The Spanish government approved on Tuesday a package of two royal decrees regarding housing with significant changes for tenants. The first, the Royal Decree-Law 26/2026, was published this Wednesday in the Official State Gazette and will come into effect tomorrow, Thursday, October 1. The second decree, which introduces automatic contract renewals and a possible compensation of 12 monthly payments, was approved in the Council of Ministers but has not yet been published in the BOE and does not yet have guaranteed parliamentary support for its validation.
The political trigger was the eviction of María del Carmen Abascal Martín, 87 years old, carried out on September 23 in Madrid after seven decades in the same home in the Retiro district. The decree itself published in the BOE mentions her as a symbol of the housing emergency, and her case prompted a campout at Puerta del Sol and a massive demonstration days later.
What comes into effect on October 1st
The RDL 26/2026 will regulate temporary rentals and room rentals starting tomorrow, two modalities commonly used to circumvent the protections of regular leasing.
A temporary contract will only be valid if it includes a genuine, justified, and verifiable reason for the tenant's temporary need, with the burden of proof resting on the owner. The duration must exceed 31 days and, as a general rule, should not exceed 12 months. If that reason is absent or if contracts are chained between the same parties for the same property, the contract will be considered a lease for a permanent residence from the moment it is signed.
In room rentals, the total of all rents cannot exceed the cost of renting the entire property. In areas with a strained residential market, both temporary contracts and room rentals must adhere to the established rent limits for those areas.
The decree also establishes an extraordinary extension of up to two years —requested by the tenant, on a yearly basis— for contracts whose mandatory extension period, either tacit or automatic renewal, ends before December 31, 2028, provided that the tenant is up to date with payments and has been for the previous eight months. Additionally, it limits rent increases until December 31, 2027.
What is still pending: the second decree
The second royal decree-law was approved by the Council of Ministers on Tuesday, but the Government delayed its publication in the BOE for technical reasons: both texts are interconnected, and the second modifies an article of the first, which was supposed to come into effect earlier.
According to El País, which had access to the text, this decree amends Article 10 of the Urban Leasing Law to introduce automatic renewal: once the minimum period is completed —five years if the landlord is an individual, seven if they are a legal entity— the contract is extended indefinitely for successive periods unless either party communicates their intention not to renew it.
To not renew, the owner must notify at least six months in advance, compared to the two months' notice required from the tenant. If the owner chooses not to renew without justified cause, they must pay compensation equivalent to at least 12 months of rent for a property with similar characteristics, calculated based on the state reference price system, and never less than one month's rent for each year of residence.
There are grounds for exemption: if the landlord needs the property for themselves or a family member up to the second degree; if the tenant does not occupy the property for more than six months a year without a justified reason; if they have another suitable residence in the same municipality; if a new contract is signed at a regulated price; or if the landlord proves vulnerability.
This measure is a demand from Sumar and faces rejection from Junts and the PNV, who view it as a kind of expropriation. Expert José Ramón Zurdo from the Rent Negotiation Agency warned that, if validated, "the offer after December 31, 2028, would be reduced to a third of the current one."
Both decrees must be validated by Congress in an extraordinary session scheduled for Friday, October 2, and their validation is uncertain.
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