The PSOE and Sumar agree on a new housing decree with rental extensions and more pressure on tourist apartments

The Government will once again bring housing to the center of the political agenda in July. PSOE and Sumar have reached an agreement to approve a new decree with measures on rent, tourist apartments, and affordable housing, amid strong social pressure over housing prices, which is already listed among the main concerns of Spaniards.

The Minister Spokesperson, Elma Saiz, announced this Monday that the Council of Ministers will approve an “extensive” housing package in the coming weeks. The text is still under negotiation, but Moncloa has already advanced several key points. The main one is the recovery of the extraordinary extension of rental contracts, the measure that Congress rejected in April with the votes of PP, Vox, Junts, and UPN and the abstention of PNV.

The new decree will also include the regulation of seasonal and room rentals, one of the major loopholes left by the Housing Law. In recent years, many owners have moved apartments from regular rental to temporary formulas, rooms, 'coliving' or 'flex living' to circumvent price limits, extensions, and obligations designed for permanent housing. The Government wants to close this loophole with a stricter regulation and with the obligation for contracts to be formalized in writing.

Another measure with significant impact will be the increase in VAT on tourist apartments to 21%. Currently, they are taxed at 10%. The Executive seeks to make this use more expensive and push part of this stock towards residential rental, especially in large cities and stressed areas where tourist housing has reduced the available supply for year-round living.

The package will be completed with IRPF bonuses for owners who lower the rental price and administrative streamlining measures to mobilize affordable housing. The Government's idea is to present a broader text than the decree that fell in spring, to try to gather parliamentary support and avoid another defeat in Congress.

Sumar celebrates the agreement and Junts is once again key

Sumar has come out to claim the pact as its own victory. The second vice-president, Yolanda Díaz, has celebrated the agreement on social media with a direct message: “We have achieved it. In July we will present a new Royal Decree extending rental agreements with more measures: taxes on tourist flats, regulation of seasonal and room rentals, and mandatory written contracts. Housing is a right and we are going to guarantee it.”

The Minister of Culture and spokesperson for Movimiento Sumar, Ernest Urtasun, has also defended that the space is fulfilling what it promised after the April failure. “We would bring the extension again,” he stated, before admitting that negotiations with the groups will be necessary. The focus is on Junts, which struck down the previous decree but left the door open to review its position if fiscal adjustments were included.

Miriam Nogueras’s party has requested measures regarding taxation, including deductions linked to rent or habitual housing. From Sumar they assure that there is room for discussion, while the PSOE tries to prevent the decree from being condemned before reaching Congress.

The Tenants’ Union has received the announcement with caution. Its spokesperson, Carme Arcarazo, has warned that there is still no text and recalled that in this legislature “many things have been announced, but very few have happened.” The organization demands that the measures arrive without loopholes and also calls for the recovery of the anti-eviction moratorium and the strengthening of protection for vulnerable households.

Housing has become one of the major cracks in the legislature. The Government needs to provide a visible response before the August break, Sumar needs to establish a social profile, and parliamentary partners hold in their hands whether the decree goes ahead or once again becomes a dead letter.