The communities where a mortgage requires a greater part of the salary: Balearic Islands and Madrid increase the effort

To legally establish in Spain a limit on mortgage effort (maximum percentage of income allocated to the payment), it is essential to approve a formal law. This content can be integrated into the Real Estate Credit Law, consumer financial protection regulations, or financial stability legislation. For parliamentary procedures, the process would follow that of any ordinary law, with two possible origins: government bill or parliamentary bill proposal.

1. Government bill route

In this case, the initiative originates in the Executive Power:

• a) Drafting and approval within the Government: the competent ministry (usually Economy or Housing) prepares a preliminary draft, with the required internal reports (legal, economic, regulatory impact). The Council of Ministers approves it as a bill.
• b) Submission to the Congress of Deputies: the bill and its explanatory statement are sent to the Congress, which assumes the initiative and publishes it.
• c) Consideration and amendments: the “consideration” is not voted on (this is mainly for proposals), but a period for total amendments (to return the text) and article-by-article amendments is opened.
• d) Committee and Drafting Committee: the competent committee appoints a Drafting Committee that prepares a report based on the text and amendments. Then, the committee debates, votes on the articles, and may approve a report, which will be the text submitted to the Plenary.
• e) Debate and vote in the Congress Plenary: the Plenary debates the report and, if applicable, maintained amendments. The entire law is voted on; as it is an ordinary law, a simple majority (more votes in favor than against) suffices.

Once approved in the Congress, it goes to the Senate:

• f) Processing in the Senate: a similar process is repeated (amendments, Drafting Committee, committee, and Plenary). The Senate may:
  • Introduce amendments to the law.
  • Approve a veto (rejection) by absolute majority.
• g) Second reading in the Congress: the Congress decides:
  • If there are Senate amendments, it accepts or rejects them by simple majority.
  • If there is a Senate veto, it can override it by absolute majority in a first vote, or by simple majority after two months.

Finally, the law is sent to the King for sanction and promulgation, and published in the Official State Gazette (BOE).

2. Parliamentary bill proposal route

If the initiative does not come from the Government but from parliamentary groups, 15 deputies, the Senate, autonomous assemblies, or popular legislative initiative, it is processed as a bill proposal. The steps are very similar, with some nuances:

• a) Presentation in the Congress: the proposal is registered and qualified by the Board.
• b) Consideration: the Congress Plenary debates whether to “admit” the proposal for processing. A simple majority is required. If considered, it follows the same process as a government bill (amendments, committee, Senate, etc.).
• c) Government report on expenditure: if the proposal implies increased spending or reduced income, the Government has the capacity for budgetary opposition, which may condition its effective processing.

3. Urgency processing and single reading

Both types of initiatives may use acceleration routes:

• Urgency procedure: the duration of amendment periods and processing in committee and Senate is roughly halved. Urgency can be requested by the Government, two parliamentary groups, or one-fifth of deputies, and must be agreed by the Plenary.
• Single reading: for texts with clear and simple content, the Plenary may agree to process them in a single reading, basically with one debate and vote, without the full development of committee and Drafting Committee. The agreement must be adopted by the Congress Plenary (and, if applicable, the Senate Plenary) and requires assessing that the simplification does not undermine the right to amend.

4. Role of the Constitutional Court

Once the law limiting mortgage effort is approved and in force, it may be subject to constitutional review:

• Through a constitutional challenge filed by legitimized subjects (Government, Ombudsman, 50 deputies or 50 senators, autonomous communities) within the general period of three months from publication.
• Or by way of constitutional question, raised by a judicial body that must apply the law in a specific case and doubts its compatibility with the Constitution (for example, if it affects property rights, freedom of enterprise, or organic law reservation if fundamental rights are invoked).

Only after passing these phases — or in the absence of challenge — would the regulation of the mortgage effort limit be fully consolidated in the legal system.

Autonomous communities have very broad competence in housing and urban planning, but face a clear limit when regulation affects credit management, civil legislation, and mortgage regime, which are matters reserved for the State. The key is to distinguish what is part of housing policy and what is civil/mortgage law or financial regulation.

