Spanish Urban Rental Law 2019. Titel II. Housing leases

☞ go to the index

FIRST CHAPTER

GENERAL RULES

Article 6 Nature of rules

The stipulations that modify the rules of this Title to the detriment of the lessee or sublessee shall be null and void, and shall be considered as not having been laid down, except in those cases in which the rule itself expressly authorizes it.

Article 7 Conditions for renting a dwelling

The rental of a dwelling shall not lose this condition even if the tenant does not have a permanent dwelling on the rented property, provided that it is inhabited by a spouse who is not legally or de facto separated, or their dependent children.

Article 7 drafted by paragraph three of the first article of R.D.-law 7/2019, of 1 March, on urgent measures regarding housing and rent (“B.O.E.” 5 March). Effective: March 6, 2019

Article 8 Assignment of the contract and sublease

1. The contract may not be assigned by the lessee without the written consent of the lessor. In case of assignment, the assignee is subrogated in the position of the assignor vis-à-vis the lessor.
2. The rented dwelling may only be partially sublet with the prior written consent of the lessor.

The sublease shall be governed by the provisions of this Title for the lease when the part of the subleased property is used by the sublessee for the purpose indicated in Article 2.1. If this condition is not met, it shall be governed by what has been agreed between the parties.

The right of the subtenant shall, in any case, be extinguished when the right of the subtenant who subleased does so.

The price of the sublease may in no case exceed the price corresponding to the lease.

CHAPTER II

THE DURATION OF THE CONTRACT

Article 9 Minimum period

1. The duration of the lease shall be freely agreed by the parties. If it is less than five years, or less than seven years if the lessor is a legal entity, when the contract expires, it shall be compulsorily extended for annual periods until the lease reaches a minimum duration of five years, or seven years if the lessor is a legal entity, unless the lessee declares to the lessor, at least thirty days prior to the date of termination of the contract or any of the extensions, his will not to renew it.

The term will begin to be counted from the date of the contract or from the putting of the property at the disposal of the lessee if this was later. The tenant shall be responsible for proof of the date of availability.

Leases for which a period of duration has not been stipulated or is indeterminate shall be understood to be celebrated for one year, without prejudice to the right of annual extension for the lessee, in the terms resulting from the previous paragraph.

1. Once the first year of the duration of the contract has elapsed and provided that the lessor is a natural person, the obligatory extension of the contract shall not proceed when, at the time of its conclusion, it has been expressly stated in the contract that the lessor needs to occupy the rented dwelling before the end of five years in order to assign it to permanent housing for himself or his relatives in the first degree of consanguinity or by adoption or for his spouse in the event of a final judgement of separation, divorce or marriage annulment.

To exercise this power to recover the dwelling, the lessor must inform the lessee that he or she needs the rented dwelling, specifying the cause or causes among those foreseen in the previous paragraph, at least two months before the date on which the dwelling is going to be needed and the lessee will be obliged to hand over the rented property within said period if the parties do not reach a different agreement.

If after three months from the termination of the contract or, as the case may be, the effective eviction from the dwelling, the landlord or his family members in the first degree of consanguinity or by adoption or his spouse in the event of a final separation sentence have not proceeded, divorce or marriage annulment to occupy this by itself, as the case may be, the tenant may choose, within thirty days, between being replaced in the use and enjoyment of the rented housing for a new period of up to five years, otherwise respecting the contractual conditions existing at the time of extinction, with compensation for the expenses that the eviction from the dwelling would have entailed up to the time of reoccupation, or to be compensated for an amount equivalent to one monthly payment for each year that remained to be completed up to the completion of five years, unless the occupation had not taken place due to force majeure, understood as such, the impediment caused by those events expressly mentioned in the rule of rank of Law to which the character of force majeure is attributed, or others that could not have been foreseen, or that, foreseen, were unavoidable.

