The supply of “permanent” or “habitual housing” rentals falls in the most stressed areas, and the storm takes hold.
In Barcelona, ??seasonal rentals have increased and, at the end of 2023, they accounted for 30% of the entire offer advertised on idealista. In turn, long-term rentals fell 24% compared to the same period of the previous year.
The reason is to fight the limits on rent and the extraordinary extensions applicable after the Housing law, which will take on more importance in Catalonia after declaring its residential market areas under tension.
But temporary rental also has its drawbacks: the owner must pay taxes in the income tax return on all the income he obtains, without access to bonuses of any kind. Offering bonuses on permanent rentals is the Government’s way of promoting the supply of regular housing on the market, and less focused on temporary housing or tourism.
Another proliferating modality is the rental of rooms. It may be an owner who decides to rent a room in the house where he lives to alleviate expenses, or it may be an investor who decides to rent housing to several tenants with individual contracts.
Be that as it may, “a rental of rooms can never be considered a rental of a habitual residence, as numerous jurisprudence has conceptualized, given the shared nature of elements such as the kitchen and the bathroom,” the Institut Català del Sòl resolves through of an online consultation.
“The majority doctrine places the regulation of room leasing in the Civil Code” and not in the Urban Leases Law. “If the parties so wish,” they clarify from Incasòl, “they can draw up a room rental contract subject to the LAU, as long as it is for use other than housing, with everything that it entails in terms of determining the deposit. , tax regime, etc.
Rental contracts for use other than housing—temporary rentals, offices, premises, etc.—do not qualify for these bonuses.
Many real estate agencies emphasize the greater profitability offered by modalities such as temporary rentals. But the reality is that their interest is behind the fees they charge for each renewal of the contract, which, in temporary rentals, are held at most every 11 months.
Disinterested experts remain confident that regular rental is a more interesting option than temporary rental in most cases.
1?? First, because the net income—after taxes, with bonuses—ends up being very similar or, if higher, they do not usually compensate for the high dedication that the owner must give to monthly rentals.
2?? Second, because the high turnover of tenants leads to greater wear and tear on the property and there is a risk of having the home empty between tenants. The Treasury applies income charges for the days of the year that the home is empty, in addition to the opportunity cost of not receiving income during that time.
It should also be noted that temporary rentals contribute to the gentrification of neighborhoods and other sociodemographic changes in our cities that can have negative effects on the local population and their economy.