Focus: Spain freezes home evictions until 2030 and proposes automatic rent renewals

MADRID, September 29 /ATSH-DPA/ — Spain’s government has announced a freeze on home evictions until 2030, as well as the automatic renewal of rental contracts, as part of measures to tackle the country’s housing crisis.

Health Minister Monica Garcia Gomez announced the measures following negotiations within the governing coalition.

The proposals are part of two bills to be approved by Parliament, where Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s socialist government lacks a majority.

According to the minister, the executive also aims to ban home purchases by investment funds known as “speculative funds”, while envisaging new rules for seasonal rentals and rented rooms.

The measures come as investment funds and short-term tourist rental platforms, including Airbnb, have become targets of housing-rights protesters. They accuse them of contributing to rising home prices and shrinking supply for residents.

Presidency Minister Felix Bolanos called the measures an important agreement for tenants and small landlords, while criticizing speculation in the real estate market.

The package, dubbed the “Maricarmen decree”, is named after an 87-year-old woman from Madrid who last week was evicted from the home where she had lived for nearly 70 years, after the property was bought by a real estate company.

The case sparked strong reactions in Spain and put the housing crisis back at the center of public debate, ahead of the 2027 parliamentary elections.

Since Saturday, hundreds of protesters and activists have occupied part of Madrid’s Puerta del Sol square, opposing what they see as speculation in the housing market and demanding greater protection for tenants.

Spain’s tenants’ union has demanded, among other things, open-ended rental contracts.

“We celebrate this victory of people’s power,” the union’s spokeswoman, Alicia del Rio, declared at Puerta del Sol, adding that the organization is still awaiting the concrete text of the measures.