Article 9 drafted by paragraph four of the first article of the R.D.-law 7/2019, of 1 March, on urgent measures regarding housing and rent (“B.O.E.” 5 March). Effective: March 6, 2019
Article 10 Contract extension

1. If the expiry date of the contract, or any of its extensions, is reached after at least five years have elapsed, or seven years if the lessor is a legal entity, neither of the parties has notified the other, at least four months prior to that date in the case of the lessor and at least two months in the case of the lessee, If the lessee does not wish to renew the contract, the contract shall be compulsorily extended for annual periods up to a maximum of three more years, unless the lessee declares to the lessor, one month before the date of termination of any of the annuities, his wish not to renew the contract.
2. The extended contract will continue to be subject to the legal and conventional regime to which it was subject. Article 10 drafted by paragraph five of the first article of R.D.-law 7/2019, of 1 March, on urgent measures regarding housing and rent (“B.O.E.” 5 March). Effective: March 6, 2019
   

Article 11 Withdrawal of the contract

The lessee may withdraw from the lease once at least six months have elapsed, provided that the lessor is notified at least thirty days in advance. The parties may agree in the contract that, in the event of withdrawal, the lessee must indemnify the lessor with an amount equivalent to one month’s rent in force for each year of the contract that remains to be fulfilled. The periods of time less than one year shall give rise to the proportional part of the indemnity.

Article 11 drafted by paragraph six of the first article of Law 4/2013, of 4 June, on measures for making the housing rental market more flexible and promoting it (“B.O.E.” 5 June). Validity: 6 June 2013
Article 12 Withdrawal and expiration in case of marriage or cohabitation of the tenant

1. If the tenant manifests his will not to renew the contract or to withdraw from it, without the consent of the spouse living with the tenant, the lease may continue for the benefit of the spouse.
2. To this purpose, the lessor may require the spouse of the lessee to express his will in this regard.

Once the request has been made, the lease shall lapse if the spouse does not reply within fifteen days of the request. The spouse must pay the corresponding rent until the end of the contract, if it has not already been paid.

1. If the tenant leaves the dwelling without express declaration of withdrawal or non-renewal, the lease may continue for the benefit of the spouse living with the tenant provided that within one month of such abandonment, the landlord receives written notification from the spouse stating his or her willingness to be a tenant.

If the contract is terminated due to lack of notice, the spouse will be obliged to pay the rent for that month.

1. The provisions of the previous sections shall also apply in favour of the person who has been permanently living with the tenant in a relationship of affectivity analogous to that of the spouse, regardless of their sexual orientation, for at least two years prior to the withdrawal or abandonment, unless they have had offspring in common, in which case mere cohabitation shall suffice.

Article 13 Termination of the landlord’s right

If during the first five years of the contract, or seven years if the lessor is a legal entity, the lessor’s right is terminated by the exercise of a conventional retract, the opening of a trustee substitution, the forced alienation derived from a mortgage execution or judicial sentence or the exercise of a purchase option right, the lessee shall be entitled, in any case, to continue in the lease until five years or seven years respectively have elapsed, without prejudice to the non-renewal faculty provided for in article 9.1.

In contracts with an agreed duration of more than five years, or seven years if the lessor is a legal entity, if, after the first five years of the same, or the first seven years if the lessor is a legal entity, the lessor’s right is terminated by any of the circumstances mentioned in the preceding paragraph, the lease shall be terminated. The exception is the case in which the lease contract has accessed the Land Registry prior to the rights determining the termination of the right of the lessor. In this case, the lease shall continue for the agreed duration.

1. The leases granted by usufructuary, tenancy and all those who have a similar right of use over the property, shall expire at the end of the right of the lessor, in addition to other causes of extinction resulting from the provisions of this law.
2. Leases of other people’s dwelling which the tenant has entered into in good faith with the person who appears as the owner of the property in the Land Registry, or who appears to be so by virtue of a state of affairs the creation of which is attributable to the true owner, shall last for five years, without prejudice to the power of non-renewal referred to in article 9.1, unless the said owner is a legal person, in which case they shall last for seven years. Article 13 drafted by paragraph six of the first article of R.D.-law 7/2019, of 1 March, on urgent measures regarding housing and rent (“B.O.E.” 5 March). Effective: March 6, 2019
   Article 14 Disposal of the rented dwelling

The purchaser of a rented property will be subrogated to the rights and obligations of the lessor during the first five years of the contract, or seven years if the previous lessor was a legal entity, even if the requirements of Article 34 of the Mortgage Law are met.

