The Constitutional Court yesterday endorsed the bulk of the state housing law that came into force just a year ago. The decision, which is expected to be made fully public, would ratify the competence of the State when it comes to regulating rent prices and deciding the basic legislation of contracts. The sentence went ahead with six votes in favor, with four against by the conservative magistrates Ricardo Enríquez, Enrique Arnaldo, Concepción Espejel and César Tolosa.
The sentence, which was delivered by magistrate María Luisa Segoviano Astaburuaga, recognizes the right to housing as constitutional and confirms the “competence of the State to establish the basic conditions that guarantee the equality of citizens”.
The Spanish Government celebrated the sentence, saying that “it is good news” that “ratifies the competence of the State when it comes to guaranteeing affordable and decent housing”, indicated sources from the Ministry of Housing. Minister Isabel Rodríguez affirmed, for her part, that “the pronouncement of the Constitutional Court highlights the competence of the State when it comes to assuming housing policies”.
The court also considered part of the appeal filed by the Junta de Andalucía against the law and declared unconstitutional its article 16, which regulates public housing parks in order, as the law stipulated, to avoid sales operations at the bottom of investment In the same article, a period of 30 years was set for the qualification of sheltered housing, known as HPO, and it stipulated that they had to be used exclusively for habitual residence and be occupied during the periods of time established as minimums in legislation and implementing regulations. It also established that the people awarded sheltered housing could not be holders of full ownership or a real right to use or enjoy any other property; nor exceed the maximum income level depending on the characteristics of the cohabitation unit.
The Constitution states that the regulation of sheltered housing belongs to the autonomous communities and that the State is not competent in the matter. The Housing law, therefore, cannot establish regulations to protect HPOs that encroach on autonomous competences and create “additional rights”.
The court’s decision, therefore, returns the competence over sheltered housing to the autonomous communities. Each autonomy has its own regulation on HPO. In four communities, Catalonia, the Valencian Community, the Basque Country and Navarre, the principle of permanent qualification governs. In the other thirteen, the classification of officially protected housing is temporary and 15 years after its construction, the property becomes free.
The Constitutional Court also declared unconstitutional the article of the Housing Law that sets the information that must be provided by the large holders and considers the regulation of the minimum required information to be excessive. Likewise, it annulled the first transitional provision, which establishes that homes qualified with some public protection scheme prior to the entry into force of the law, would be governed by the provisions of this rule.
Eduardo González de Molina, a researcher at the University College of London, emphasized that the decision would also support the establishment of taxes on empty homes or the prohibition of real estate commissions being paid by tenants. Regarding the nullity of Article 16, despite this, the expert affirms that the little officially protected housing that remains in Spain constitutes “a country drama”. “Since 1950, 6.5 million sheltered homes have been built; at the moment there are just 400,000 properties left”, he remarked.
The court’s decision sets the standard for reviews of appeals raised before the TC against this law by the Generalitat and the Parliament of Catalonia, the Government of the Balearic Islands, the Community of Madrid, the Basque Government, the Xunta de Galicia and the deputies of the PP in Congress.