Sumar reacts to Urbagestión's offer for Maricarmen that the Madrid City Council rejects as "unfeasible"

As of today (September 25, 2026), the so-called “new housing royal decree” has still not entered parliamentary processing. The Government has a prepared text, but it has not sent it to the Congress because it does not yet have a sufficient majority to ensure its validation. The last housing royal decree-law effectively approved and sent to Congress, the Royal Decree-law 8/2026, on rental measures, was repealed by the Plenary of Congress on April 28, 2026.

Current situation of the “new housing royal decree”

Recent information reveals the following:

• After the parliamentary rejection of the Royal Decree-law 8/2026 —which extended rental contracts and was repealed by Congress on April 28, 2026, with 166 votes in favor of repeal, 177 against, and 5 abstentions— the Government has set out to promote a new housing decree-law with broader and negotiated content. You can see the Congress note about the repeal here: Congress press release.
• According to various reports collected by the newspaper Demócrata, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Agenda has been working for months on this new text, which includes:
  • strengthened extensions of rental contracts,
  • regulation of seasonal and room rentals,
  • tax measures and incentives to increase the supply of affordable housing,
  • and urban planning changes linked to the Land Law.
• The Housing Minister herself, Isabel Rodríguez, has explained that the Government already has a draft ready and that its intention is for the Council of Ministers to approve it “as soon as possible”; however, she admitted that it still does not have the necessary support in Congress to guarantee its validation. (Demócrata, 9/2/2026)
• Other recent articles point out that the decree-law has become a test of strength for the parliamentary majority, with cross demands from different partners (for example, Junts and Podemos) that currently block its formal submission to the Council of Ministers and its sending to Congress. (Demócrata, 9/10/2026)
• On September 24, the first secretary of the PSC, Salvador Illa, again called for the approval of the new decree and recalled that the first decree from March was already rejected. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister has reiterated the commitment to urgently send a new housing royal decree, but its approval or publication has not yet been recorded. (Demócrata, 9/24/2026)

With all this, the conclusion is clear: there is still no “new housing royal decree” registered either in the Official State Gazette or in Congress. It is an advanced political project, with a worked draft and open negotiations, but without parliamentary status because the processing has not even formally begun (it has not been approved as a royal decree-law by the Council of Ministers nor sent to Congress).

Formal next steps for its approval

Once the Government manages to secure support and decides to activate it, the institutional process would generally be as follows:

• 1. Approval by the Council of Ministers
  The Government approves the text as a royal decree-law, citing extraordinary and urgent necessity (Article 86 of the Constitution). That same day or the next it is published in the Official State Gazette, from which moment it comes into immediate effect.
• 2. Qualification and validation debate in Congress
  After publication, the Congress Board qualifies the norm and refers it to the Plenary. The Chamber must decide within a maximum period of 30 days on:
  • its validation (remains in force) or
  • its repeal (becomes void, as happened with Royal Decree-law 8/2026).
• 3. Possible processing as a bill
  If Congress validates it, in the same debate the Plenary may also agree that the decree-law be processed as a bill by urgent procedure. In that case:
  • a period for amendments to the articles opens,
  • the initiative goes to the committee and the competent housing commission,
  • the commission issues a report that is debated again in the Congress Plenary.
• 4. Processing in the Senate and return to Congress
  The text is then sent to the Senate, where vetoes or amendments may be presented. Once this phase is passed, Congress has the final say: it can ratify the text, lift any veto, or incorporate/modify amendments.
• 5. Publication as law
  Once definitively approved by the General Courts, the text is sent to the King for sanction and published in the Official State Gazette as law. From that moment, the content of the decree-law is integrated and eventually modified by the new law.

In summary: the last housing royal decree-law processed (8/2026) was repealed and has left a gap that the Government wants to fill with a new decree-law not yet approved. Until the Council of Ministers decides and sends it to Congress, there is no parliamentary status to consult; the “next steps” depend on the Executive first achieving a majority that guarantees its validation.