If the agreed duration is more than five years, or more than seven years if the previous lessor is a legal entity, the acquirer will be subrogated for the entire agreed duration, unless it meets the requirements of Article 34 of the Mortgage Act. In this case, the acquirer must only support the lease for the time remaining for the course of the five-year term, or seven years in the case of a legal person, the transferor must compensate the lessee with an amount equivalent to one month’s rent in force for each year of the contract that, exceeding the five-year term, or seven years if the previous lessor was a legal person, remains to be complied with.

When the parties have stipulated that the alienation of the dwelling will extinguish the lease, the acquirer must only support the lease for the time remaining for the course of the term of five years, or seven years if the previous lessor was a legal person.

Article 14 drafted by paragraph seven of the first article of R.D.-law 7/2019, of 1 March, on urgent measures regarding housing and rent (“B.O.E.” 5 March). Effective: March 6, 2019
Article 15 Separation, divorce or marriage annulment of the tenant

1. In cases of marriage annulment, legal separation or divorce of the tenant, the non-tenant spouse may continue to use the rented dwelling when it is attributed to him or her in accordance with the provisions of the applicable civil legislation. The spouse to whom the use of the rented dwelling has been attributed in a permanent way or in a term superior to the term that remains to fulfill of the lease contract, will become the holder of the contract.
2. The spouse’s willingness to continue to use the dwelling must be communicated to the landlord within two months of notification of the corresponding judicial decision, accompanied by a copy of said judicial decision or of the part of the same that affects the use of the dwelling. Article 15 drafted by paragraph nine of the first article of Law 4/2013, of 4 June, on measures to make the housing rental market more flexible and encourage it (“B.O.E.” 5 June). Validity: 6 June 2013
   Article 16 Death of tenant
3. In the event of the death of the tenant, they may be subrogated in the contract:

a) The spouse of the tenant who, at the time of death, lived with him.
b) The person who has been living permanently with the tenant in a relationship of affectivity analogous to that of the spouse, regardless of their sexual orientation, for at least two years prior to the time of death, unless they had common offspring, in which case mere living together will suffice.
c) The descendants of the tenant who at the time of his death were subject to his parental authority or guardianship, or had habitually lived with him during the previous two years.
d) Ascendants of the tenant who habitually lived with him during the two years preceding his death.
e) The siblings of the tenant in whom the circumstance foreseen in the previous letter concurs.

f) Persons other than those mentioned in the preceding letters who suffer a disability equal to or greater than 65 per cent, provided that they are related to the tenant up to the third degree and have lived with the tenant during the two years prior to the death.
If, at the time of the death of the tenant, none of these persons existed, the lease shall be terminated.

1. If there are several of the aforementioned persons, in the absence of unanimous agreement as to which of them will be the beneficiary of the subrogation, the order of precedence established in the previous section shall apply, except that the septuagenarian parents shall be preferred to the descendants. Among the descendants and among the ascendants, preference shall be given to the nearest in degree, and among the siblings, to the double bond over the half-brother.

Cases of equality shall be resolved in favour of anyone with a disability equal to or greater than 65 per cent; in the absence of this situation, of anyone with greater family responsibilities and, ultimately, in favour of the youngest descendant, the oldest ascendant or the youngest sibling.

1. The tenancy shall terminate if, within three months of the tenant’s death, the lessor does not receive written notification of the fact of death, with a registered death certificate, and of the identity of the subrogate, indicating his relationship to the deceased and offering, where appropriate, a principle of proof that he meets the legal requirements for subrogation. If termination occurs, all those who may succeed the lessee, except those who renounce their option by notifying the lessor in writing within the month following the death, will be jointly and severally liable to pay the rent for those three months.

If the lessor receives several notifications in due time and form whose senders maintain their condition as beneficiaries of the subrogation, the lessor may consider them joint debtors of the obligations of the lessee, as long as they maintain their claim to be subrogated.

