The Catalan public administrations, and especially the Generalitat’s Agencia Catalana de l’Habitatge, are sending requirement letters to owners of occupied dwellings advising them that they must offer a social rental to the people who live in them, although in many cases the owners do not They have no legal obligation to do so.
According to Marc Cucala, founding partner of the InLegis law firm, “small companies, owners of 3 or 4 floors and even private owners are receiving these requirements. They are not experts in law, and when they receive this letter from the Catalan Administration they are scared and effectively sign a social lease with the squatters. And then they do not have any way to recover the houseâ€.
Cucala explained that his office has spent years advising apartment owners who are being occupied, or small investors who buy them at a low price to do the eviction procedures themselves “and we are receiving five letters of this type a week, something that we do not never happened.” 95% of the communications are from the Agència Catalana de l’Habitatge (ACH) “although there are also some from some town hall”.
The mandatory social rent is regulated by two Catalan emergency laws in the field of housing, from 2015 and 2022. According to the ACH, only large holders, which it defines as financial entities, are obliged to offer a social rent in the event of illegal occupation. and its subsidiaries, investment, venture capital and asset management funds, such as Sareb; companies that have more than 10 homes or individuals with more than 15.
But also, even if it is a large holder, they only have the obligation to offer a social rent to the illegal occupants if the house was registered in the registry of empty and illegally occupied houses and if the occupation took place before June 1 In addition, only illegal occupants who have not rejected an offer of social housing from any administration, who are classified as at risk of exclusion by municipal services, and who have roots and coexistence in their environment, are entitled to this social rent. local.
Spokesmen for the Agència de l’Habitatge denied that they have changed their operation and assured that they only send requests to offer a social rent to the owners who are obliged to do so.
According to Cucala, however, a large percentage of the letters correspond to cases in which the requirements established by law are not met. “In many cases, the owner responds to the Administration by refusing to offer the rent, and proving that he is not obliged, and this acknowledges it and archives the file. In other cases, however, in the same cases, the Administration persists, it seems that depending on the officialâ€.
The administrative claim resolves most cases favorably, although InLegis has four cases in court, in contentious-administrative claims, which are scheduled for trial in 2024.
The new Housing law has not changed the obligation to offer social rent, but when the stressed market areas are approved, it will allow the Generalitat to lower the requirements to be considered a large holder, so that those with more than 5 floors will be. .
Cucala recalls that the Administration also requires large holders to offer a social rent when a tenant who meets the requirements to be considered vulnerable defaults on rent or refuses to leave the home when the lease ends. “In these cases, the law obliges all large holders, without exception, to offer a social rent,” he clarifies.
