Spain’s rental rules from 15 November: 5- or 7-year renewals and landlord compensation

Royal Decree-law 28/2026 was published on 7 October but does not take effect until 15 November. If it completes parliamentary validation and remains in force on that date, it will replace the familiar annual extensions of up to three years with much longer renewals and introduce compensation when a landlord chooses not to continue.

How the lease term would change

After the five-year minimum term — or seven years where the landlord is a legal entity — a habitual-home lease will renew for another five or seven years unless either party gives notice. The ordinary notice period becomes six months for the landlord and two months for the tenant.

Separate protections remain relevant: up to one extra year for a vulnerable household where the landlord is a large owner, and up to three years in a formally declared stressed area, subject to the statutory conditions. A completion date calculated from the original signature alone therefore cannot establish when a buyer will obtain vacant possession.

The new compensation test

A landlord serving valid non-renewal notice would owe the higher of two amounts: twelve monthly payments calculated from the top of the property’s individual state rent-reference range, or one monthly payment for each year the tenant has lived in the home. The current contractual rent is used when no individual reference value is available.

Exceptions include a genuine need by an individual landlord for their own home or specified relatives, an unjustified extended absence by the tenant, the tenant owning another suitable home in the same municipality, the parties signing a new lease, or the tenant rejecting a compliant new offer. The calculation should never be assumed without checking the facts and documentary record.

Transitional rules matter for existing contracts

The reform applies to leases already in force when a relevant expiry occurs after 15 November. Valid non-renewal notices sent before the decree’s publication remain effective and do not trigger the new compensation. Where less than six months remain at commencement, a landlord may use a four-month notice. A lease already in the previous annual-extension period continues under that older rule until the period ends, after which the new regime applies.

Before buying an occupied home, examine the lease, amendments, expiry and notices using our tenanted-home guide. The purchase-cost calculator cannot decide possession; compare scenarios in the project-budget calculator and assemble the records in the seller-document guide. Because the decree-law still faces congressional validation, check the official status again before exchanging contracts or serving notice.