Indefinite rentals: the measure that the Sol encampment is demanding after the eviction of Maricarmen and that already exists in Europe

The so-called “Maricarmen decree”, as of September 28, 2026, is not yet a regulation registered either in the BOE or in Congress, but rather the name given by the tenant movement and much of public opinion to the new royal decree-law on housing that the Government wants to approve “this Tuesday” in response to the eviction of Maricarmen, the 87-year-old tenant evicted in Madrid.

In other words: it does not yet have a “parliamentary status” because it has not even been approved by the Council of Ministers. It is in a political and pre-legislative phase, with very open negotiations about its content and the necessary support so that, once it exists, it can be ratified by Congress.

What exactly is the “Maricarmen decree”

According to coverage by Demócrata and other sources:

• The term is promoted by the Tenants' Union and the State Confederation of Tenants' Unions, which have developed a package of measures against evictions and on rent regulation called the “Maricarmen decree.”
• This package includes, among other ideas, structural measures against evictions, rent freezes, automatic extensions of certain contracts, and changes to the Urban Leases Law. It is a social proposal, not a finalized government text.
• The Government is negotiating its own royal decree-law on housing, which it wants to bring to the Council of Ministers on Tuesday, September 29. President Sánchez has explicitly said he is “working against the clock” to approve “the Royal Decree-law on housing” that day, and unions and the public identify it with the “Maricarmen decree.”

Therefore, as of today, the “Maricarmen decree” is a political and media nickname for the royal decree-law on housing that the Executive is preparing and that has not yet legally come into existence.

Immediate precedent: a rejected housing decree

The parliamentary context is relevant:

• In March 2026, the Government approved a royal decree-law 2/2026 on housing and evictions — cited as such by the PP — which was rejected in its ratification in Congress. Demócrata recalls that “Congress already rejected the ratification of the decree that the Executive had approved in March.”
• This failure explains the current caution: the Minister of Housing, Isabel Rodríguez, emphasizes that the Government can approve a decree “tomorrow,” but “if it does not have sufficient support… nothing will have been achieved.”

In the political debate these days, some actors (such as the PP) discuss whether that decree would have served to prevent Maricarmen's eviction or not, but that text is already defunct. The “Maricarmen decree” points to the new attempt at a housing decree that must replace it.

Actual status as of 09/28/2026

With the available information, it can be summarized as follows:

• Council of Ministers: the decree has not yet been approved, but the president has promised to bring it to the Council on Tuesday. Other government members (such as Isabel Rodríguez) confirm that work is underway toward that goal.
• Parliamentary negotiation: the Executive maintains contacts with its usual partners (Sumar, PNV, Junts, and others) to adjust the content and ensure that, once published, Congress ratifies it. There are visible tensions: Junts proposes tax incentives and conditions on rents; Sumar and Podemos demand an ambitious package of protection against evictions and price limits.
• Social mobilization: the camps in Sol, the “Not One More Maricarmen” demonstration, and signature campaigns pressure for the text to incorporate much of the tenant movement's demands.

In summary: there is not yet formal parliamentary processing of the “Maricarmen decree”. What exists is a government draft under negotiation and a political commitment to bring it to the Council of Ministers next Tuesday with a view to its subsequent defense in Congress.

Next procedural steps until final approval

If the Government effectively approves the royal decree-law on housing on Tuesday, the standard regulatory process will be:

• 1. Approval by the Council of Ministers as a royal decree-law and immediate publication in the BOE. From that moment, the measures would come into force.
• 2. Referral to Congress, which must hold a plenary debate within a maximum of 30 days to decide whether to ratify or repeal the decree-law. This is the key moment: a simple majority suffices.
• 3. Possible processing as a bill. In that same plenary, once ratified, Congress may decide to process it as a bill, which would open a phase of amendments, committee work, and possible modifications to the text.
• 4. Passage through the Senate (if processed as a bill) with its own debate and capacity to introduce amendments or vetoes, which Congress could ultimately override.
• 5. Final approval, sanction, and publication of the resulting law, which would consolidate or adjust the legal regime born with the initial decree-law.

Until the decree is approved by the Council of Ministers, all focus is on point zero: closing the political negotiation that allows reaching Congress with a viable majority for its ratification. That is today the true “status” of the so-called Maricarmen decree.

