PP Pledges to Repeal Housing Law, Ending Catalonia Rent Caps

The Popular Party (PP) has published its election program for the Nov. 29 general election, and it promises to repeal Spain’s state housing law, approved in 2023 and recently reformed. According to Ara, that would end rent price limits in Catalonia, because the law is what allows them.

The program lists 14 sectoral housing measures. The repeal is the one with the most direct effect on Catalan tenants, Ara reported.

How repeal would end the caps

Catalonia, the Basque Country, Navarre, Asturias and Galicia are the autonomous communities that apply the law. Repealing it would automatically remove the declared tense zones (areas where rents are capped) and the price indices, which is the outcome the PP’s program defends, Ara said.

The party argues that this would restore “the legal security that landlords and tenants need” and remove “intervention” and “uncertainty.” In the PP’s view, those factors have reduced the supply of rental homes.

The Constitutional Court has ruled twice that the Generalitat (the Catalan government) has no power to set rent limits by itself. The Parliament of Catalonia was a pioneer in legislating on the matter. Even so, Ara notes the caps only had legal certainty once the Congress of Deputies passed the state housing law.

One million homes and a tax cut for first-time buyers

The second main housing proposal is a promise to build up to one million homes. The PP would pass a new land law and publish the list of publicly owned plots so developers and cooperatives know about them. It would also speed up building permits and encourage investment from companies that meet national goals for land creation and use of public land.

For young buyers, the program would cut VAT on the purchase of a first home from 10% to 4% for people under 40, and let them split the tax payment “at the pace of the mortgage.” It also proposes a lower property transfer tax (ITP, the tax paid when a home changes hands), with no amount given, and payment in installments for that tax too.

Squatting: 48 hours and unpaid bills

On illegal occupation, the program says: “The squatter will be out in 48 hours by court order.” Ara points out that this is not new. Current law already allows eviction without a prior court order when an illegal entry is reported at once and it can be shown to be recent, in cases of flagrant trespassing.

The PP also promises to reform the horizontal property law (the rules for apartment buildings) so that owners’ associations can ask a judge for an eviction. Owners whose home is occupied would not have to pay for water, electricity, gas or taxes on the property while the occupation lasts. Ara notes that case law already provides for this possibility.

Source: Ara