Landlords protest against rent restrictions and demand compensation from the state

Association of owners of houses for rent (Asval) presented 2,000 requests from small and medium-sized owners asking the state to compensate for the patrimonial damage caused 2% rent increase limit approved in March 2022, as stated in the press release.

The requests were addressed to the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda and were collected between November 2022 and January 2023. In addition, Asval envisages a new “barrage of requests” in case of approval Law on housingwhich is in parliamentary procedure.

Asval, who acts as a channel for these claims, estimated that the ceiling was imposed by the government it affected more than 2 million small owners in Spain and expressed regret that this group was not provided with compensation.

The association indicated that the limit of 2% increase rentswhich was approved in March 2022 as a “temporary measure” in the context of the war in Ukraine, has been extended several times to extend its validity during this year.

In addition, Asval decried that the imposed upper limit was contrary to what was established in Law on City Rentas this allows rents to be updated with the consumer price index (CPI).

The association believes that this update is necessary for small owners in order to protect their standard of living and realize their salary or pension, and they qualified that they were “sensitive” to the economic situation and many negotiated more favorable solutions with their tenants.

Damage up to 2000 euros

Asval estimated that the owners will lose 2,000 euros for each rented home during the duration of this measure and reminded that more than 75% of Spanish landlords own one or two houses.

“Small landowners denounce that State burden us with the problem of housing in Spain, which is the responsibility of the Administration“, said the general director of the association, María Andreu.

The directive also found that the cap imposed in Spain is the most restrictive in the European Union (EU) and creates many legal uncertainty in the market and a reduction in investment in rental housing.

To solve the lack of housing at competitive prices, Asval pointed to public-private cooperation to expand the social park in Spain and stressed that large owners have offered to transfer 25,000 properties to the state for 25 years to rent them at 20% below market prices .

“It’s an agile and efficient solution to the urgent housing situation we’re facing, but we’re still waiting for the Board’s response,” Andreu said.