The Prime Minister does not have a specific “housing portfolio,” but does have decisive power over housing policy and the use of royal decree-laws, as head of the Executive and director of Government action. His powers derive mainly from the Spanish Constitution and Law 50/1997, of November 27, on the Government.

1. General framework: Government and housing

The Constitution recognizes in Article 47 the right of all Spaniards to decent and adequate housing and orders public authorities to “promote the necessary conditions and establish the pertinent rules to make it effective.” The Constitutional Court has reiterated (for example, in rulings on Law 12/2023, on the right to housing) that:

• The State can set the basic elements of the right to housing and guarantee equality in its exercise, under Article 149.1.1.ª CE.
• The autonomous communities have the bulk of executive and regulatory powers in housing and urban planning.

Within this distribution, Article 97 CE establishes that the Government “directs domestic and foreign policy” and exercises executive functions and regulatory power. This direction includes major orientations in housing matters (state plans, funds, fiscal support, basic regulations, use of state land, etc.), which are channeled through the Ministry of Housing or other departments, but under the political direction of the Prime Minister.

2. Specific powers of the Prime Minister

Law 50/1997 specifies this principle of “presidential direction.” In the section related to the Government's statute, it states that:

• The Prime Minister directs Government action and coordinates the functions of other members, “without prejudice to the direct competence and responsibility of ministers in their management.”
• He is responsible for establishing the Government's political program and determining the guidelines of domestic and foreign policy and ensuring their compliance.
• He convenes, presides over, and sets the agenda of the Council of Ministers, where initiatives on housing (bills, royal decrees, royal decree-laws, agreements on land or public housing stock, etc.) are approved.
• He can create, modify, and abolish ministries and Secretariats of State by royal decree, which includes deciding on the existence of a Ministry of Housing and the political rank it is given.
• He is empowered to file constitutional challenges before the Constitutional Court against laws or royal decree-laws (state or regional) affecting housing or other matters, if considered to violate the Constitution.

In short, the Prime Minister does not sign a specific housing aid or plan alone, but defines and coordinates the general strategy, decides the ministerial architecture that executes it, promotes the texts submitted to the Council of Ministers, and can react constitutionally against norms affecting the right to housing.

3. Approval of royal decree-laws

The royal decree-law is a provisional legislative provision that the Government can issue “in cases of extraordinary and urgent need” (art. 86 CE), with the force of law and immediate application, although later subject to ratification or repeal by Congress within 30 days.

The Prime Minister's powers regarding royal decree-laws are essentially political and directional:

• As head of Government, he decides whether to resort to the royal decree-law route for a given matter (for example, urgent measures in housing, eviction moratoriums, rent limits, etc.), always within the limits of Article 86 CE: it cannot affect basic State institutions, rights in Title I in their essential content, the regional regime, or general electoral law.
• He presides over the Council of Ministers meeting in which the royal decree-law is deliberated and approved. The decision is collegiate, but the agenda and political drive are his.
• Once approved by the Council, the King “issues the decrees agreed upon in the Council of Ministers” (art. 62.f CE), which must be countersigned by the Prime Minister or the competent minister. According to Law 50/1997, the Prime Minister countersigns the King's acts linked to norms with the rank of law, which includes royal decree-laws.
• A Government member (usually the competent minister, sometimes the Prime Minister himself) must defend before Congress the urgency reasons and content of the royal decree-law during the ratification debate.

4. Limits and controls

The Prime Minister's powers are subject to several checks and balances:

• The General Courts exercise legislative power, politically control the Government (art. 66 CE), and decide whether to ratify, repeal, or transform a royal decree-law into a bill.
• The Constitutional Court can annul totally or partially royal decree-laws or housing laws that exceed the urgency requirements of art. 86 CE or violate the distribution of powers and constitutional rights.
• In housing, the Prime Minister must operate within the regional competential framework, adjusting basic state regulations and urgent measures to constitutional jurisprudence on the division of functions between the State and autonomous communities.

Overall, the Prime Minister has a central role in defining housing policy and deciding to use the royal decree-law, but always through the Government as a collegiate body and under the control of Parliament and the Constitutional Court.

