New rental calculator to apply the rent freeze or the 2% limit

The parliamentary process to ratify (validate) or repeal an urgent royal decree-law is mainly regulated by Article 86 of the Constitution and Article 151 of the Rules of the Congress of Deputies. It is a special, fast, and concentrated procedure in the Congress, with occasional intervention by the Permanent Deputation.

1. Constitutional framework of royal decree-laws

According to Article 86 of the Spanish Constitution:

• The Government may issue provisional legislative provisions in cases of extraordinary and urgent necessity, which take the form of royal decree-laws.
• They cannot affect the basic institutions of the State, the rights, duties, and freedoms of Title I, the regime of the Autonomous Communities, nor the general electoral law.
• They must be immediately submitted to debate and a vote on the entirety in the Congress, which must decide within a maximum period of 30 days from their promulgation on their validation or repeal.
• During that same period, the Cortes may decide to process them as bills, which opens the door to amendments and Senate participation.

2. Entry of the royal decree-law into the Congress

Once approved by the Council of Ministers and published in the Official State Gazette (BOE), the royal decree-law is sent to the Congress:

• The Congress Board qualifies it and orders its publication in the Cortes Gazette.
• It is included in the agenda of the Plenary “as soon as it has been published in the BOE,” according to Article 151 of the Rules of the Congress.
• The Spokespersons' Board participates in setting the agenda and organizing the debate, just like in other plenary matters.

If the Congress is not in session, the Government may request an extraordinary session; if it has already been dissolved or its term has expired, the Permanent Deputation comes into play.

3. Role of the Permanent Deputation

The Rules of the Congress assign the Permanent Deputation, during dissolution periods or between legislatures, the power to assume the Congress's competencies over royal decree-laws. In that case:

• The debate and vote on validation or repeal take place before the Permanent Deputation itself.
• The agreement it adopts (to validate or repeal) has the same effects as if taken by the Congress Plenary.
• Additionally, it may agree that the royal decree-law be processed as a bill through the urgent procedure.

4. Development of the validation debate

Article 151 of the Rules of the Congress establishes a very structured scheme:

• A Government member presents the reasons of extraordinary and urgent necessity that led to issuing the royal decree-law and explains its essential content.
• The subsequent debate proceeds according to the rules of totality debates: interventions by parliamentary groups, usually with a turn in favor and against and brief replies, as agreed by the Presidency or the Spokespersons' Board.
• Once the debate concludes, a single vote on validation is held.

5. Voting and required majorities

The vote is on totality (not article by article). The Rules specify that:

• Affirmative votes are understood as favorable to validation.
• Negative votes are understood as favorable to repeal.
• The general rule of simple majority applies: more votes in favor than against, without requiring an absolute majority, unless the royal decree-law indirectly affects matters requiring organic rank in its possible conversion into law.

The agreement to validate or repeal is subsequently published in the BOE.

6. Possible outcomes and processing as a bill

After the vote, three scenarios may occur:

• Simple validation: the royal decree-law becomes final in the terms approved by the Government. It remains in force as a law-ranked norm, without further parliamentary processing.
• Repeal: if the simple majority is against, the royal decree-law is repealed. The Chamber may urge the Government to present an alternative bill, but the text falls.
• Validation with decision to process as a bill: once validated, the Presidency asks if any group wishes that processing. If the Chamber agrees:
  • The royal decree-law becomes a bill processed through the urgent procedure.
  • A period for amendments opens (only partial; the Rules exclude total return amendments).
  • The ordinary phases follow: committee, commission, Congress Plenary, and then referral to the Senate, which intervenes as in any law (veto or amendments within its shortened deadlines if urgency is maintained).

In summary, the ratification of an urgent royal decree-law is concentrated in the Congress of Deputies, which has 30 days to decide whether to uphold or reject it, with a specific debate, ordinary majorities, and the possibility of subsequently opening a full legislative procedure with amendments and Senate participation.

