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RENTING

Tenant or landlord: Who pays which costs in Spain?

Whether you’re a landlord or a renter, knowing which costs you’re responsible for is essential before signing a rental contract or when unexpected expenses arise.

Tenant or landlord: Who pays which costs in Spain?
Find out which costs tenants and landlords are responsible for in Spain. Photo: Michal Jarmoluk/Pixabay

Even though Spanish consumer groups and property experts generally agree over what constitutes a cost for the arrendatario (tenant) or the casero/arrendador (landlord), contract is king in Spain.

So if your contrato states that you’re responsible for paying a certain expense, then that’s what’s legally binding.

If you’re a tenant that means going over your rental contract with a fine-tooth comb. Not every property-related cost is included in rental contracts in Spain and not every landlord is trying to take you for a ride. But you should at least be able to recognise the costs you should not be paying for before signing on the dotted line.

And if you’re a landlord, it’s just as important to get the necessary protection from potentially irresponsible tenants who don’t take care of your property.

What is vital is that both sides negotiate and reach a compromise without it turning into a heated argument. These are the general standards for who pays what in tenant-landlord scenarios in Spain.

General bills

Electricity, gas and water are expenses that the tenant is responsible for as they are the ones making use of these services and it’s their consumption that influences the final cost. This includes internet bills unless otherwise stated in the contract.

Rubbish

Some town halls in Spain charge residents a flat annual fee for their rubbish collection (recogida de basura/residuos).

Spanish consumer watchdog OCU and property portal Idealista say that this is a cost that the landlord is responsible for paying, partly because it’s a fixed fee.

But some Spanish law firms argue that if tenants are the passive recipients of this public service then they should be footing the bill.

Either way, in most cases the fee is €50 to €100 so ask yourself if it’s really worthing fighting over it. An easy solution could also be to ask at your town hall who they deem responsible for paying.

Community costs

If the property is in a complex with communal spaces such as gardens and swimming pools then gastos de comunidad can easily amount to €100 a month.

The general consensus is that the landlord handles this cost even though it’s technically the tenant who enjoys them (it’s easier to simply raise the rental price to account for these extra perks that come with the property).

IBI property tax

Spain’s version of the council tax is in the vast majority of cases paid by the owner.

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Insurance

Logically, each party is responsible for insuring their own belongings if they want to get reimbursed in the event of a burglary, fire or other incident.

Photo: Fran1/Pixabay

Repairs and replacements

If the washing machine, boiler, floor, walls or another important element of the property stops working or is damaged it’s the landlord who has to pay, unless it’s a small fix or he or she can prove the breakdown was caused directly by the tenant.

Those two exceptions pretty much explain what the tenant has to pay – minor replacements like changing a lightbulb or repairs caused by their own clumsiness.

Wear and tear, or deterioro por uso in Spanish, is always a grey area on rental contracts.

You can read more about it in article 21.4 of the LAU (Spain’s Rental Law) but there’s still room for interpretation over what constitutes ‘small fixes’.

In most cases, Spanish law tends to favour landlords in wear-and-tear cases so one of the best ways a tenant can protect themselves is to make a photo-based inventory of all the small imperfections their let has as soon as they move in and to share it with the landlord.

That will serve as evidence and will help in cases when the broken item was already in partial disrepair before they moved in.

It may also be advisable to add a clause in the contract which illustrates what constitutes a small repair.

READ MORE: What’s the law on wear and tear when renting in Spain?

Damp

Is it due to the tenant’s misuse or is it caused by a construction problem that the building community has to handle? Or are both sides responsible in their own way?

This will determine who is liable to pay for any water damage or damp that the property may develop.

If the problem started in another property then there are two other parties that could be potentially responsible for footing the repair bill.

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PROPERTY

Spain considers banning tourist lets in residential buildings

The Spanish government has announced it's studying the possibility of prohibiting tourist apartments in residential buildings where property owners live.

Spain considers banning tourist lets in residential buildings

The Minister of Housing and Urban Agenda, Isabel Rodríguez, announced this Tuesday that the Government is studying a reform of the Horizontal Property Law in order to allow property owners to prohibit tourist apartments in their residential buildings.

In Spain, each building has what’s known as a community of neighbours, referred to La Comunidad or Comunidad de Vecinos in Spanish, and essentially the Spanish government is considering giving them veto power over tourist apartments in their buildings.

READ ALSO: ‘La comunidad’: What property owners in Spain need to know about homeowners’ associations

The announcement was stated in an interview on Telecinco, in which Rodríguez stated that this move comes as a consequence of recent supreme court rulings on tourist apartments in Oviedo in Asturias and San Sebastián in the Basque Country.

In the rulings, the magistrates concluded that the rental of housing for tourist use is an economic activity, and agreed that communities of owners in two separate buildings could ban tourist rentals in several apartments.  

“It will be the neighbourhood communities that will also be able to participate in these types of decisions, because this phenomenon, which is not exclusive to our country, affects the entire world and the main capitals in Europe,” explained the minister.

READ ALSO – UPDATE: Which cities in Spain have new restrictions on tourist rentals?

Recently, Rodríguez has criticised that the proliferation of tourist apartments causes problems for locals, that it stops them from being able to access decent housing and raises the price of rentals.

She praised the regions which have taken steps to try and put a stop to this and gave the recent example of Barcelona City Council, which announced last Friday that it would eliminate all tourist apartments by the end of 2028.

She believes this move in Barcelona “will benefit citizens who want to live in their city, who do not want it to be a theme park and who prioritise the right to access housing over economic interests”.

Spain’s Horizontal Property Law , which was modified once in 2019, already states that it “requires a favourable vote of three-fifths of the total number of owners who, in turn, represent three-fifths of the participation quotas”. This means that already owners have a big say in whether tourist licences can be granted to apartments in their buildings.

However, the particular wording of the law has been the subject of much legal controversy and judicial interpretation. The reason is because the wording of the law only mentions the possibility for communities to “limit or condition” tourist use, but they do not have the power to “prohibit” since the law does not expressly say so.

Several regions have their own rulings through regional courts, but this new announcement aims to make it universal across the board in Spain and ensure that there’s no room for misinterpretation.

Rodríguez is set to meet this afternoon with the governing board of the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (FEMP) and the Housing and Tourism Commissions to address this matter and come to a decision. 

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