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  • Rent.The Government will guarantee loans to tenants and suspend evictions for non-payment

The rental aid that the Government plans to approve this Tuesday to alleviate the effects of the coronavirus has caused confusion in a part of the sector that believes that the measures could pose scenarios of imbalance between tenants and owners and, even, between the owners themselves depending on that are small or large holders of housing.

"There should be no legislation distinguishing between tenants and owners, both are neighbors and citizens who are seeing how their economic-labor situation has changed unexpectedly. These social policies cause inequality, because they favor one figure over the other. Let us remember that behind a There is a tenant owner who, in most cases, is a private individual and for whom the rental income becomes a very important support for their monthly income, "says Antonio Carroza , CEO of Secure Rental .

The project advanced yesterday by the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda contemplates to enable a line of loans channeled through banking entities and guaranteed by the State through the ICO ( Official Credit Institute ). In addition, it foresees different actions depending on whether the lessor is a "small owner" or a "large holder", so that for tenants whose lessor is a small owner, the Executive will guarantee lines of microcredit to be repaid in a period of three and six years, while for tenants whose landlord is a large holder, the Government will impose a moratorium of between one and four months on the rent payment to the owner.

Waiting to learn more about both measures, this point is the one that has generated the most discontent among the owners. "We would not see the discrimination between types of savings as reasonable or fair, imposing the obligation only on a certain one, such as the so-called large holders, to finance at their expense these deferred incomes between three and 10 years, penalizing the professionalized part of the sector ( owner of 2% of the park for rent) when it is compensating the remaining 96%, "they claim from the Association of Real Estate Agents with Rental Property ( Asipa ).

Although the figures vary slightly according to the source, these large holders have between 5% and 10% of the residential park for rent in Spain, while the rest is in the hands of small owners and individuals.

From Asipa consider that the measures on the table could generate a large debt bag for possible defaults after the moratorium and also believe that they go against the legal security of the owners. "Adopting burdensome and discriminatory measures only for a part of savings, interfering and unbalancing private relationships, involves a serious attack on the necessary legal security, which would put at risk the economic survival" of these large homeowners.

Suspend evictions

Another point covered by the Government's action plan has to do with evictions for rent . The Executive proposes to suspend the releases due to non-payment of rents until the day that three months have elapsed since the end of said situation and also studies granting an automatic extension of six months for contracts that expire during the state of alarm.

"If this is approved, the Government leaves the door open to delinquencies . Furthermore, the default prior to this situation would also be paralyzed and we cannot leave the lessors deprived of their homes and their right to private property "affects Antonio Carroza.

The rental market was left out of the first coronavirus aid package launched by the government two weeks ago and since then it has been one of the main claims by social agents and other political parties.

Meanwhile, some home owners, small and large, have taken the lead and on their own initiative have offered alternative solutions to their tenants, ranging from moratoriums to reductions in monthly rent.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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