Catalonia, the laboratory of the Housing Law: less rent, more evictions and four out of ten squattings

As of today, the “housing framework” in Spain is structured around Law 12/2023, of May 24, on the right to housing, fully in force, and a very uneven regional deployment that combines new own laws, partial reforms, and the use (or not) of tools such as tensioned residential market zones.

1. Status of the Housing Law at the state level

Law 12/2023 was approved in the General Courts as a Bill for the right to housing (121/000089) in the XIV Legislature and was published in the BOE on May 25, 2023. Since then:

• It is fully in force and applies as a basic state standard in housing matters.
• The consolidated text defines, among other aspects, the rights and duties of citizens and owners, the concept of public housing stock, the regime of large holders, and the tensioned residential market zones, as well as measures of transparency and protection in rental and sale contracts.
• The Constitutional Court has heard several regional appeals; according to the explanatory memorandum of subsequent initiatives, a 2024 ruling has upheld the essential pillars of the law (including its configuration of the right to housing and the social function of property), although it has adjusted some competence aspects.

In the XV Legislature, several reforms have been attempted:

• Bill 122/000178 (SUMAR) to modify Law 12/2023 (mainly article 10 on housing ownership): it was admitted for processing in April 2025 but rejected at the consideration stage on 11/27/2025, ending its processing.
• Bill 122/000251 (SUMAR), almost identical, registered in January 2026 and also rejected in the Plenary in September 2026, again at the consideration stage.
• Additionally, a PP bill proposing an “alternative housing law” with less intervention (for example, elimination of tensioned zones and rental controls) has been debated. Press texts indicate it is under debate; it is not recorded as approved nor has it replaced the current framework.

In parallel, the Government has promoted the State Housing Plan 2026‑2030 (approved by royal decree in 2026), endowed with up to 7 billion euros and endorsed by all the Autonomous Communities. This plan is conceived “under the umbrella” of Law 12/2023 and is today the main state instrument for the development of the norm.

2. Development and next steps in the autonomous communities

Housing is an autonomous competence in its ordinary management, while the State sets basic conditions. Hence, the deployment of Law 12/2023 largely depends on each community:

• Autonomous Communities that have legislated or deeply reformed:
  • Andalusia: after a draft bill subjected to public information in 2024, it already has a new regional Housing Law (Law 5/2025), which unifies previous norms, creates “priority action areas,” strengthens protected housing, and articulates a land and VPO shock plan. It is the clearest example of a “own law” subsequent to the state law.
  • Aragon: has also approved a regional Housing Law that updates maximum prices for protected housing, links rent to 30% of family income, and prohibits allocating VPO to tourist use.
  • Asturias: has given the green light to a regional Housing Law, still in parliamentary processing, that recognizes housing as a subjective right and foresees a non-transferable public stock.
  • Navarra: has modified its own housing law to address a situation it qualifies as an “emergency” and adjust access and stock mobilization instruments.
  • Basque Country: has reformed its housing law, among other things reducing the land reservation for public protection housing from 75% to 60%.
• Application of tensioned zones (art. 18 of Law 12/2023):
  • According to the Ministry of Housing, as of July-September 2026 there are 317 municipalities declared tensioned residential market zones in five Autonomous Communities: Catalonia, Basque Country, Navarra, Galicia, and Asturias, which concentrate about 9.3 million protected people.
  • These communities are, therefore, those using the “toolbox” of the state law most intensively (limits on rent increases, specific plans to increase supply, etc.).
  • The Government has submitted for consultation a royal decree of 90 million euros in aid aimed precisely at these Autonomous Communities with tensioned zones, to finance more affordable housing in the affected municipalities.
• Reluctant Autonomous Communities or with limited deployment:
  • In several communities governed by the PP (for example, Madrid or part of the Mediterranean arc) the strategy focuses on increasing supply and reforming land or protected housing legislation, but without using – or using very little – tensioned zones and other price control mechanisms of the state law.
  • Galicia has modified its own Housing Law to regulate the procedure by which municipalities can request the declaration of tensioned zones, but the regional government insists it will not declare them ex officio and prioritizes incentives and legal certainty over income controls.

Likely next steps in regional development involve three vectors: (1) approval or completion of regional laws where still in project (Asturias, new reforms in other Autonomous Communities); (2) political decisions by more regions on whether to declare tensioned zones and how to use the state reference rental index; and (3) signing and execution of the State Plan 2026‑2030 agreements, which will condition much of the public stock and aid in each territory.