The mayor of Madrid does not have a specific “own competence” over evictions in the strict sense (which are civil judicial processes), but does direct a set of municipal competencies in housing and social services that indirectly affect the prevention and management of evictions. These powers derive mainly from the Law on the Bases of Local Regime, the Law of Capitality of Madrid, the state law on the right to housing, and the regional housing regulations of the Community of Madrid.

1. General framework of municipal competencies in housing

After the reform of Law 7/1985, Regulating the Bases of the Local Regime (LRBRL), by Law 27/2013, article 25.2 attributes to all municipalities, as own competencies, among others:

• Urban planning and housing: “Promotion and management of publicly protected housing with criteria of financial sustainability. Conservation and rehabilitation of buildings.” (Law 27/2013, modification of art. 25 LRBRL; text in BOE).
• Immediate social care services: “Evaluation and information on situations of social need and immediate attention to people in situations or at risk of social exclusion,” within which emergency housing actions are framed.

Law 12/2023, of May 24, on the right to housing, reinforces this distribution: it recognizes that autonomous communities have full competence in housing but recalls that municipalities have as own competence the promotion and management of publicly protected housing, expressly referring to article 25.2 LRBRL (Law 12/2023).

On this basis, the Madrid City Council can, and the mayor politically directs:

• The planning and execution of the municipal policy on protected housing (municipal plans, municipal public housing developments, building rehabilitation).
• The management of the municipal public housing stock (allocation and ordinary management, in accordance with state and regional regulations).
• The implementation of local programs of rental, rehabilitation, or emergency housing aid, provided they respect the regional and state framework and have sufficient funding.
• The municipal social services that assess vulnerability situations and coordinate emergency accommodation resources, financial aid, or referrals to regional resources.

2. Specific role of the mayor of Madrid according to the Capitality Law

Law 22/2006, of July 4, on Capitality and Special Regime of Madrid (Law 22/2006), develops the organization of the Madrid City Council:

• It configures the mayor as the highest municipal executive body: “as main competencies, the promotion of municipal policy, the direction of other executive bodies, and the superior direction of the municipal executive administration,” accountable to the Plenary.
• The Plenary retains major normative and strategic decisions (including budgets and urban planning), but the execution and daily direction of policies (including housing) correspond to the mayor and the Governing Board.

In housing and evictions, this translates into the mayor of Madrid:

• Defines and directs the municipal housing policy (priorities, programs, agreements with the Community of Madrid and the State, and with social entities).
• Proposes to the Plenary plans and ordinances on housing, urban planning, and aid, and directs their execution once approved.
• Orders and coordinates municipal services involved (urban planning, housing, social services, municipal police) in the prevention and management of housing loss situations.

3. Regional competencies in housing and their impact

The Community of Madrid holds exclusive competence in housing (art. 26 of the Statute of Autonomy), developed by norms such as:

• Law 6/1997, on Public Protection of Housing of the Community of Madrid (link), which regulates the regime of protected housing.
• Decree 52/2016, which creates the Emergency Social Housing Stock of the Social Housing Agency (AVS) and regulates the allocation of emergency housing (text in BOCM).
• Law 9/2015 on Fiscal and Administrative Measures, which introduces an exceptional rental regime for AVS housing occupied “without sufficient title,” precisely to avoid evictions when legally possible (text).

These norms show that the most powerful instruments for emergency housing and management of public emergency housing are regional. The City Council and, therefore, the mayor of Madrid, can:

• Collaborate with the Community of Madrid and the AVS through agreements, transfers, and case coordination.
• Provide social information and support to families affected by evictions for access to regional resources.

4. Clear limits regarding evictions

Civil, procedural legislation and measures directly on evictions (causes for contract termination, procedures, suspension of evictions, requirements of claims, etc.) are the competence of the State (Civil Code, Civil Procedure Law, reforms such as Law 5/2018 and social royal decree-laws) and, to a limited extent, of autonomous communities, under the control of the Constitutional Court (as shown by several rulings cited in the BOE).

Therefore, the mayor of Madrid cannot:

• Suspend or halt a judicial eviction by his own decision.
• Modify the rules of the eviction procedure, nor the legal causes for eviction.
• Impose general limits on rental prices or regulate the essential content of contracts by himself.