According to current legislation, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Agenda (MIVAU) is the department of the General State Administration responsible for proposing and executing the Government's policy on housing, Urban Agenda, building quality, and land. Its competencies are mainly defined in:

• Royal Decree 829/2023, of November 20, which restructures ministerial departments (creates MIVAU).
• Royal Decree 1009/2023, of December 5, art. 13, which sets its basic organizational structure.
• Royal Decree 208/2024, of February 27, which develops the basic organizational structure of MIVAU and details the competencies of each body.

1. General function of the department

Article 1 of Royal Decree 208/2024 establishes that MIVAU is the department responsible for the proposal and execution of Government policy in:

• Housing (access, housing policy, public housing stock, rental).
• Urban Agenda (Spanish Urban Agenda, linkage with Agenda 2030 and international agendas).
• Building quality and architecture (innovation, sustainability, rehabilitation, awards, and dissemination of architecture).
• Land and urban planning (land regime, valuations, basic state urban policies).

These competencies are exercised in coordination and without prejudice to those corresponding to other ministries and to autonomous communities and local entities (art. 1.2 RD 208/2024).

2. Housing, rental, and public housing stock

Through the State Secretariat for Housing and Urban Agenda (art. 2 RD 208/2024) and the General Directorate of Housing and Land (art. 5), the Ministry assumes, among others, the following functions:

• Design and execution of the state policy for housing access, including aid programs and collaboration frameworks with other administrations.
• Strategic planning of the rehabilitation of the built stock and improvement of energy efficiency.
• Development of the basic state housing and land regulations, in connection with Law 12/2023, of May 24, on the right to housing.
• Collection, analysis, and management of housing data: inventory of the public housing stock, report on social housing, and preparation of lease contract databases for rental reference indices (art. 6 RD 208/2024).
• Monitoring the impact of public housing policies and coordinating measures among administrations.

3. Urban planning, land, and Urban Agenda

The General Directorate of Urban Agenda and Architecture (art. 4 RD 208/2024) concentrates state competencies in urban planning and Urban Agenda:

• Drafting and proposing regulations on the land regime and urban policies, including basic regulations on land valuations.
• Exercise of state urban planning competencies in Ceuta and Melilla, and processing of Council of Ministers authorizations on land and rehabilitation (in connection with the TRLSRU, Royal Legislative Decree 7/2015).
• Development, implementation, dissemination, and continuous updating of the Spanish Urban Agenda as a national urban policy, aligned with Agenda 2030 and international urban agendas.
• Coordination and support of local and regional action plans of the Spanish Urban Agenda; dissemination of good urban practices.
• Design and maintenance of the Urban Information System serving sustainable urban environment public policies.
• Support for coordination with other administrations in urban actions and promotion of public land in cities.

4. Architecture, building quality, and heritage

Regarding architecture and building quality (arts. 2, 3, and 4 RD 208/2024), MIVAU:

• Promotes the dissemination, promotion, and research of architecture, organizes the National Architecture Award and other awards, and the Spanish and Ibero-American Architecture and Urbanism Biennial.
• Drives innovation and digitalization in architecture and building, fostering advanced tools and processes.
• Develops and executes projects and actions of architectural or heritage interest in public buildings.
• Manages funds for conservation and enrichment of the architectural historical heritage linked to works financed by the department, in accordance with Law 16/1985 and Royal Decree 111/1986.

5. Planning, evaluation, and institutional coordination

The General Directorate of Planning and Evaluation (art. 6 RD 208/2024) organizes information and evaluation systems for housing policy and urban agenda:

• Organizes the exchange of information among administrations on housing, in compliance with Law 12/2023.
• Evaluates the impact of public policies and coordinates initiatives from various departments and agencies.
• Enhances public-private collaboration and European and international synergies in housing and Urban Agenda.

