Junts opens up to approving the rental extension

BarcelonaMovements between Junts and the Spanish government. The Minister of Housing, Isabel Rodríguez, was open this Tuesday to approving the tax incentives that Junts is asking for in the housing portfolio: "It is an opportunity that we should take advantage of," she stated in an interview with ACN. The PSOE has tried to convey that the measures of Carles Puigdemont's party can go ahead, and the Junts members also note that, now yes, things can go differently than the last two times the issue has been voted on in Congress. Thus, according to Junts sources consulted, the party accepts the challenge and shows its willingness to approve the extension of rents, in parallel to the executive also promoting a decree with tax deductions for mortgages and rents. The Junts members would accept them being presented in two separate decrees, as long as both end up passing.

While the ground is being cleared for an extension decree with the requested technical modifications, the fiscal part is accelerating in the lower house as socialist interest "has increased" – and this could speed up the timelines for this issue. "We are not against the extension of rents" has been one of the most repeated phrases by Junts, which had emphasized the fact that the housing decree was poorly done and that it did not include essential elements such as the tax proposals, which they made clear in a non-law proposal. Junts sent the technical modifications on the royal decree to the PSOE, and between this and Rodríguez's words, an approach is noted on an issue that the Spanish government sees as urgent and for which Junts has received much criticism.

The changes

The technical changes, which this newspaper has had access to, are based on four axes: the training makes it clear that "extensions will be applied as long as tenants are up to date with their contractual obligations"; that if it is not included in the original contract, "at the time of the extension, the possibility of recovering the use of the dwelling will be incorporated if the owner needs it for themselves" or "for their relatives"; that the price will be updated according to the reference index for the update of housing rentals, "as it is the index that the government itself introduced to update rental prices"; and it also asks to "eliminate the fact that with the current wording, large holders could extend contracts in tense areas without applying the price caps that imply a reduction of them". In other words, Junts asks to heed the caps, for example with funds, while clarifications are considered for small owners.

What happened with the anti-crisis royal decree derived from the Iran war is the precedent that allows us to glimpse a different future for the thorny housing file. At that time, the state executive incorporated several proposals from the Junts, who joined the governmental initiative.

On the fiscal side, Junts has already calculated what the proposed deductions would entail: in the case of mortgages added to savings accounts intended for acquiring or renovating a dwelling and, based on the figures from 2012, the last year of application of the deduction, they have found that they amount to 2.5 billion euros for the State coffers, which they see translated into savings for families. As for the rental deduction, it ranges between 200 and 300 million euros. In fiscal demands, Junts also included that it would be considered habitual residence when the taxpayer transfers what had been their dwelling in the past until the moment of having entered a residence, socio-sanitary or health center. The Minister of Housing even said this Tuesday that the proposals of Puigdemont's party "resemble proposals that the PSOE and the Spanish government have analyzed and put on the table at other times".