The rental index was published this Friday in the Official State Gazette (BOE) and will come into force this Saturday. The Secretary of State for Housing and Urban Agenda, David Lucas, yesterday signed the two appropriate ministerial orders, thus complying with one of the star measures of the Housing Law: the first with the index itself and the second with the stressed areas in Catalonia, the only autonomous community that will apply the standard.
The indicator is a mechanism to try to reduce rental prices in certain areas. According to sources from the ministry itself: “We are making progress in avoiding the price scale and speculative market movements.” However, the measure will only affect certain homes, depending on who the owner is and where it is located.
The first characteristic of the rental index is that it will serve to know the reference prices in census sections, which cover between 500 and 2,000 inhabitants, of homes between 30 and 150 square meters. It is now available on the website of the Ministry of Housing, except in the Basque Country and Navarra, still without data due to their own tax system. The indicator, however, is born with a two-year lag, since it is referenced in tax data on housing from 2022. When the 2023 fiscal year closes, it will be updated.
Depends. If the rental property is in an area declared stressed and is owned by a large tenant, the tenant, when it is due to renew the contract, may demand to adapt the rental price to the index.
On the other hand, if the rental property in a stressed area belongs to a small owner, the tenant may propose a renegotiation, which will be in the private sphere. In any case, at the time of signing a new contract, and always in the case of homes owned by small owners, the price will have to be at the same level as the previous contract.
In the case of homes that are added to the market in an area declared as stressed and that have not been rented in the last five years, the index may also be applied and the indicator prices may be required.
Large holders are those who own ten or more homes in the same stressed area. However, the autonomous community can lower this consideration for natural or legal persons with five properties in the same area.
Small homeowners, individuals with some property intended to increase their income, will not have to necessarily rely on the rental index. It is not a requirement. If their leases in a stressed area are above the price reflected in the index, they may reduce them voluntarily. The only requirement that will be applied to them is the aforementioned one that they will have to reference their rents in the stressed areas to the prices of the previous contract.
The rental rate comes into force only in the stressed areas of the communities that have requested the Government to declare them. At this moment only Catalonia has done so, as published today by the BOE. A single tensioned zone will be created that will cover up to 140 municipalities, including Barcelona.
In the towns of Catalonia that do not fall into the stressed zone, the index will not be applied. Nor in the rest of the autonomous communities, which have chosen not to request the declaration of areas of especially high prices. However, several regional governments, all from the PSOE, such as Navarra and Asturias, have shown interest in approaching the Ministry of Housing to request that some municipalities be declared a stressed area. Localities in the south of Madrid also governed by the socialists have shown the same willingness, although the request always has to be from the regional government.
The index offers a range of home rental price values ??throughout Spain. This range is a reference, as a guide, for setting the rent in the contracts affected by the indicator in stressed areas. The higher figure will mark the limit of the rent at which the owners obliged to take advantage of this limit in stressed areas will be able to offer the home, as long as their properties meet comfort or efficiency characteristics.
The Ministry of Housing’s mapping offers information on housing prices taking into account their location and size. More precise data has been incorporated on the constructed area, state of conservation, elevator, parking, year of construction, whether the home is furnished, height of the building, energy certification, community areas, swimming pool, counseling, special courts… Thus, a range depending on the characteristics of the homes. The best homes can be rented in the upper part of that range and the more modest ones in the lower range.
The rental index is based on data from the Tax Agency, the General Directorate of the Cadastre, the National Institute of Statistics, the Bank of Spain, the College of Registrars and the Department of Economic Affairs of the Ministry of the Presidency.
