Renting in Spain: five years of protection, one month's deposit, and the costs the landlord bears
Spanish tenancy law protects you better than its reputation: five years of security of tenure, a deposit capped by law, and since 2023 the agency fees are the landlord's. Plus the scam signals you need all the more as a foreigner.
5 min read
Written and checked by Auke on , against the sources at the bottom. Is something no longer right? Report it below and I'll fix it.
Yes, as a Dutch citizen you rent in Spain under the same law as a Spaniard, and that law protects you better than its reputation suggests. It is the LAU, the Spanish tenancy act. It gives you:
- five years of security of tenure;
- a deposit of legally one month, plus at most two months of extra guarantee;
- since 2023, agency fees that are the landlord's, not yours.
So the most you're out on signing is three months' rent in security, plus the first month's rent. Does an agent charge you "one month's rent plus VAT"? Then he is asking for something the housing act Ley 12/2023 forbids him.
The pitfall is not the contract, but searching from a distance. Foreigners searching from the Netherlands are the favourite target of rental fraud. One rule catches everything: never pay before you have seen the home and the owner in real life.
What does the law give me as a tenant?
Spanish tenancy law has a worse name among Dutch people than it deserves. The act (the LAU) has in recent years actually been adjusted firmly in the tenant's favour. You just have to know what's in it, because the landlord isn't going to tell you.
- Five years of security of tenure. Whatever your contract says: for residential property you have the right to annual extension to at least five years (seven if the landlord is a company). A "one-year contract" is therefore a contract for five, if you want it.
- Being able to leave yourself. After six months you may terminate early, with thirty days' notice. At most you pay the contractually agreed compensation of one month's rent per remaining year.
- A deposit with a ceiling. The statutory fianza, the deposit, is one month's rent. Asking for extra security is allowed; the best-known form is the aval bancario, a bank guarantee. For ordinary contracts that extra is legally capped at two months. Three months in total is therefore the upper limit, not the opening bid.
- The agent is not your bill. Since the housing act of 2023, agency and contract costs are the landlord's. An agent who charges you "one month's rent plus VAT" is asking for something the law forbids him.
What do I pay on signing, and what is not allowed?
| What the law says | Legal basis | |
|---|---|---|
| Term | annual extension to at least 5 years (7 if the landlord is a company) | LAU art. 9 |
| Early termination | after 6 months, with 30 days' notice; at most 1 month's rent per remaining year as compensation | LAU art. 11 |
| Deposit (fianza) | 1 month's rent | LAU art. 36 |
| Extra guarantee (for instance aval bancario) | at most 2 months' rent extra | RDL 7/2019 |
| Agency and contract costs | the landlord's | Ley 12/2023 |
| Upper limit on signing | 3 months' security plus the first month's rent | — |
If you are a foreigner without a Spanish payslip, a landlord will more often ask for security: paying more in advance within the ceiling, or that aval. That is negotiation, not law; what the law says is above. The cost indication for Spain includes deposit, rent in advance and temporary living in the item "first months".
Which question do I ask before signing?
From the step-by-step plan, and it belongs here too: "may I register at this address?" Your registration with the town hall, the empadronamiento, hangs on your rental contract. A landlord who is shady about it is letting informally. Then you are the one who later gets stuck at every counter. It is a reasonable question, and the answer tells you something about the landlord.
You only get your NIE, your Spanish identification number, at your registration. And that registration needs precisely this rental contract. So ask the landlord beforehand whether you may sign with your passport.
How do I recognise rental fraud?
Foreigners searching from a distance are the favourite target of rental fraud. The signals the Spanish cybersecurity institute names: a price too good for the neighbourhood, an "owner abroad" who cannot show the home, haste ("there are three other candidates"), paying via Western Union or an unexpected foreign account, and communication from a free email address. The rule that catches everything: never pay before you have seen the home — and the owner — in real life. Precisely for that reason the step-by-step plan starts with temporary accommodation and you look for the real home on the spot.
Why rent, and not buy straight away?
Because the first year is fixed on this site: rent first, buy later. What you learn in that year about the neighbourhood, the house and the region is exactly what you can no longer undo after a purchase. And in Spain the purchase costs quickly come to a tenth of the price: money a rental year would have corrected for free. Why that order is not negotiable is in why you don't buy a house in your first year. How the purchase does work afterwards, you can read in buying a house in Spain. With five years of security of tenure, a rental contract in Spain is not a stopgap but a fully fledged choice.
In Vertrekklaar this is phase 4 of 5 of the journey, step 4.1: the same steps, but for your situation — in your order, tickable, and with the deadlines watched. See the whole journey to Spain or go straight to step 4.1 in the open plan.
What this rests on
The facts in this article come from these official pages. Rules change. When in doubt, go by the source, not this article.
- BOE — the tenancy act LAU 29/1994, consolidated (art. 9-11, 20, 36) — boe.es
- BOE — RDL 7/2019, the deposit capped — boe.es
- BOE — Ley 12/2023, agency fees moved to the landlord — boe.es
- INCIBE — recognising rental fraud — incibe.es
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