The Spanish government trusts to regulate the rental of rooms this legislature

SantanderThe Minister of Housing, Isabel Rodríguez, said she is confident that "before the end of this term" there will be a pact in Congress "to respond to the fraud of seasonal and room rentals". She assured that "a broad agreement is possible", and asked all groups to be "willing to give up" to promote new regulation.

The minister explicitly pointed out Junts, asking them to "end up accepting some positive proposal". "Housing cannot remain in the framework of permanent no", she said during the closing of the UIMP and APIE summer course this Friday. At the end of last year, Parliament gave the green light to regulate seasonal and room rentals in Catalonia, with votes in favor from PSC, ERC, Comuns and CUP.

The issue reached Congress at the end of 2024 as a popular legislative initiative (ILP), with the support of Sumar, ERC, Bildu and Podem, and later the socialists and the PNB joined. The executive has in its sights room and seasonal rentals because they are loopholes that, according to the minister, private individuals have found to violate housing regulations.

Regarding the law that the government is preparing to regulate social housing providers –a new legal figure–, the government says it is finalizing "fiscal adjustments". It does not specify deadlines, but maintains the intention to promote the norm before the end of the term.

Likewise, from the ministry they assure that they will be "very vigilant" in the new modalities of investment in housing, especially in the area of rehabilitations. "What is happening in those works where a three-bedroom apartment ends up being seven? –she asked herself–. The kitchen disappears and only the refrigerator remains, and the dining room disappears and becomes a new bedroom".

State register of applicants

Rodríguez has said that the expansion of public and affordable housing is the "main" way the Spanish government has to act in the face of the housing crisis, "primarily" with new construction. In his opinion, Pedro Sánchez's executive has "changed the paradigm of public policies" in housing matters, and has boasted of the results, both in completed and started flats and in rent regulation. "It is giving results. There is a lot of literature, but if we look at the data, the results are visible," he defended.

The minister reiterated that it is "dramatic" that there is no "register of housing applicants" at the state level, a measure that is already included in the state housing plan. She said it is key to fine-tune public actions and to know what demands citizens have and, with this argument, she urged all administrations to – literally – impose on themselves the need to share data.