The Undersecretariat of Housing and Urban Agenda and the Technical General Secretariat (arts. 7 and 8 RD 208/2024; Law 40/2015 and Law 39/2015) assume common functions of:

• Direction and coordination of common services, budget management, internal control, and contracting of the Department.
• Legal advice, regulatory processing, relations with other administrations, the European Union, and courts.
• Transparency, access to information, data protection, publications, and documentation.

Overall, MIVAU acts as the governing body of the state housing policy and Urban Agenda, with basic regulatory competencies, strategic planning, inter-administrative coordination, information management, and promotion of architecture and quality of the built environment.

The State Reference System of Rental Housing Prices (Serpavi) is essentially a system of reference indices for rental prices built from a database of lease contracts (regional deposit registries, Property Registry, and other sources). By itself, it is a statistical and informative tool; it can only be used to set maximum rent limits when a series of legal conditions provided in Law 12/2023, on the right to housing, and its implementing regulations are met.

1. Prior declaration of a "strained residential market zone"

The starting condition is that the territorial scope where rent is to be limited has been declared a strained residential market zone according to Article 18 of Law 12/2023. That declaration corresponds to the competent housing administration (usually the autonomous community) and requires following a procedure and objective criteria:

• Preparatory procedure: gather information on the housing market situation in the area (rental and sale prices and their evolution; household income levels and their evolution; economic effort to access housing). Indicators must be used to measure that effort and market imbalances.
• Public information process: the declaration proposal must be accompanied by the documentation and indicators on which it is based, which must be made available to the public to justify the diagnosis of residential tension and its effects on social and territorial cohesion.
• Reasoned resolution: the administration must approve a resolution explaining the housing market deficiencies in the area (insufficient supply, unreasonable prices relative to socioeconomic situation, etc.) and communicate it to the state housing administration.
• Temporal validity: the declaration lasts three years, renewable annually if circumstances persist, and entails approval of a specific plan of measures to correct detected imbalances.

2. Fulfillment of at least one objective threshold

The report justifying the strained zone declaration must prove, with data, that at least one of these two circumstances occurs (art. 18.3 of Law 12/2023):

• That the average burden of rental (or mortgage) cost plus basic expenses and utilities exceeds 30 % of the average income or average household rent in the area.
• That the purchase or rental price of housing has experienced in the five years prior to the declaration an accumulated growth at least three percentage points higher than the accumulated growth of the consumer price index of the corresponding autonomous community.

These thresholds are the objective basis that legally justifies intervention on rental incomes, including setting maximum limits supported by the state reference system.

3. Existence and operability of the state reference index system

Law 12/2023 foresees the creation of a database of housing lease contracts to develop the "System of reference indices for rental housing prices" established in the second additional provision of Royal Decree-law 7/2019, on urgent housing and rental measures. From that database:

• The State and autonomous communities must collaborate to integrate their information systems (deposit registries, regional contract registries, etc.) and ensure the index reflects territorial specificities.
• The system must provide, for each relevant territorial scope (census section, neighborhood, municipality, or as determined), a reference rent value based on property characteristics (surface area, age, location, etc.).
• Only when a reliable and published index exists for the specific strained zone can that reference value be used as an objective basis to set rent caps.

4. Decision of the autonomous community to apply rent limits

The Law on the right to housing and amendments to the Urban Leases Law allow that, in declared strained zones, the competent autonomous community adopts rent containment measures. For Serpavi to translate into a maximum limit:

• The autonomous community must expressly opt to apply a rent limitation regime in new contracts (particularly when large holders are involved) in that strained zone.
• It must do so referring to the state index system as an objective reference to determine the maximum allowed rent level, according to applicable state and regional legislation.
• The application of those limits must respect exceptions and nuances provided by the regulations (for example, in cases of certain works or situations not covered by the index), and comply with the competence framework and constitutional jurisprudence on housing, property, and freedom of enterprise.

In summary, Serpavi does not "set the cap" by itself: it serves as a statistical thermometer that, once a zone has been declared strained and the autonomous community decides to apply a containment regime, allows setting maximum rent limits based on objective parameters (financial effort, price evolution, real contract data) and legally defensible.