1. In leases whose initial duration is greater than five years, or seven years if the lessor is a legal person, the parties may agree that there is no right of subrogation in the event of the death of the lessee, when the death occurs after the first five years of the lease, or the first seven years if the lessor is a legal person, or that the lease terminates after five years if the death occurred earlier, or after seven years if the lessor is a legal person. In any case, this waiver of the right of subrogation may not be agreed in the event that the persons who may exercise this right by virtue of the provisions of paragraph 1 of this article are in a situation of special vulnerability and affect minors, disabled persons or persons over 65 years of age. Number 4 of article 16 drafted by paragraph eight of the first article of R.D.-law 7/2019, of 1 March, on urgent measures regarding housing and rent (“B.O.E.” 5 March). Effective: March 6, 2019
   CHAPTER III

OF INCOME

Article 17 Determination of income

1. The rent shall be the one freely stipulated by the parties.

Unless otherwise agreed, payment of the rent shall be monthly and shall be made within the first seven days of the month. In no case may the lessor require the advance payment of more than one month’s rent.

1. The payment shall be made at the place and by the procedure agreed upon by the parties or, failing this, in cash and in the rented dwelling.
2. The lessor is obliged to give the lessee a receipt of payment, unless it has been agreed that this is done through procedures that prove the effective fulfilment of the obligation of payment by the lessee.

The receipt or document that replaces it must contain separately the amounts paid for the different concepts that make up the total payment, and specifically, the rent in force.

If the lessor does not deliver the receipt, all expenses incurred by the lessee to record the payment shall be borne by him.

1. In rental contracts it may be freely agreed by the parties that, for a specified period, the obligation to pay rent may be replaced in whole or in part by the tenant’s undertaking to renovate or rehabilitate the property under the agreed terms and conditions. At the end of the lease, the tenant may in no case request additional compensation for the cost of the work carried out on the property. Failure by the lessee to carry out the works in accordance with the agreed terms and conditions may result in the termination of the lease and the provisions of Article 23(2) shall apply. Number 5 of article 17 introduced by paragraph 11 of the first article of Law 4/2013, of 4 June, on measures to relax and promote the housing rental market (“B.O.E.” 5 June). Validity: 6 June 2013
   Article 18 Updating of income
2. During the term of the contract, the rent may only be updated by the lessor or the lessee on the date on which each year of validity of the contract is fulfilled, in the terms agreed by the parties. In the absence of an express agreement, no update of income shall be applied to the contracts.

In case of express agreement between the parties on some mechanism for updating monetary values that does not detail the reference index or methodology, the rent will be updated for each annuity by reference to the annual variation of the Competitiveness Guarantee Index on the date of each update, taking as reference month for the update the one that corresponds to the last index that was published on the date of updating of the contract.

In any case, the increase produced as a consequence of the annual update of the income may not exceed the result of applying the percentage variation experienced by the Consumer Price Index on the date of each update, taking as the reference month for the update the one that corresponds to the last index that was published on the date of updating of the contract.

Number 1 of article 18 drawn up by section nine of the first article of R.D.-law 7/2019, of 1 March, on urgent measures regarding housing and rent (“B.O.E.” 5 March). Effective: March 6, 2019

1. The updated rent shall be payable by the tenant from the month following that in which the interested party notifies the other party in writing, expressing the percentage of alteration applied and accompanying, if the tenant so requires, the appropriate certification from the National Statistics Institute.

The notification made by note in the receipt of the monthly payment of the preceding payment shall be valid.

Article 18 drawn up by section twelve of the first article of Law 4/2013, of 4 June, on measures for making the housing rental market more flexible and promoting it (“B.O.E.” 5 June). Validity: 6 June 2013
Article 19 Rent increases for improvements

1. The performance by the lessor of improvement works after five years of duration of the contract, or seven years if the lessor is a legal entity, shall entitle him, unless otherwise agreed, to raise the annual rent by the amount resulting from applying to the capital invested in the improvement, the legal interest rate of the money at the time of completion of the works increased by three points, without exceeding the increase of twenty per cent of the income in force at that time.

For the calculation of the capital invested, the public subsidies obtained for the execution of the work must be discounted.

