Renting Out your Spanish Property
As many property owners are considering renting out their property in Spain in order to generate a little income to cover their ownership expenses and pay for their trips to Spain etc., we thought we should draw your attention towards the main points that you should remember in relation to this:
In Spain the law in very based towards the tenant. The law that relates to renting out property is “La Ley de Arrendamiento Urbanos” – 29/1994, November 24th
It is recommended to have a rental contract with the identity of the landlord and the tenants, the address of the property, the duration of the rental property, and the amount of the rent
A deposit should be taken, equal to one month´s rent and refundable at the end of the contract.
With regard to the duration of the contract – this can be mutually agreed between both parties but Spanish law dictates that after six months has passed, the tenant can legally stay in the house for up to 3 years.
The tenant can break the contract after six months with no reason and they will not pay a penalty. Thus within the three year period, a contract can only be cancelled by the landlord if the tenant agrees.
Payment of utilities and council tax and community fees are generally decided at the outset, and agreed between both parties and included in the contract.
If you are considering renting out your property you should be aware that depending on whether you are non resident or resident in Spain, income derived from renting is taxed differently.
TENANT PROBLEMS IN A SPANISH PROPERTY
Having a tenant in a property (either residential or commercial) does not always go smoothly and if you are having problems and require help with a non paying tenant or one that is causing disruption or damage and would like to request our legal assistance to discuss tenant eviction, please let us know.
Legals for Rentals and Maintenance Works. Who pays for them?
There is much confusion over this subject when a property is let, please see here for clarification on the matter…
Within the period of a rental contract, two different types of works need to be differentiated: necessary work or maintenance and improvements.
The landlord needs to make all those repairs needed to maintain the house in habitable conditions unless the deterioration has been caused by the tenant, or the house has been damaged by force not attributable to the tenant such as fire or flood. The landlord cannot increase the rent in these cases.
Small repairs due to wear and tear by ordinary use should be paid by the tenant.
If there are some needed repair works to be done to the house and they cannot be postponed until the letting period finishes, the tenant will have to tolerate them. If the period lasts more than 20 days, the tenant has the right to decrease the rent proportionally to the part of the house which is not usable due to the work.
If there are works that are urgently needed to avoid serious damage, then these can be carried out by the tenant provided they are fully communicated to the landlord. The tenant will have the right to reimbursement of payment for these urgent works.
At the end of the contract often the landlord asks if the tenant is obliged to repaint/update the property (return it to the original condition), or is common wear and tear an accepted part of renting the property out and the responsibility of the landlord (on a standard simple contract)? If the need for painting is just out of common wear and tear, there is no obligation for the tenant to repaint the house, but if the need for painting is because of an incorrect use of the walls, it might be the obligation of the tenant to paint, or pay for repainting.
Please note there have been changes since this article has been written so from August 2020 please contact us for more information.