Housing prepares a new decree-law with tax breaks for landlords, contract extensions, and a 21% VAT on tourist apartments

A royal decree-law is issued by the Government and, once published in the Official State Gazette (BOE), it must be debated and voted on in the Congress (or in the Permanent Deputation) within a maximum period of thirty days from its enactment. The debate is usually held in Plenary, with an initial presentation by the Government and a general debate among the groups, which concludes with a simple majority vote deciding its validation or repeal. If validated, the Presidency may immediately open the possibility of processing it as a bill through the urgent procedure, allowing partial amendments. In practice, the Congress usually validates and debates royal decree-laws in one or two ordinary plenary sessions after their approval by the Government, without exhausting the thirty-day limit.

1. Presentation and arrival at the Congress

The royal decree-law is a regulation with the force of law issued by the Government under Article 86 of the Constitution. The Congress Rules (art. 151.1) assume that the text has already been enacted and published in the Official State Gazette. After that publication, the Government sends the royal decree-law to the Congress, and the Board qualifies it and incorporates it into the work schedule. Article 151.1 itself indicates that its inclusion in the agenda for debate and voting can be done as soon as it has been published in the BOE.

2. Call and conduct of the debate

The debate and vote must be held, according to Article 151.1 of the Rules, in the Plenary of the Congress or in the Permanent Deputation before thirty days have passed since its enactment, in line with Article 86.2 of the Constitution. As a general rule, it is held in Plenary; the Permanent Deputation assumes this function when the Chamber is dissolved or outside the ordinary session period.

The Board, in accordance with Article 31.1.6.a, schedules the Plenary calendar and proposes the inclusion of the decree-law in the agenda, after consulting the Board of Spokespersons. The Presidency convenes the Plenary, formally sets the agenda, and directs the debate (arts. 32 et seq. of the Rules).

Article 151.2 establishes that a member of the Government presents to the Chamber the reasons that led to the enactment of the decree-law. Then, the debate "will be conducted according to the provisions for totality debates," that is, with interventions from parliamentary groups stating their positions, possible replies and rejoinders, and under the direction of the Presidency.

3. Voting and majorities

Once the debate is concluded, the vote takes place. Article 151.3 specifies that affirmative votes are understood as favorable to validation and negative votes as favorable to repeal. No qualified majority is required; a simple majority applies, that is, more votes in favor than against among those cast, excluding abstentions, according to the general majority rules of the Rules.

The vote is, in practice, public and usually electronic, according to the general voting regime in Plenary, unless another system is agreed upon within the regulatory possibilities.

4. Effects of validation or repeal

If the decree-law is validated, it remains in force as a regulation with the force of law. According to Article 151.4, immediately afterwards the Presidency asks if any parliamentary group wishes to process it as a bill. If any group requests it, the Chamber decides at that moment; if the decision is affirmative, the text is processed as a bill through the urgent procedure, without allowing total return amendments, but allowing partial amendments.

If the voting result is negative, the royal decree-law is repealed. Both the validation and repeal agreements must be published in the BOE (art. 151.6). The management of effects already produced during its validity is a matter of transitional law and, if applicable, constitutional control, not detailed in the Rules.

5. Processing as a bill and deadlines

The decision to process the decree-law as a bill is linked to the validation Plenary itself: the Rules do not provide a subsequent deadline; if no group requests it at that moment, the opportunity is considered closed. If processing is agreed, the text follows the urgent legislative procedure of Article 93, which implies halving the ordinary deadlines for amendments, committee work, and elevation to Plenary.

In practice terms, the Government sends royal decree-laws to the Congress almost immediately after their publication, and validation Plenaries are usually scheduled within two or three weeks afterwards, without exhausting the thirty days. It is common for groups to request processing as a bill when adjustments are foreseen; in other cases, they opt to limit themselves to validation. The full regulatory detail can be consulted in the Congress Rules available on this page of the Congress of Deputies.

Elma Saiz has served as spokesperson of the Government of Spain since December 22, 2025, combining this role with her position as Minister of Inclusion, Social Security, and Migrations. As spokesperson, she is the official political voice of the Executive: she explains the decisions of the Council of Ministers, shapes the government narrative, and manages daily relations with the media. Her powers focus on communication coordination, institutional representation, and political crisis management. Before reaching this national position, she accumulated extensive experience in Navarra (regional parliament, Government delegation, regional minister and spokesperson) and a brief stint at the Pamplona City Council.

Powers of Elma Saiz as Government spokesperson

The role of Government spokesperson primarily involves officially representing the Executive before the public and the media. Saiz appears after the Councils of Ministers to explain agreements and regulatory projects, answers press questions, and sets the Government's political position in major public debates, as described in reports about her appointment and debut in the role in media such as Demócrata, La Moncloa, or The Diplomat in Spain.

Secondly, she has a function of coordinating government communication. According to analysis pieces from Demócrata, she ensures that messages from different ministries are coherent, translates complex data into political and citizen language (for example, the record figures of Social Security affiliation she herself has highlighted at PSOE and Ministry events, recorded on psoe.es and inclusion.gob.es), and maintains a narrative of transparency and political pedagogy.

A third area of responsibility is crisis and political confrontation management. As the voice of the Executive, she must respond to opposition criticisms, clarify controversies, and set the argumentative line in moments she herself has described as "difficult times," as reported by Demócrata and interviews broadcast by public media such as RTVE or RTVE Noticias.

Additionally, Saiz carries out the spokesperson role without ceasing to be Minister of Inclusion, Social Security, and Migrations, making her a profile with strong socioeconomic weight within the Council of Ministers, as highlighted in her official biography from La Moncloa and the profile from the Ministry of Inclusion.