1. When the improvement affects several properties of a building under horizontal property regime, the lessor must distribute proportionally among all of them the capital invested, applying, for this purpose, the participation quotas corresponding to each of them.

In the case of buildings not owned horizontally, the capital invested shall be distributed proportionally between the properties affected by agreement between the lessor and the lessees. In the absence of an agreement, it shall be distributed proportionally according to the surface area of the leased property.

1. The increase in rent shall take place from the month following that in which, once the works have been completed, the lessor notifies the lessee in writing of the amount of the rent, detailing the calculations that lead to its determination and providing copies of the documents from which the cost of the works carried out results.
3. Without prejudice to the provisions of the foregoing sections and to the compensation provided for in Article 22, at any time from the beginning of the term of the rental contract and subject to prior agreement between the landlord and the tenant, improvement work may be carried out on the rented dwelling and the rent of the contract may be increased, without this implying the interruption of the period of compulsory extension established in Article 9 or of tacit extension referred to in Article 10 of this Law, or a new start in the calculation of such periods. In any case, the scope of the improvement works must go beyond the fulfilment of the maintenance duty by the lessor referred to in Article 21 of this Law. Article 19 drafted by paragraph ten of the first article of R.D.-law 7/2019, of 1 March, on urgent measures regarding housing and rent (“B.O.E.” 5 March). Effective: March 6, 2019

Article 20 General and individual service costs

The parties may agree that the general expenses for the adequate maintenance of the property, its services, taxes, charges and responsibilities that are not susceptible to individualization and that correspond to the rented dwelling or its accessories, shall be borne by the lessee.

In buildings owned horizontally, such expenses shall be those corresponding to the leased property according to its participation quota.

In buildings that are not under horizontal property regime, such expenses will be those that have been assigned to the leased property according to its surface area.

In order to be valid, this agreement must be in writing and determine the annual amount of these expenses at the date of the contract. The agreement referring to taxes shall not affect the Administration.

The costs of property management and the formalisation of the contract shall be borne by the lessor, when the latter is a legal entity.

Number 1 of article 20 drawn up by section eleven of article one of the R.D.-law 7/2019, of 1 March, on urgent measures regarding housing and rent (“B.O.E.” 5 March). Effective: March 6, 2019

1. During the first five years of the term of the contract, or during the first seven years if the lessor is a legal person, the sum to be paid by the lessee for the concept referred to in the previous paragraph, with the exception of taxes, may only be increased, by agreement of the parties, annually, and never by a percentage greater than twice that by which the rent may be increased in accordance with the provisions of Article 18(1). Number 2 of article 20 drawn up by section twelve of the first article of R.D.-law 7/2019, of 1 March, on urgent measures regarding housing and rent (“B.O.E.” 5 March). Effective: March 6, 2019
2. The expenses for services that the rented property has that are individualized by means of meters will be in any case of account of the hirer.
3. Payment of the costs referred to in this article shall be credited in the manner provided for in Article 17.4.

CHAPTER IV

THE RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS OF THE PARTIES

Article 21 Maintenance of the dwelling

1. The lessor is obliged to carry out, without the right to raise the rent, all the repairs that are necessary to preserve the dwelling in the conditions of habitability to serve the agreed use, except when the deterioration whose repair is attributable to the lessee in accordance with the provisions of Articles 1.563 and 1.564 of the Civil Code.

The obligation to repair has its limit in the destruction of the dwelling for reasons not attributable to the landlord. For this purpose, the provisions of article 28 shall apply.

1. When the execution of a conservation work cannot reasonably be deferred until the conclusion of the lease, the tenant shall be obliged to bear it, even if it is very annoying or during it is deprived of a part of the dwelling.

If the work lasts more than twenty days, the rent shall be reduced in proportion to the part of the dwelling of which the tenant is deprived.

1. The tenant must inform the lessor, as soon as possible, of the need for the repairs referred to in paragraph 1 of this article, for the sole purpose of which he must provide the lessor with direct verification, by himself or by the technicians he designates, of the condition of the dwelling. At any time, and with prior notice to the lessor, he may carry out those that are urgent to avoid imminent damage or serious discomfort, and immediately demand the amount from the lessor.
3. Small repairs required by wear and tear due to ordinary use of the dwelling will be at the tenant’s expense.