His field of action lies in prevention and mitigation: municipal public housing policy, emergency aid and social services, coordination with the Community and State, and, if applicable, mediation and support devices, always within the framework set by state and regional legislation.

The ReViVa Plan of the Municipal Housing and Land Company of Madrid (EMVS Madrid) is designed to incorporate private homes that are currently vacant and allocate them to affordable rental. The detailed requirements and conditions are set out in the official EMVS information, but based on press releases from the Madrid City Council, a set of basic criteria and features that the dwelling must meet to be integrated into the program can be summarized.

1. Location and condition of the property

First, the dwelling must be located within the municipal area of Madrid. ReViVa is a municipal program and acts on existing vacant flats in the 21 districts of the capital, with the objective of “recovering the vacant homes in the city and putting them into circulation as affordable rental,” according to explanations from the City Council in various official notes.

Additionally, the dwelling must be effectively vacant and available to be allocated for rent. The program is not designed for homes already rented, occupied by their owners, or by third parties; the logic is that the owner grants EMVS Madrid the usufruct of a flat that is not being used.

2. Usufruct transfer to EMVS Madrid

The central legal feature of the program is the usufruct transfer:

• The owner does not lose ownership of the dwelling: they remain the registered owner.
• They transfer to EMVS Madrid the usufruct (the right to use and rent it) for a determined period, which in municipal notes is set between a minimum of five and a maximum of ten years, depending on the specific contract.
• During that period, EMVS fully manages the rental and pays the owner a guaranteed rent, whether the dwelling is finally rented or not.

To be incorporated into ReViVa, therefore, the dwelling must be free of encumbrances or legal situations that prevent such usufruct transfer (embargoes that block disposition, existing rental contracts, etc.), and the owner must have the capacity to sign the transfer contract with EMVS Madrid.

3. Physical condition and rehabilitation works

The homes incorporated into the program must present minimum conditions of habitability and safety that allow them to be rented. However, one of the keys of ReViVa is precisely that EMVS Madrid can take charge of the renovation when the flat is deteriorated:

• If the property needs works, EMVS Madrid can advance up to 45,000 euros at 0 % interest to carry out the renovation, including VAT, according to the April 6, 2025 note about the program.
• After the renovation, installations (electricity, plumbing), carpentry, and in many cases kitchen equipment and appliances are modernized, aiming to reach adequate standards of energy efficiency and comfort.

In practice, this means that the initial condition of the dwelling does not have to be perfect, but it must be technically rehabilitable and capable of meeting, after the work, the conditions of an ordinary affordable rental dwelling (without serious structural pathologies, without situations that prevent its legalization, etc.).

4. Economic and management conditions

The program sets an economic and management regime that also conditions which dwelling makes sense to incorporate:

• The dwelling will be allocated to affordable rental, with rents between 15 % and 20 % below the market and with the obligation that the tenant does not pay more than 30 % of their income, according to the municipal note of April 6, 2025.
• EMVS Madrid takes charge of the main expenses associated with the property: homeowners' association fees, home insurance, ordinary repairs, property tax (IBI), and also the costs of the transfer itself (capital gains tax, registration in the Property Registry).
• The owner receives the agreed rent and, if applicable, sees deducted the part corresponding to the advance of the renovation during the usufruct contract term.

For all these reasons, the dwelling to be incorporated must be suitable to sustain a rental in this price range and in the neighborhoods where EMVS operates, so that it fits into the City Council's affordable rental policy.

5. Where to consult updated requirements

The City Council's press releases expressly state that all detailed requirements and conditions to participate in ReViVa, both for owners and tenants, are available on the official EMVS Madrid website. To know the current wording (which may be updated with new calls or management agreements), it is advisable to go directly to: EMVS Madrid page.

As an explanatory reference of the general conditions of the program, you can also consult the note “González: ‘With the ReViVa Program we recover the vacant homes in the capital and put them into circulation as affordable rental’,” published on April 6, 2025, on the municipal website of the Madrid City Council: note about the ReViVa Program.