The Japan Times - Spain Housing Dispute Puts Landlords at Centre of Election Debate

Spain’s housing shortage and rising rents have made landlords, tenants and property regulation prominent issues ahead of the November 29 snap election.

Landlady Maria Jose Fernandez feels unfairly portrayed as a property speculator amid tensions over Spain’s housing crisis, just weeks before a snap general election. The debate intensified after Maricarmen Abascal, 87, was evicted in September from the home she had lived in all her life and died a few days later, sparking protests across the country.

Fernandez, a 65-year-old retiree, stated the problems faced by owners like her were being ignored, and feared government proposals to strengthen tenants’ rights would make things worse. The couple renting her roughly 50-square-meter apartment in Cercedilla, a mountain town near Madrid, stopped paying the monthly rent of 710 euros ($800) in 2024. “It took me almost two years to get an eviction date,” she told AFP. Unable to keep paying the rent on her own home, she had to move in with her daughter.

Housing is set to be a major issue in Spain’s Nov 29 snap election, with landlords worried about tighter regulation and activists demanding more protection for tenants. Much of the public anger has been intended to “vulture funds”, firms accused of buying up homes and then raising rents to maximize profits. Hundreds of tents have occupied Madrid’s central Puerta del Sol square since the property company that owns Abascal’s flat sharply raised her rent and she was evicted on a stretcher.

In response to the protests, Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s minority government tried and failed to pass new housing measures, among them a ban on evicting vulnerable tenants until 2030 and indefinite rental contracts. After the proposals were voted down, Sanchez called an early election. A 2023 housing law strengthened tenants’ rights and gave local authorities new tools to curb rents, but some measures, among them rent controls in high-demand areas, met resistance in regions run by the conservative opposition Popular Party (PP). Average rents in Spain have almost doubled over the past decade, as reported by real estate website Idealista.

Javier Medina, 32, who owns 11 rental properties generating around 10,000 euros a month, stated indefinite contracts “would be the end of my business”. He stated he understood that Spain has a serious affordability problem but wants “clear rules of the game that don’t keep changing”, and has put his expansion plans on hold until after the election.

Protesters in Madrid have chanted slogans such as “Landlords are thieves”. Socialist spokeswoman Montse Minguez, who criticized vulture funds in parliament, resigned last week after it emerged that her partner’s company owned around 30 rental properties.

Maria, a 38-year-old landlord in Catalonia who asked that her surname not be used for fear of being identified by her tenants, stated she too felt unfairly targeted. “Now we’re all supposedly murderers because Maricarmen died,” she told AFP. “I’m not a vulture fund!” Maria, who has built up 30 properties over two decades, stated tighter rules had made her consider leaving the rental market. “As my apartments become vacant, I’ll sell them.” The Federation of Real Estate Associations has forecast that rental transactions could fall by up to 30 percent in the coming weeks, potentially reducing supply and pushing prices higher.

H.Hayashi--JT