Barcelona to limit temporary rent prices so landlords stop skirting rules

The Catalan regional government has passed long-awaited rules to better regulate temporary rental contracts (contratos de temporada) and room rentals in the northeastern region.

The legislation aims to control seasonal rental contracts and will limit the conditions, such as price caps, under which they can be rented for tourist or recreational use, a common method used by landlords to get around rules and bypass price caps.

This comes at a time of crisis in the rental market in Catalonia and the country more widely. Nine out of ten tenants in Barcelona now have temporary rental contracts, according to a December 2024 study published by the Barcelona Urban Research Institute (IDRA).

Three quarters of rental ads in Barcelona are for rooms, which are also usually done via seasonal or temporary contratos de temporada.

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The reason why temporary or seasonal rental contracts under a year in length have become so common in Barcelona and around Spain is that landlords don’t have to abide by price controls as they’re not deemed long-term residential contracts.

Barcelona and Catalonia already have price controls for 'stressed rental areas' which mean that long-term rentals, including new ones, cannot be above a certain price, and on a national level there’s a rent cap on existing long-term contracts that prevent year-on-year increases of more than around 3 percent, also in place in Catalonia.

Therefore, if a landlord rents out a property to a tenant for between 32 days (anything under is considered short-term rental) and 364 days (anything over is deemed a long-term contract) they don’t have to abide by the Urban Leasing Law (LAU) as they’re considered to be temporary rentals.

Facing this, a deal was struck between the ruling Catalan Socialists and smaller parties ERC, Comuns and CUP to rubber stamp a decree-law on housing in the regional Parlament and move forward with processing it as a bill.

The main change is limits on the type of rentals used for seasonal contracts. They can be recreational, for which there is no price cap, or residential, for which there are. Contracts must meet certain requirements for offering a seasonal rental for recreational use as they are more financially lucrative.

However, the idea behind the new rules is that new contracts must be mainly residential. Therefore, seasonal contracts for residential use will be subject to the price ceiling set by the Housing Law for conventional rental contracts, a move intended to discourage the method used by many owners to circumvent the rules.

“In the case of seasonal rentals, the new contracts must prove their use and purpose, and the residence of the person renting them,” said Susanna Segovia of Comuns. Thus, only if a person can prove that they have a fixed home can landlords offer seasonal rentals for recreational use. “This is a very good agreement, a maximum agreement,” Segovia added.

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The agreement also extends protections on housing that was due to expire with the declaration of further 'stressed rental areas’, and the regional government will start a register of large property owners.

There was already an inventory of companies and investment funds with multiple properties, but the agreement allows for the inclusion of individuals on the database in order to more easily apply property transfer taxes.

Around a month ago, the Socialists and Comuns agreed to increase the tax from 10 percent to 20 percent for large property owners.

Students who move to another city during the academic year will be able to obtain seasonal rentals for residential use, for which the price will be subject to limitations. The new regulation also limits room rentals: the sum of all rents may not exceed the ceiling established by state law.

READ MORE: The pros and cons of signing a temporary rental contract in Spain