Main previous political positions

State level

Since November 21, 2023, Elma Saiz has been Minister of Inclusion, Social Security, and Migrations in Pedro Sánchez's third Government, as recorded both in her official biography (Moncloa, inclusion.gob.es) and in references such as Wikipedia, Viquipèdia, or the profile of the PSOE. Since December 22, 2025, she has added the Government spokesperson role, succeeding Pilar Alegría, according to media such as The Diplomat in Spain, El País, and coverage by Demócrata and Redacción Médica.

Regional level (Navarra)

Her career has mainly developed in the Chartered Community of Navarra. She began her political career as a regional parliamentarian (2003‑2007) for PSN-PSOE. Later, she was Government delegate in Navarra between 2008 and 2012, being the first woman and the youngest person to hold that position, as recalled both in her institutional biography (Ministry of Inclusion) and journalistic analyses (The Objective).

After that stage, she took charge of the Navarre Institute for Equality and Family (2012) and, already in María Chivite's legislature, was Minister of Economy and Finance and spokesperson of the Government of Navarra between 2019 and 2023, combining economic management with communication of the regional Executive, as recorded by Moncloa and several pieces from Demócrata.

Local and organizational level

At the municipal level, she was a councilor in the Pamplona City Council after the 2023 elections, in a brief period before her appointment as minister, according to her CV on The Objective and her professional profile. Organizationally, she is Executive Secretary of Fiscal and Financial Policy of PSN-PSOE and a member of the Federal Committee of PSOE, according to psoe.es and documentation of her career (CV CANASA).

Education and professional profile

Born in Pamplona on December 2, 1975, she holds a degree in Law and a master's in Tax Advisory from the University of Navarra, and began her career as a partner-director of a legal-tax consultancy, as well as teaching at university level, according to inclusion.gob.es and Moncloa. This technical-legal and fiscal foundation, combined with experience "at all levels of government" highlighted in press and social media analyses (Instagram, YouTube, TikTok), explains her current weight as a social minister and main political voice of the Executive, something also reflected in her interventions and columns analyzed by Demócrata.

Deductions in the IRPF linked to the reduction of rental income from housing are articulated, at the state level, through the rules on income from real estate capital in the IRPF Law and some recent transitional regimes. The basic regulation is Law 35/2006, on IRPF, developed by the IRPF Regulation (Royal Decree 439/2007), and partially amended by Law 12/2023, on the right to housing and by Royal Decree-law 20/2022. Extraordinary measures due to COVID and the Ukraine war have mainly affected modules and other tax matters, but in the sources consulted there is no specific and current incentive in the IRPF for mere rent reduction. Below I summarize the requirements inferred from the identified regulations and where information gaps exist.

1. General regime of income from real estate capital

The starting point is the classification as income from real estate capital of rental income from housing according to Law 35/2006. The law provides for a reduction of net income from these rentals in its Article 23, but the exact text of that provision does not appear in the extracts obtained, so its percentages and detailed requirements are not available.

Nevertheless, generally, to apply any reduction of net income from real estate capital in IRPF, at least these essential requirements must be met (inferred from the Law's systematics):

• There must be a housing lease contract generating income from real estate capital (i.e., the lessor is not carrying out an economic activity of rental regulated as such in the IRPF).
• The owner must compute the gross income and the deductible expenses to obtain a net income; only on that positive net income can reductions be applied.
• The material and formal conditions set by Article 23 of the IRPF Law must be respected (not accessible in detail in the sources consulted).

From a strictly legal perspective, the mere act of "reducing the rent" does not automatically generate a new type of general deduction different from the reductions already provided for housing rental; what matters is that the contract remains for housing and that the rental produces positive net income meeting the requirements of Article 23.

2. Transitional regime for contracts prior to the 2023 Housing Law

Law 12/2023, on the right to housing, has introduced a provision in Law 35/2006 that directly affects owners who already had rental contracts in force before its entry into force.

According to the addition cited in the IRPF Law itself (also incorporated and connected through Royal Decree-law 20/2022):

"Positive net income from real estate capital derived from housing lease contracts entered into prior to the entry into force of Law 12/2023, of May 24, on the right to housing, shall be subject to the reduction provided for in paragraph 2 of Article 23 of this law in its wording in force on December 31, 2021."

From that wording, specific requirements arise to maintain the "old" reduction:

• The contract must be a housing lease (not for other use).
• The contract must have been entered into before the entry into force of Law 12/2023 (i.e., before May 26, 2023).
• There must be positive net income from real estate capital derived from that contract.
• The reduction of Article 23.2 in the wording in force on 12/31/2021 applies to those incomes (without percentages or other conditions available in the sources consulted).

This transitional regime is relevant for owners who, even reducing the agreed rent, want to continue enjoying the same reduction they had before the Housing Law as long as the contract is prior to the indicated date.

3. Extraordinary measures (COVID, Ukraine war, and other crises)

The research shows emergency economic regulations — among others, Royal Decree-law 35/2020, Royal Decree-law 15/2020, Royal Decree-law 11/2020, and the already cited Royal Decree-law 20/2022— that introduce multiple tax benefits linked to the pandemic and the Ukraine war.

In particular, Royal Decree-law 35/2020 includes very important adjustments in IRPF, but focused, according to the analyzed fragments, on reduction of income in objective estimation (modules) and deferral of tax debts, not on a specific and current incentive for owners who reduce housing rental income. In the sources consulted, no specific article has been located that currently recognizes a differentiated IRPF deduction for rent reductions agreed due to COVID-19 or the Ukraine war.

Therefore, owners who have reduced rent in these contexts, for state IRPF purposes, are basically governed by the general rules of income from real estate capital and, if applicable, by the transitional regime linked to contracts prior to Law 12/2023. No further information is available in the sources consulted about additional specific requirements to benefit from these rent reductions.