Renting in Spain as a Foreigner 2026: Contract, Deposit, Fees

A normal long-term home rental in Spain falls under the Urban Leases Act (Ley 29/1994, “LAU”). The term you agree can be shorter, but the tenant can stay for at least five years, or seven if the landlord is a company (art. 9.1). The deposit is one month’s rent (art. 36.1), and the landlord, not you, pays the agency’s fees for finding the tenant and drawing up the contract (art. 20.1). The law applies the same way to foreigners and Spaniards.

A note on timing. A decree-law of 29 September 2026 (RDL 26/2026) briefly amended several LAU articles. Congress repealed it on 2 October 2026, and the BOE marks those changes as having no effect. Everything below is the text in force on 7 October 2026.

What the law gives you

Item	Rule	Article
Minimum term	5 years, or 7 if the landlord is a legal person. A shorter contract is extended by one year at a time up to that minimum	9.1
Tenant can refuse to renew	Give 30 days’ notice before the end of the contract or any extension	9.1
Tenant can leave early	After 6 months, with 30 days’ notice. The contract may require compensation of one month’s rent per remaining year	11
Deposit (fianza)	One month’s rent, in cash	36.1
Extra guarantee	Up to 2 months’ rent in contracts of up to 5 years (7 for company landlords)	36.5
Advance rent	The landlord cannot demand more than one month in advance	17.2
Agency and contract formalization costs	Paid by the landlord	20.1

One exception to the five years: if the contract states at signing that the landlord (an individual) needs the home as a permanent residence for themselves or a first-degree relative, they can recover it after the first year with two months’ notice (art. 9.3). Check the contract for this clause.

After the minimum term, if neither side gives notice (four months for the landlord, two months for the tenant), the contract renews one year at a time for up to three more years (art. 10.1).

All of this covers a home let as a permanent residence. Short-stay “seasonal” lets and second-home rentals are treated as a different category with their own rules (art. 3). If a landlord offers a “seasonal” contract for someone who will live there full time, read it carefully.

The deposit and the extra guarantee

The deposit is mandatory and equals one month’s rent (art. 36.1). During the first five years (seven with a company landlord) it is not updated, but each time the lease is extended either side can ask to bring it back to one month of the current rent (art. 36.2). If the landlord has not returned it a month after you hand back the keys, it earns legal interest (art. 36.4).

On top of the deposit, the parties can agree any other guarantee, such as a bank guarantee or a larger transfer. In contracts of up to five years (seven for company landlords), that extra guarantee cannot exceed two months’ rent (art. 36.5). A worked example for rent of €1,000 a month:

At signing	Maximum
First month’s rent	€1,000
Deposit	€1,000
Extra guarantee	€2,000

The law’s limit on advance rent is one month (art. 17.2), so the first month counts as that month. A landlord who asks for six months upfront is asking for something the LAU does not allow in a standard home lease.

Registering the deposit with the region

The LAU lets each autonomous community require landlords to deposit the fianza with a regional body, without interest, until the contract ends (additional provision 3). If the body has not returned it within a month after the contract ends, it earns legal interest. Not every region applies this the same way, and the regional rules decide who files and how, so check your region’s housing authority. The regulation also requires the filing to include data on both parties, the home and the contract terms, so keep a signed copy of your contract and any receipt for the deposit.

Who pays the agency

The LAU says that “los gastos de gestión inmobiliaria y los de formalización del contrato serán a cargo del arrendador”: real estate management costs and contract formalization costs are the landlord’s (art. 20.1). The article was amended by Real Decreto-ley 7/2019 and again by the housing law, Ley 12/2023 (its first final provision). In practice this means an agency that works for the landlord should bill the landlord. It should not ask you for its commission or for a fee to prepare the contract.

The other costs are not covered by this rule. Utilities measured by individual meters are always the tenant’s (art. 20.3). Community charges and taxes like the IBI property tax only pass to you if the contract says so in writing and states the annual amount (art. 20.1).

Rent updates in 2026

The rent can only be updated once a year, on the anniversary of the contract, and only if the contract says how (art. 18.1). With no clause, the rent does not change. The new rent is due from the month after you are notified in writing with the percentage applied (art. 18.2).

Since Ley 12/2023 added additional provision 11, the INE has defined a reference index for this: the IRAV. It is the lowest of three numbers: annual CPI, annual core CPI, and an adjusted average of the two (INE resolution of 18 December 2024, effective 1 January 2025). The INE publishes it monthly, using the latest data available at the update date. The most recent value on the INE site is 2.47%, for August 2026, published 15 September 2026.

For a contract signed after Ley 12/2023 took effect (26 May 2023), the increase cannot exceed that cap. A worked example, for rent of €1,200 and an update date when the index is 2.47%:

€1,200 × 2.47% = €29.64, so the new rent is at most €1,229.64.

The index that applies is the one published for the last month available on the date of the update, not today’s. A contract signed before May 2023 follows the transitional rules, so check the clause in your contract.

Rent caps in stressed areas

In areas declared “zonas de mercado residencial tensionado” under Ley 12/2023, the rent for a new contract cannot exceed the last rent charged on that home in the past five years, after applying the annual update (art. 17.6). There are limited exceptions, such as a 10% increase after certain renovations. The Ministry of Housing publishes which municipalities are declared.

What landlords ask foreigners for

The LAU does not list documents a landlord may request, so what follows is common practice, not law. Landlords usually ask for ID or a passport, proof of income, and your NIE if you have one. A foreigner without Spanish payslips or a Spanish bank history is a bigger risk to them, so some ask for a larger guarantee. The two-month ceiling on additional guarantees (art. 36.5) and the one-month ceiling on advance rent (art. 17.2) apply no matter who the tenant is. A request above those ceilings is more than the law allows in a standard home lease.

Before you sign:

• Get the contract in writing, with the landlord’s identity, the home, the term and the initial rent (art. 37).
• Pay by bank transfer. Payment is by electronic means, with cash only in exceptional cases (art. 17.3), and you are entitled to a receipt (art. 17.4).
• Ask for a receipt for the deposit.
• Use the lease for your empadronamiento and to open a bank account.

If you are still building your budget, the cost of living in Spain page shows what rent looks like city by city.