Overview
- The Ministry of Housing added Bilbao, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Astigarraga and Usurbil to Spain’s tensioned rental areas, with full effect from Friday.
- The Basque Government launched a website that lets users consult reference indices, simulate permitted rent ranges for a dwelling, and calculate maximum revision percentages.
- Under the law, new contracts in designated areas must be referenced to the previous rent to curb disproportionate increases.
- The caps target large holders and homes entering the market or unrented in the past five years, while existing contracts remain in force and are not retroactively limited.
- A total of 304 municipalities across Catalonia, the Basque Country, Navarra and Galicia are now designated, as local debates continue, exemplified by Barakaldo’s decision not to buy existing homes for its rental stock.