The competence in housing matters of the Generalitat of Catalonia is built on three overlapping normative levels: the Constitution, the Statute of Autonomy (Organic Law 6/2006), and basic state legislation (mainly the consolidated text of the Land and Urban Rehabilitation Law, approved by Royal Legislative Decree 7/2015, and Law 12/2023, of May 24, on the right to housing).

According to the Organic Law 6/2006, reforming the Statute, Catalonia has specific competence titles on housing and on land use planning and urbanism. In the Statute map appear, among others, article 137, “Housing”, and article 149, “Land use planning and landscape, coastline and urbanism”, as well as a general regime of shared competences (article 111 et seq.). In practice, this translates into the Generalitat assuming the regulation and ordinary execution of housing policy in Catalonia, while the State sets a “common ground” of bases and basic conditions.

At the regional level, according to these statutory provisions, the Generalitat can:

• Legislate and execute housing policy in Catalonia: types of protected housing, access requirements, registries of applicants, regime of regional and local public housing stock, inspection and discipline regarding housing use, etc.
• Integrate housing within its competences on land use planning, coastline, and urbanism (art. 149 Statute): classification and qualification of land, land reservations for protected housing, standards of facilities, densities, neighborhood rehabilitation, and urban regeneration.
• Develop own instruments to guarantee the social function of housing property (for example, measures to mobilize vacant housing, conservation obligations, administrative sanctions), provided they respect state bases and constitutional jurisprudence. That Catalonia has approved intense laws in this area is reflected in appeals and rulings on Catalan Law 4/2016 and housing decree-laws (appeal 4752‑2017 and STC 8/2019, appeal 2577‑2020, etc.).
• Design and manage regional aid programs for rent, purchase, or rehabilitation, complementing or modulating state aid.

These regional competences are exercised within the limits set by the State through the Constitution and basic legislation. The Constitution, as recalled in the preamble of Law 12/2023, recognizes in article 47 the right to decent and adequate housing and imposes on public authorities the duty to make it effective, in relation to other provisions (articles 9.2, 33.2, 38, 128.1, 131.1, 139.1, 14, 43, 45, 51.1 CE). From there, constitutional doctrine has reiterated that housing is not an autonomous competence title, but a material sector on which various state and regional titles converge; therefore, many regional housing norms have been subject to appeals and rulings by the Constitutional Court (for example, STC 31/2010 on the Statute; STC 8/2019 on expropriation of housing use; or rulings 79/2024 and 190/2025 on Law 12/2023).

Basic state legislation more precisely delimits this distribution:

• Royal Legislative Decree 7/2015, consolidated text of the Land and Urban Rehabilitation Law, declares that it regulates, for the entire State territory, the “basic conditions that guarantee equality in the exercise of rights and compliance with constitutional duties related to land” and sets the “economic and environmental bases of the legal regime of land, its valuation, and the patrimonial responsibility of Public Administrations.” That is, the State defines the basic statute of land property and the minimum urban duties and charges, which the Generalitat cannot reduce, although it can develop and complete in its urban legislation.
• Law 12/2023, on the right to housing, configures a basic state framework in housing: it establishes principles on the social function of housing, defines figures such as protected housing, incentivized affordable housing, public housing stock, or tensioned residential market zones, and regulates the State’s action in housing, rehabilitation, and urban regeneration (articles 1, 2, and 12 et seq., according to the document map). Recent constitutional jurisprudence (for example, STC 79/2024 and STC 190/2025, both cited in the BOE regarding Law 12/2023) has refined which provisions of that law respect the regional space and which invade regional competences in housing and urbanism.
• Additionally, the State promotes housing policy through state aid plans (for example, Royal Decree 326/2026, State Housing Plan 2026‑2030, and its predecessors 2018‑2021 and 2022‑2025), which set common financing lines but are largely executed through the autonomous communities.

In summary, the Generalitat has very broad competence to order, plan, and execute housing policy and urbanism in Catalonia, supported by the Statute articles on housing and land use planning. However, it must exercise it respecting the basic equality conditions and state bases that mainly emanate from the consolidated text of the Land Law and Law 12/2023, as well as the Constitutional Court interpretations that correct excesses of both the state and regional legislators.

In all communities, protected housing is a dwelling intended for habitual residence, with maximum surface area and price/rent, allocated to households with limited income and, generally, without another adequate dwelling. However, Catalonia introduces some own features (very defined maximum surfaces, use of the IRSC, advanced tenure modalities, and a strong weight of the applicants’ registry) and differs from Madrid, Andalusia, and the Basque Country in the duration and intensity of protection.