In most European countries, there is no formal category called “indefinite rental contract” as an autonomous figure, but rather contracts for primary residence that automatically extend or are considered of indefinite duration as long as neither party terminates them according to the law. Based on available information (focused on the Spanish case, with primary residence contracts subject to minimum duration and mandatory extensions versus temporary contracts), common requirements and principles can be extracted that are usually demanded in Europe for a residential lease with a stable vocation to be valid and provide strong protection for the tenant.

1. Essential elements of any stable rental contract

In civil law European systems, a residential lease contract with an indefinite vocation usually requires, at minimum:

• Identification of the parties: sufficient data of landlord and tenant (full name or company name, identification document, address for notifications).
• Precise identification of the dwelling: full address, registry or cadastral reference when applicable, and mention of annexes (parking space, storage room, etc.).
• Determination of the rent: amount of rent, payment frequency, payment method, and due date. Spanish experience (and also in other countries) shows it is crucial to specify:
  • whether the rent includes community fees or not;
  • who assumes utilities and recoverable taxes;
  • how and when the rent can be updated (reference index or maximum limit).
• Purpose of the dwelling: it must be stated that it is rented as the tenant's primary residence, not as a seasonal or tourist rental. In Spain, for example, the law clearly distinguishes between primary residence (with minimum duration and extensions) and seasonal leases, and other European countries make similar distinctions.
• Duration and extension regime: although an indefinite duration is sought, the contract usually sets:
  • an initial term (for example, several years); and
  • a system of automatic extensions, or the provision that the contract will remain in force until terminated with the legally foreseen notice and causes.
• Guarantees and deposit: amount of the legal minimum deposit and, if applicable, additional guarantees (guarantee, complementary deposit), respecting the limits set by each legal system.
• Allocation of maintenance and repairs: the common logic in Europe — also reflected in recent Spanish regulations — is:
  • the landlord assumes structural conservation and habitability;
  • the tenant, minor repairs due to ordinary wear and tear.
• Inventory and condition of the dwelling: description of the initial state, inventory of furniture and equipment to avoid conflicts at contract termination.
• Causes and termination procedure: it is essential to detail:
  • under what circumstances the owner can terminate the contract (repeated non-payment, use other than agreed, unauthorized works, etc.);
  • notice periods and form of communication (burofax, certified letter, email with acknowledgment, as admitted by national law).
• Applicable law and jurisdiction: in the European context, when there are cross-border elements, it is advisable to set the applicable national law and competent court, respecting consumer protection regulations.

2. What does “indefinite” mean in practice?

Available information on Spain shows a model where primary residence contracts have a protected minimum duration and, thereafter, different mandatory or extraordinary extensions for the tenant, while the landlord can only terminate the contract for specific causes. This scheme — minimum legal duration, extensions, and limits on unilateral recovery of the dwelling — is similar to that of other European countries.

In practice, therefore, a rental is “indefinite” when the combination of:

• initial duration + automatic or extraordinary extensions, and
• legal restrictions on termination by the owner,

means that the tenant can remain in the dwelling as long as they fulfill their obligations and no legally valid cause for termination arises. In fact, much of the social debate, reflected in media such as the newspaper Demócrata, revolves around strengthening that stability against models based on chained short contracts.

3. Fraud prevention and distinction from temporary rentals

An element repeated in Spanish regulation and European short-term rental regulation is the fight against fraudulent use of temporary contracts to disguise dwellings that are actually primary residences. Spanish courts, for example, emphasize that it is not enough to call a contract “seasonal” if in practice the dwelling is the tenant's permanent home; in such cases, the primary residence regime applies.

This principle — primacy of reality over contract label and reinforced protection of primary residence — is shared by other European legal systems, and is key if an indefinite rental relationship is sought.

4. Practical recommendations

• Ensure that the contract is legally framed as primary residence and not as temporary or tourist.
• Include a sufficient initial duration and extension clauses that reproduce or improve the minimum protection provided by national law.
• Clearly define termination causes and notice periods, without introducing abusive clauses against the tenant.
• Properly document the economic situation and actual use of the dwelling, to avoid reclassification as a seasonal rental and loss of protection.

Since technical details vary between countries (deposit limits, minimum duration, extensions, and rent increase limits), it is essential to verify any contract model with the specific legislation of the European State in question and, if applicable, with local legal advice.