Article 22 Improvement work

1. The hirer shall be obliged to support the execution by the lessor of improvement works, the execution of which cannot reasonably be deferred until the conclusion of the lease.
2. A lessor who intends to carry out such works must notify the lessee in writing, at least three months in advance, of the nature, start, duration and foreseeable cost of the works. Within one month of such notice, the tenant may withdraw from the contract, unless the works do not affect the rented dwelling. The lease will expire within two months from the date of withdrawal, during which work may not commence.
3. The tenant who supports the works shall be entitled to a reduction in rent in proportion to the part of the dwelling of which he is deprived because of them, as well as compensation for the expenses that the works oblige him to carry out.

Article 23 Works of the tenant

1. The lessee may not, without the written consent of the lessor, carry out works that modify the configuration of the dwelling or the accessories referred to in Article 2(2). In no case may the lessee carry out works that cause a decrease in the stability or security of the dwelling.

Without prejudice to the right to terminate the contract, the lessor who has not authorised the work to be carried out may, at the conclusion of the contract, require the lessee to restore things to their previous state or to retain the modification made, without the lessee being able to claim any compensation.

If, despite the provisions of paragraph 1 of this article, the tenant has carried out work that has led to a decrease in the stability of the building or the security of the dwelling or its accessories, the lessor may immediately require the tenant to return the property to its previous state.

Article 23 drawn up by paragraph fifteen of the first article of Law 4/2013, of 4 June, on measures to make the rental housing market more flexible and to promote it (“B.O.E.” 5 June). Validity: 6 June 2013

Article 24 Disabled tenants

1. The tenant, with prior written notification to the landlord, may carry out inside the dwelling those works or actions necessary for it to be used appropriately and in accordance with the disability or age of more than seventy, both of the tenant himself or his spouse, of the person with whom he or she lives permanently in a similar affective relationship, regardless of his or her sexual orientation, or of his or her relatives who live permanently with any of them, provided that they do not affect the common elements or services of the building or cause a decrease in its stability or security.
2. The tenant shall be obliged, at the end of the contract, to restore the dwelling to its previous state, if so required by the landlord. Article 24 drafted by paragraph sixteen of the first article of Law 4/2013, of 4 June, on measures to relax and promote the housing rental market (“B.O.E.” 5 June). Validity: 6 June 2013
   Article 25 Pre-emptive right of acquisition
3. In the event of the sale of the rented dwelling, the lessee shall have a preferential right of acquisition over the same, under the conditions set out in the following sections.
4. The tenant may exercise a right of first refusal over the rented property within a period of thirty calendar days, counting from the next day on which he is notified in a reliable manner of the decision to sell the rented property, the price and the other essential conditions of the transfer.

The effects of the notification provided for in the preceding paragraph shall expire one hundred and eighty calendar days thereafter.

1. In the case referred to in the preceding paragraph, the tenant may exercise the right of withdrawal, subject to the provisions of Article 1.518 of the Civil Code, when he has not been given the notification or has omitted any of the requirements, as well as when the effective price of the sale is lower or its other essential conditions are less onerous. The right of retraction shall expire thirty calendar days from the date following the notification that the purchaser must faithfully make to the lessee of the essential conditions in which the sale was made, by means of delivery of a copy of the deed or document in which it was formalized.
3. The tenant’s right of pre-emption or withdrawal shall take precedence over any other similar right, except for the withdrawal recognised for the owner of the dwelling or the conventional right registered in the Land Registry at the time of conclusion of the rental contract.
4. In order to register in the Land Registry the titles of sale of rented dwellings, it must be justified that the notifications foreseen in the previous sections have taken place in their respective cases, with the requirements demanded therein. When the property sold was not rented, in order for the purchase to be registered, the seller must declare this in the deed, under penalty of falsehood in a public document.
5. When the sale falls, in addition to the rented dwelling, on the other objects rented as accessories to the dwelling by the same landlord referred to in Article 3, the tenant may not exercise the preferential acquisition rights over the dwelling alone.
6. There is no right of pre-emption when the rented dwelling is sold together with the other dwellings or premises owned by the landlord which form part of the same building, nor when all the apartments and premises of the building are sold together by different owners to the same purchaser. In such cases, the legislation on housing may establish the right of first refusal and retraction, with respect to the entire property, in favour of the body designated by the competent Administration in matters of housing, the provisions of the previous sections being applicable for the purposes of notification and exercise of such rights.

