Spain: renting, rent update, deposit and tenant rights

How much the rent can rise

The rent is whatever the parties freely agree (LAU article 17.1). During the lease it can only be updated on each anniversary of the lease and on the agreed terms: without an express agreement, there is no update (article 18.1). The updated rent can be demanded from the month after the one in which it is notified in writing, with the percentage applied (article 18.2).

Law 12/2023 asked the INE for an index to serve as a reference limit for that update (eleventh additional provision). The INE calls it the IRAV: the lowest of the annual change in the CPI, the annual change in core CPI and an adjusted average rate calculated with the ECB’s 2% target and a coefficient of 0.5. According to the INE, leases signed after May 26, 2023 are reviewed with the IRAV, which is published every month.

With a rent of €800 and the August 2026 IRAV (2.47%), the rent becomes €819.76. If the lease is earlier, or sets another index, what was agreed prevails.

The deposit and guarantees

When the lease is made it is compulsory to provide a cash deposit of one month’s rent for a residential let (article 36.1). During the first five years (seven if the landlord is a legal entity) it is not updated; if the lease is extended, either party may ask for it to be brought to one month of the rent in force. If the landlord does not return it in the month after the keys are handed over, the balance earns legal interest.

The parties may agree another guarantee besides the deposit, for example a bank guarantee, but in leases of up to five years (seven if the landlord is a legal entity) it cannot exceed two months’ rent (article 36.5). The landlord cannot demand payment in advance of more than one month (article 17.2).

Who pays what

Real estate management expenses and those of formalizing the lease are the landlord’s (article 20.1). The general expenses of the property, such as community charges or IBI, go to the tenant only if agreed in writing and their annual amount was set at the date of the lease; utilities with an individual meter are always paid by the tenant (article 20.3).

The landlord repairs everything needed to keep the home habitable, without raising the rent for it, unless the damage is attributable to the tenant; small repairs from wear in ordinary use are the tenant’s (article 21). The rent is paid in the first seven days of the month, by electronic means, and the landlord must give a receipt with the breakdown (article 17).

Duration, extension and early termination

The parties agree the duration, but if it is under five years (seven if the landlord is a legal entity), the lease is extended by years until that minimum is reached, unless the tenant gives thirty days’ notice that they do not want to renew it (article 9). After the minimum, if nobody gives notice in time (four months the landlord, two the tenant), it is extended for three more years in annual periods (article 10).

The tenant may terminate the lease after at least six months, giving thirty days’ notice. If the lease provides for it, they must compensate with one month of rent for each year remaining, and the proportional part of shorter periods (article 11).

If the home is sold

In case of sale, the tenant has a right of first refusal: they may exercise the pre-emption within thirty calendar days of being reliably notified of the decision to sell, the price and the conditions; and the redemption, also within thirty days, if they were not notified or if the price or conditions were more advantageous for the buyer (article 25).

Tight-market zones and recent changes

In a declared tight residential market zone, the initial rent of the new lease cannot exceed the last rent of the lease of the last five years on the same home, already updated, except in some cases with a maximum of 10% (article 17.6).

The law changed recently: Royal Decree-law 26/2026 of September 29 amended several articles of the LAU, but Congress repealed it on October 2, 2026 and the text went back to its earlier wording. Always check the text in force.