Catalonia: requirements for a dwelling to be protected

(1) Property requirements

• Official qualification: the dwelling must obtain the qualification of “habitatge amb protecció oficial” under Law 18/2007 and Decree 75/2014 (Plan for the right to housing). The qualification can be provisional and, once the work is finished and habitability verified, definitive.
• Maximum usable surface (Decree 75/2014, art. 44):
  • General rule: up to 90 m² usable.
  • Large families: up to 120 m² usable.
  • Housing reserved for people with disabilities: up to 100 m² usable.
  • In municipalities without “strong and proven residential demand” the surface can be extended up to 120 m².
• Annexes: garage, storage room, and other annexes count with maximum limits (e.g., 25 m² for a parking space, 8 m² for storage), and can be qualified jointly as part of the protected housing.
• Habitability and use:
  • Must comply with minimum habitability conditions and have a valid habitability certificate.
  • Obligation to use as habitual and permanent residence; it is prohibited to use it as a second residence or other incompatible uses.
• Duration of the protection regime (art. 47 Decree 75/2014 and Law 18/2007):
  • Typical terms: 30 years on land reserved for protected housing with direct aid; 20 years in other cases; 10 years in certain promotions on land without reservation and without aid, with reductions in municipalities without strong demand.
  • While protection lasts, use limitations and maximum price for sale or rent remain; declassification at the owner’s request is strongly restricted.

(2) Requirements for the allocated persons

• Income limits: measured in multiples of the IRSC (Income Sufficiency Indicator of Catalonia), with different thresholds depending on modality:
  • Special regime: around 2.5 times the IRSC.
  • General regime: around 5 times the IRSC (up to 5.5 in some areas).
  • Agreed price: can reach approximately 6.5 times the IRSC.
  These indicative values are updated by housing orders and official income tables.
• Residential situation: not owning full ownership or use rights over another adequate dwelling, except justified cases (inadequate housing, separation, disability, violence, loss of use for non-attributable causes, etc.).
• Applicants’ registry: it is generally required to be registered in the Registre de Sol·licitants d’Habitatges amb Protecció Oficial, managed with a common file for municipalities and Generalitat and channeling most allocations. Registration is periodically renewed and requires:
  • Registration and residence in Catalonia (with specific regulation for returnees).
  • Proving income and housing need.

(3) Obligations of promoter and owner

• Promoter:
  • Must request provisional and definitive qualification, communicate start and end of works, and provide technical documentation.
  • Must respect the maximum price and maximum rents set in the qualification and price orders.
  • Is obliged to have contracts endorsed by the Housing Agency of Catalonia, including references to qualification, duration, price, and use.
• Owner and allocataires:
  • Occupy the dwelling within the legal term (usually three months from delivery).
  • Not rent or sublet outside the provided cases; submit to the Administration’s rights of first refusal and redemption.
  • Maintain the dwelling in habitable conditions and respect the price/rent limit while protection lasts.

Differences with Madrid, Andalusia, and Basque Country

• Economic indicator:
  • Catalonia uses the IRSC; Madrid and Andalusia use the IPREM (with higher caps in limited or agreed price housing); the Basque Country applies its own weighted income systems by modality.
• Surface area:
  • Catalonia and Andalusia start from 90 m² usable (with extensions for large families or disability); in Madrid the usual maximum surface of publicly protected housing is around 110 m²; in Basque Country the standard VPO is also around 90 m².
• Duration of protection:
  • Catalonia combines terms of 10–30 years depending on land and aid, and is advancing towards indefinite qualifications in tensioned areas and new laws.
  • Madrid generally maintains long but temporary terms (20–30 years depending on regime).
  • Andalusia links duration to its plans (for example, protected rental programs with obligations to maintain the regime at least 20 years from definitive qualification).
  • Basque Country stands out for very intense protection, with many cases of permanent qualification or very long duration, especially in rental.
• Applicants’ registry:
  • Catalonia, Andalusia (municipal registries), and Basque Country (Etxebide) use structured applicant registries as an almost mandatory gateway to protected housing.
  • In Madrid, access depends more on the type of program (for example, Plan Vive, EMVS) and can be articulated through specific registries and lotteries without a single regional registry with the same weight as in the other three.
• Access modalities:
  • Catalonia incorporates figures of shared and temporary ownership, in addition to sale and rent.
  • Madrid and Andalusia have intensely developed rent and rent-to-own alongside sale.
  • Basque Country combines VPO, social housing, priced housing, and dotational accommodations, with a strong weight of protected rent.