? It means you should price the flat under both sets of rules. If the decree falls, the older rules in this note apply. If it stands, the new ones do. Check the status again in the days before you sign, because it may have changed by then.

§ 8What is already in force: the second decree

A second decree-law, number 29 of 2026, was published in the gazette on 7 October 2026 and has applied since the next day. It also awaits validation. On our reading of the gazette text, a tenant of a main-home lease whose mandatory extension ends before 31 December 2028 can ask for up to two additional years, if the tenant is up to date with the rent, and the landlord’s own need for the home is an exception. Until 31 December 2027 rent updates are also limited: no increase if the rent is above the reference maximum, otherwise what the parties agreed and by default no more than 2%. We did not read any regulation that applies these rules.

In our invented flat this matters. A tenant whose minimum period ends in March 2028 could ask for the extension, so “occupied for at least another fifteen months” is a floor and not an estimate. If you buy a let flat, ask whether the tenant has made such a request and price the extra years.

§ 9Clock three: your completion date

The decree's transitional text, as we read it, applies to main-home leases already running when it comes into force, for lease end dates after that day. Notices of non-renewal sent before the decree was published keep their effect and carry no compensation. Where less than six months remain before an expiry, a notice of at least four months is enough.

Put that next to our imaginary flat. A lease that began in March 2023 reaches its minimum end in March 2028, which is after 15 November 2026. On our reading, the new regime would govern that expiry if the decree stands, whether you complete in November or in January. The date of your deed does not change the rule, but it does decide who is the landlord when the notices fall due. That is why it is worth asking the seller to confirm in writing whether any notice has already been sent to the tenant, and when.

§ 10Clauses worth asking for

Your lawyer will draft the contract, but it helps to arrive with a short list.

• The complete lease, all annexes and every notice sent by either side, delivered before you sign the private purchase contract.
• A statement from the seller that no notice of non-renewal or of own use has been given, or a copy if one has.
• A clear line in the contract on who bears the compensation if the lease ends after the deed, with a retention from the price if the amount is unclear.
• A way out of the contract if the registry shows something about the lease that the seller did not mention.
• A condition that links vacant possession, if the seller has promised it, to a date and a remedy.

The chapters on the private purchase contract and on using an independent lawyer explain where those clauses go and who should write them.

For the general rules that apply to landlords once you own the flat, the chapter on long-term rental law for landlords is the place to look.

§ 11What we could not confirm

We could not read the Mortgage Law, the article of the lettings act on the tenant's purchase right, or the state reference system for rents. We could not confirm the date or the result of the Congress vote on either decree. Where a sentence above depends on one of those, it says so. If you are close to a decision, these are the four questions to put to a Spanish lawyer who acts for you alone, in writing.

Dotted underline marks an illustrative figure. It shows how a calculation works and is not a quote, a rate or a forecast.

Legal note. How the process works in general. It is not legal advice, and it never replaces an independent Spanish lawyer acting for you.