Catalonia will not be able to limit rental prices if the PP wins

BarcelonaLess than 24 hours before a general strike motivated, among other issues, by the unsustainable housing situation in Catalonia and Spain, and a few hours before putting the Maricarmen decrees to a vote in the Permanent Deputation of Congress, scheduled for this Thursday, the Popular Party has presented its electoral program for the general elections on November 29th, with a warning to all concerned regarding housing. The party proposes up to 14 sectoral measures in this area, among which the outright repeal of the state housing law, approved in 2023 and recently reformed, stands out.

In Catalonia, the Basque Country, Navarre, Asturias and Galicia (the autonomous communities that apply the law), this measure would mean an end to the application of rent price limits, as it would entail the automatic elimination of tense zones and price indices, just as the Popular Party's electoral program defends. The party presided over by Alberto Núñez Feijóo justifies the proposal by arguing that this will recover "the legal security that landlords and tenants need" and eliminate "intervention" and "uncertainty", factors that, according to the Populars, have caused "the rental market supply" to fall.

It is the most significant measure due to its direct impact on Catalan tenants. Without a state law to support it, the Constitutional Court has made it clear in two different rulings that the Generalitat does not have the jurisdiction to set a limit on rental prices. Although the Parliament was a pioneer in legislating on this matter, it was not until the Congress of Deputies approved the housing law that the caps could be set with legal certainty.

The other major proposal from the popular party, which they place as the central axis of their sectoral measures on housing, is the promise to build up to one million homes. To do so, they propose passing a new land law, making publicly owned plots public "so that developers and cooperatives can know them," accelerating the granting of building permits, and incentivizing investment from companies that "meet national goals for land creation and the mobilization of public land."

The program also includes a gesture towards young people who can afford to acquire their first home. The PP proposes reducing the VAT on the purchase of a first home from 10% to 4% for those under 40 and allowing the payment of taxes to be split "at the pace of the mortgage." Another measure aimed at young people is the reduction of the property transfer tax (ITP), without specifying the amount, so they can access their first home and also pay this tax in installments.

"The squatter will be out in 48 hours by court order"

Regarding illegal occupation, the popular party is emphatic: "The squatter will be out in 48 hours by court order." This is nothing new, as current legislation already provides for eviction without the need for a prior court order when an illegal entry is reported immediately and it can be proven that it is recent, in cases of flagrant offense of trespassing. The electoral program also promises to reform the horizontal property law "so that owners' associations can ask the judge for eviction." Furthermore, it ensures that owners who have their home occupied "will not be required to pay for water, electricity, gas, or taxes" on the property while the occupation lasts. This is not a new proposal either, as jurisprudence has also already provided for this possibility.