If there is only one dwelling in the property, the tenant shall have the pre-emption and pre-emption rights provided for in this article.

Number 7 of article 25 drawn up by section thirteen of the first article of the R.D.-law 7/2019, of 1 March, on urgent measures regarding housing and rent (“B.O.E.” 5 March). Effective: March 6, 2019

1. Notwithstanding the provisions of the preceding paragraphs, the parties may agree that the lessee renounces the right of preferential acquisition.

In the cases in which this waiver has been agreed, the lessor must notify the tenant of his intention to sell the dwelling at least thirty days before the date of formalisation of the contract of sale.

Number 8 of article 25 drawn up by section seventeen of the first article of Law 4/2013, of 4 June, on measures to make the housing rental market more flexible and encourage it (“B.O.E.” 5 June). Validity: 6 June 2013.
CHAPTER V

SUSPENSION, TERMINATION AND EXTINCTION OF THE CONTRACT

Article 26 Habitability of the dwelling

When the execution in the rented dwelling of conservation works or works agreed by a competent authority make it uninhabitable, the tenant shall have the option of suspending the contract or withdrawing from it, without any compensation.

The suspension of the contract will mean, until the completion of the works, the suspension of the term of the contract and the suspension of the obligation to pay rent.

Article 27 Breach of obligations

1. The breach by either party of the obligations resulting from the contract shall entitle the party that has fulfilled its obligations to demand performance of the obligation or to promote the termination of the contract in accordance with the provisions of Article 1.124 of the Civil Code.
2. In addition, the lessor may terminate the contract for the following reasons:

a) Failure to pay the rent or, as the case may be, any of the amounts for which payment has been assumed or corresponds to the lessee.
b) Failure to pay the amount of the deposit or to update it.
c) Inconsensual subleasing or assignment.
d) Damage caused maliciously to the property or works not consented to by the lessor when the latter’s consent is necessary.
e) When disturbing, unhealthy, harmful, dangerous or illicit activities take place in the dwelling.
f) When the dwelling ceases to be primarily intended to satisfy the permanent housing needs of the tenant or of the person who actually occupies the dwelling in accordance with the provisions of article 7.

1. Similarly, the tenant may terminate the contract for the following reasons:

(a) failure by the lessor to carry out the repairs referred to in Article 21.
b) Disruption of the landlord’s legal or factual use of the dwelling.

4. In the case of urban property leases registered in the Land Registry, if it has been stipulated in the contract that the lease will be terminated due to non-payment of rent and that in this case the property must be returned immediately to the lessor, the resolution will take place as of right once the lessor has judicially or notarially summoned the lessee at the domicile designated for the purpose in the registration, urging him to payment or compliance, and he has not responded to the summons within ten working days, or responds by accepting the resolution as of right, all by means of the same judge or notary who made the summons.

The title contributed to the registry procedure, together with the copy of the act of request, of which the notification results and which has not been answered by the required payment or which has been answered by accepting the resolution of full right, will be sufficient title to practice the cancellation of the lease in the Property Registry.

If there are subsequent charges that fall on the lease, it will also be necessary for its cancellation to justify the reliable notification to the owners of the same, at the address that works in the Registry, and prove the consignment in their favor before the same notary, of the deposit provided by the tenant.

Number 4 of article 27 introduced by paragraph eighteen of the first article of Law 4/2013, of 4 June, on measures to relax and promote the housing rental market (“B.O.E.” 5 June). Validity: 6 June 2013
Article 28 Termination of tenancy

In addition to the other causes contemplated in this Title, the lease contract shall be terminated for the following reasons:

a) For the loss of the leased property for reasons not attributable to the lessor.
b) For the firm declaration of ruin agreed by the competent authority.

☞ next