The Spanish government has announced an extension of the nation's eviction suspension until 2030 alongside automatic renewals for rental contracts. The measures aim to address Spain's severe housing crisis by offering immediate protection and stability to thousands of tenants.
Ministers in Madrid introduced the steps to curb uncontrolled price increases and residential instability affecting households nationwide. Spanish Health Minister Mónica García Gómez announced the two main measures on social media platform X on Tuesday following intensive negotiations within the governing coalition.
The legislative package must now pass through parliament, where Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and his coalition government do not hold an absolute majority. Sánchez, who leads the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party, heads a minority administration that relies on support from smaller regional parties to pass legislation through the Cortes Generales, Spain's parliament.
Protection under the Maricarmen decree
García Gómez said the cabinet sought to ban vulture funds, referring to aggressive investment firms, from buying residential housing across the country. She added that the government aims to impose restrictions on seasonal rentals and individual room leases as part of the initiative.
Writing on X, the health minister stated that the Council of Ministers approved all measures under the Maricarmen decree to bring relief to more than five million people. She noted that the package includes an extension running through December 31, 2028, alongside zero percent rent increases on contracts above existing thresholds.
In real estate markets, vulture funds refer to private equity firms that purchase housing complexes or distressed properties to extract profits through rent increases or market resales. The Council of Ministers acts as Spain's primary executive cabinet, drafting national decrees and policy before parliamentary review.
The legislation takes its name from Maricarmen, an 87-year-old woman evicted last Wednesday from the Madrid home where she had lived for 70 years after a real estate company bought the property. Her removal sparked widespread outrage and major street demonstrations, bringing tenant rights back to the forefront of national politics ahead of the 2027 parliamentary elections.
Protests and union demands in Madrid
Protesters in Spain have blamed aggressive investment funds and short-term holiday rental platforms for driving up housing prices and reducing the available supply of homes for local residents. Demonstrators have taken to public spaces across the capital to demand systemic legislative reforms.
Since Saturday, hundreds of protesters have occupied part of Puerta del Sol, the main public square in central Madrid, to denounce real estate speculation and demand comprehensive renter protection laws. Spain's major renters union summarized the movement's core demands by calling for the mandatory implementation of indefinite lease contracts.
Puerta del Sol is Madrid's central public plaza and the geographic center of the national road network. The historic square has long served as a primary gathering point for major political protests and civil rights demonstrations in Spain.
Speaking from Puerta del Sol on Tuesday, a spokesperson for the renters union said that activists were celebrating the decision as a victory for popular power, according to news agency ANA-MPA.