Autonomous competencies in housing and urban planning

Almost all statutes of autonomy assume, under the Constitution, exclusive or very broad competencies over:

• Urban planning and land management: urban planning, land classification and qualification, setting aside land for protected housing, density and buildability standards, conservation and building duties.
• Housing policy: definition of protected housing (types, access requirements, maximum prices, use and transfer regime within state limits), management of public housing stock and allocation.
• Subsidies and programs: rental subsidies, rehabilitation aid, relocation programs, aid to vulnerable groups or at risk of residential exclusion.
• Discipline and sanctions: housing inspections, sanctions for substandard housing, speculation, failure to use housing as main residence in certain protected regimes, etc.
• Technical and quality standards: habitability conditions, accessibility, energy efficiency, minimum housing standards.
• Management of housing emergencies: emergency housing stock, coordination protocols with social services, relocation measures after evictions from public housing or disaster situations.

In the rental market, communities can regulate aspects such as:

• Protected rental housing regimes (minimum duration, maximum prices, tenant requirements).
• Registers of applicants for protected housing and, in some cases, vacant housing registers or large owners for statistical and public policy purposes.
• Rental support measures: direct aid, public guarantees, mediation in rental conflicts.

Limits: credit, civil law, and mortgage regime

Conversely, the Constitution reserves to the State matters that directly affect mortgage regulation:

• Civil legislation: regulation of real rights (including mortgages), contracts, guarantees, and causes of nullity. The basic structure of the mortgage – how it is constituted, what can be mortgaged, its effects – is state-regulated.
• Credit and financial system management: regulation of banking activity, general conditions of the mortgage market, solvency rules, and supervision of entities.
• Property Registry and registry effects: rules on mortgage registration, priority of charges, registry publicity.
• Enforcement procedures: the mortgage enforcement process is regulated in state procedural legislation.

Therefore, communities cannot:

• Modify the essential content of the mortgage contract (interest rates, calculation methods, maturity clauses, etc.).
• Alter the rules on constitution, modification, or cancellation of mortgages or the registration system.
• Impose, generally, mandatory dation in payment, indiscriminate procedural moratoriums, or forced debt restructurings, as these affect civil, commercial, and procedural law.
• Regulate bank supervision or entity solvency.

Constitutional jurisprudence has annulled or curtailed autonomous regulations that, under the label of “housing measures,” actually altered the core of the mortgage or enforcement procedure (for example, when attempting to impose automatic dations in payment or general halts on mortgage executions beyond very specific cases).

How communities can influence mortgage reality

Despite these limits, communities have relevant margins to mitigate the social effects of mortgage indebtedness and guide the market:

• Social housing policies: aid to families struggling to pay mortgage installments (interest subsidies, conditional one-time contributions for vulnerability, etc.).
• Mediation services and anti-eviction offices: mediation between debtors and financial entities, legal and social guidance, coordination with social services.
• Regulation as consumer protection: administrative control of abusive clauses and practices in real estate credit contracts from a consumer defense perspective, without altering the civil validity ultimately decided by the judge.
• Conditioning aid and public housing: establishing that those affected by mortgage executions can access public housing stock or relocation programs with priority.
• Taxation and land use (in coordination with municipalities): surcharges and incentives linked to effective housing use, within the state framework, and land reservations for affordable housing that reduce pressure on mortgage-financed purchases.

In summary, autonomous communities have a broad field of action in housing, urban planning, and social policies, but their intervention in mortgage regulation is only indirect: they can modulate the context (aid, public stock, mediation, consumer protection, land), but cannot rewrite the basic rules of the mortgage or credit, which remain state competencies.

In Spain, the basic legal requirements to access a mortgage are set almost uniformly by state regulations, especially Law 5/2019, on real estate credit contracts (BOE) and its development by Royal Decree 309/2019 (BOE). Autonomous communities introduce additional layers of consumer protection and information, but do not change the “framework” of mortgage access, which is common throughout the State.

