Congress approves housing bill, which will regulate rental prices

The plenary session of the Congress this Thursday gave the green light to the project Law on the right to housing which will enable setting a ceiling on rental prices in stressed areas, after a discussion in which the Government defended itself that this rule represents the fifth pillar of the welfare state and unprecedented social progress.

The law, negotiated by the executive coalition with ERC and EH Bildu, was approved with 176 votes in favor (PSOE, UP, ERC, Bildu, Más País, Compromís and Teruel Existe), 167 against (PP, Vox, Cs, Junts, PDECat, CUP, Coalition of the Canary Islands, UPN and PNV) and one dissenting voice, that of BNG deputy Néstor Reg.

PNV changed its voting direction at the last minute, joining the position of Catalan nationalists from PDECat and Junts. The three formations reject the law, realizing that it presupposes an invasion of the housing powers of the autonomous communities, which is why the PNV (which abstained during the discussion of the norm in the commission) opened the door to a possible appeal by the Basque Government before the Constitutional Court due to the invasion of jurisdiction.

The text, which according to right-wing parties only benefits squatters, will now go to the Senate and return to Congress for final approval in mid-May.

Among other measures, housing law maintains a cap on rent increases of 2% for this year and 3% in 2024 in order to create, before December 31 next year, a new benchmark index to replace the CPI in leasing rent updates from 2025. This is intended so that housing prices do not pronounced fluctuations like those suffered by other items in recent months, such as energy or food

On the other hand, the law will make it possible to reduce the definition of property from ten to five big forks and will extend to natural persons the restrictions for renters provided for in stressed areas.

In addition, the new law introduces a series of measures that make it more difficult to evict people who are in a situation of economic vulnerability, especially when the landlord is a large landowner. In this way, evictions cannot be carried out without a predetermined time and date.

The government warns that compliance with the law is mandatory

Faced with the opposition announced by the PP-governed communities, who missed the possibility of non-compliance with some aspects of the new norm, the Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero, warned the public this Thursday that housing law which was approved today in Congress “will be fulfilled in all communities and it is not optional”, insisting that this party “cannot become an anti-system, non-democratic party.”

In statements to Congress, Montero said he had no doubt the rule was “consistent with authority” and that from there each administration was “free to raise the funds it sees fit.”

In any case, if there is any community that does not adhere to this norm, the rule of law “has mechanisms to enforce the law”, but she did not want to put herself in this scenario, but remembered it without explicitly mentioning it. when Catalonia promoted 1- OR. “And they already know what is happening,” he pointed out.