Attention: last days to register in the Register of Large Housing Holders

The Catalan Law 1/2022 of 3 March to address the housing emergency introduced, among other measures, the obligation for large housing tenants to register in the new Register of Large Housing Tenants

On 8 March last, Catalan Law 1/2022, of 3 March, came into force, amending Law 18/2007, Law 24/2015 and Law 4/2016 to address the housing emergency and which was introduced after the Constitutional Court declared unconstitutional (Ruling no. 16/2021) part of the Decree Law of the Government of Catalonia 17/2019 which introduced amendments to various articles of Law 18/2007, Law 24/2015 and Law 2016. Without going into an in-depth analysis of Judgment no. 16/2021, it should be noted that the reasons for the unconstitutionality of the aforementioned decree law lie mainly in the fact that the modifications that affect the essential regime of the right to property established in article 33 of the Spanish Constitution cannot be regulated by means of a decree law. The main measures introduced by Catalan Law 1/2022 are the following:

• Social rental contracts will be compulsorily renewed if at the end of the maximum duration the occupants are at risk of further exclusion. Likewise, a social rent must be proposed prior to filing a legal claim in relation to any enforcement action derived from the claim of a mortgage debt and other eviction claims due to expiry of the maximum duration of the title that legitimises the occupation or due to lack of such title in certain circumstances.
• A large holder of dwellings is considered to be a company that alone or through a group of companies owns more than 10 dwellings (previously 15).
• An empty dwelling is defined as a dwelling or residential building that is permanently and unjustifiably unoccupied for a period of more than two years. The fact of being considered empty housing implies non-compliance with the social function on the part of the property owner, empowering the administration to enforce sanctions, even going as far as forced expropriation if the property owner does not comply with the requirements of the administration.
• It establishes the creation of a Register of Large Housing Holders, under the auspices of the Catalan Housing Agency, in which legal entities that are large holders must be registered. This registration must be carried out within one month of the entry into force of the law, i.e. the deadline for registration is 8 April 2022. Attention! Failure to register could be considered a serious offence with fines ranging from 9,001 to 90,000 euros.

AddVANTE is at the client’s service, offering personalised advice in order to comply with the recent legislation.