• Measures The Government freezes the rental price for six months in contracts that are renewed

In the absence of a Housing Law, the Government has chosen to intervene directly in rental prices as a novelty in its third anti-crisis plan to deal with the consequences of inflation and the war in Ukraine.

Housing has become one of the mainstays of the plan presented yesterday by the president,

Pedro Sánchez

, and the owners criticize that the real effort falls on them and not on the responsible Public Administrations, which is why many are joining the initiative to file a joint property claim against the State.

On the one hand, the Executive will freeze the rents and the conditions of those contracts that expire in the next six months and want a renewal;

On the other hand, the Government has extended the limitation of 2% in the annual rent update for another year and, in addition, the

suspension of evictions and releases

for vulnerable households is extended for six months.

Organizations such as

Asipa

(Association of Real Estate Agents with Rental Property) believe that these measures constitute "interference in the normal functioning of the market" and others such as

Asval

, the Association of Rental Home Owners, considers that it is "a new attack to the Right to Private Property of more than two million owners in Spain".

His complaint is not only that intervention measures are established, but that there are no considerations or compensations to the owners, in the same way that other countries such as Portugal are doing.

The association itself, chaired by the former socialist minister

Joan Clos

, is currently channeling a joint response from the almost 6,000 members that make it up to claim against the effects of these measures.

The organization encourages its members to file a patrimonial claim against the State to claim the losses that they consider that the 2% limitation and now also the freezing of reviews report to them and has offered to channel all those claims that the landlords decide to send them. .

For this, Asval has set a deadline of January 31 (although it does not rule out extending it) and has sent a practical guide to its partners to inform them about how they should prepare the claim, what documentation they need, how to write it and what to claim.

"It must be taken into account that the amount corresponds to the damage that has actually been produced (not the one that we know will occur but we have not yet suffered)", collects the document to which

EL MUNDO

has had access .

They have recently carried out a survey in which more than 1,000 owners expressed their willingness to complain, although Asval assures this newspaper that they expect this figure to be higher.

In the association they calculate an average loss of 1,000 euros per year for each rental contract in force.

"Legal uncertainty"

Meanwhile, in the sector there is unanimity when assessing the impact that the measures of the new Moncloa plan will have on the market and they warn that, far from alleviating the tension in some areas, they will go further.

"The measures announced in terms of rent are excellent news for current tenants and cannot be worse for those looking for a house from January," says

Francisco Iñareta.

, spokesperson for the Idealista real estate portal.

"The Government is wrong once again regulating the rent. At this time the origin of the heating of the market is due to the lack of supply, which continues to dwindle, and generates not only tensions on prices but also enormous anxiety in families who are looking for renting a home and they have to face real castings.The announced measures, far from fixing the situation, seriously worsen it: not only do they discourage the appearance of new homes on the market, but they also push many more owners to remove them from it and put them on for sale," he adds.

The different critics also coincide in pointing out the "legal uncertainty" that is generated and the lack of structural solutions to the problems of access to housing that exist in Spain.

"Once again, it is an interference in the normal functioning of the market. They are temporary measures that do not solve the real or underlying problems," they point out from

Asipa

, who lists other alternatives such as "increasing the supply of rental housing, which is the real problem at the root, and guaranteeing legal certainty, essential to generate trust and encourage long-term investment".

For

José Ramón Zurdo,

general director of the Rent Negotiating Agency (ANA), the losses will now be "much greater, because landlords will not be able to update their rents at market prices, losing even more purchasing power."

In addition, Zurdo considers that "thanks to these measures, there is less and less supply, at higher prices and more and more requirements are asked of tenants to be able to access a home."

On the opposite side is the Tenants Union, one of the pressure groups closest to United We Can, which welcomes the measures adopted yesterday by the Council of Ministers although it believes that they fall short.

"For months, the

Tenants Unions

have pressured the Government to take measures in the field of housing against inflation. Today, they finally arrive, but they are

insufficient"

Regarding the limitation of 2% in the update, he assures that it is a " positive

measure

but it must include

penalizing

elements to be effective, since most of the landlords try to jump the limit";

Regarding the extension of the contracts for six months at the same price, he assures that it "postpones the problem" for half a year and "

does not protect against

price increases in the contracts signed by

new tenants

and the apartments that enter the rental market."

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

  • living place

  • Inflation