1. Basic legal requirements at the state level

They mainly derive from Law 5/2019 and complementary rules (orders from the Ministry of Economy, Bank of Spain circulars, notarial and registry instructions). In summary:

• Protected subject: the law applies when the borrower, guarantor, or surety is a natural person and the loan is secured by a mortgage on a residential property (or intended to acquire it).
• Age and capacity: majority of age and legal capacity are required according to the Civil Code. There is no common legal maximum age; age limits at the end of the loan are set by entities in their risk policies, not by law.
• Mandatory solvency assessment: the lender must evaluate, before granting the loan, the borrower's payment capacity (income, expenses, debts, queries to the Bank of Spain's Risk Information Center, etc.). The law imposes the duty but does not set a specific debt ratio; thresholds (e.g., that the installment does not exceed a certain % of income) are internal criteria of each entity.
• Minimum documentation: the client must provide the necessary information for that assessment (pay slips, contracts, income tax returns, employment history, other loans, etc.). This is an indirect legal requirement: without sufficient documentation, the bank cannot fulfill its obligation to assess solvency.
• Enhanced pre-contractual information: the bank must deliver, at least 10 calendar days before signing, the European Standardized Information Sheet (ESIS), the Standardized Warning Sheet (FiAE), installment simulations, linked product documentation, etc. This is a legal transparency requirement, not solvency.
• Prior notarial intervention: before the mortgage deed, the borrower must attend the notary for a free certificate in which the notary verifies that the documentation has been received, understood, and doubts resolved. Without this certificate, the notary cannot authorize the mortgage and the registrar cannot register it.
• Form and registration: the mortgage must be formalized in public deed and registered in the Property Registry to be fully enforceable against third parties.
• Commercial practices and commissions: Law 5/2019 limits tied sales (generally obliging to offer the loan also without “packages”), regulates early repayment fees, interest rate variations, multi-currency clauses, early maturity, etc.
• Insurance: the bank may require certain linked insurances (e.g., property damage), but with transparency requirements, and the client can usually contract with any insurer that meets coverage conditions.

Very common practical elements (e.g., that the bank only finances up to 70–80 % of the value or requires a minimum of own savings) are not set by law, but by each entity's risk policy.

2. Differences by autonomous community

The core requirements to access a mortgage (transparency, solvency, notary, registry) are identical nationwide, as they are state competencies. Autonomous communities mainly act on:

• Consumer information and protection: several communities reinforce prior information and protection against abusive clauses:
  • Andalusia: Law 3/2016, amended by Decree-law 5/2019 (BOE), creates complementary documentation (e.g., DIPREC, DIPERC, document index) and strengthens information to borrowers and guarantors.
  • Catalonia: the Consumer Code and Law 20/2014 intensify protection in mortgage credits and loans, especially in economic vulnerability situations.
  • Valencian Community: Law 6/2019 (DOGV) guarantees consumers' right to information about securitization of mortgages and other credits, so they know who their real creditor is.
• Intermediaries and real estate lenders: some communities have created their own registries of intermediaries and real estate credit lenders (e.g., Galicia with Decree 23/2021), or develop supervision of their activity. For consumers, this translates into additional guarantees about who advises or intermediates their mortgage.
• Protected housing and public aid: several autonomous housing regulations (Catalonia, Valencian Community, Navarre, Aragon, Basque Country, etc.) regulate:
  • Access requirements to protected housing (maximum income, registration, maximum prices).
  • Public aid or guarantees for young people or certain groups, which can facilitate access to financing without changing the basic legal mortgage requirements.

In summary, the legal possibility of signing a mortgage is governed almost entirely by the common state regulations. Autonomous communities add layers of information, intermediary control, debtor protection, and protected housing regulation, but generally do not establish different age, financing percentage, or debt thresholds to access a mortgage: those thresholds are set case by case by each financial entity within the common solvency and transparency framework established by Law 5/2019.