RDL 29/2026 for law firms: seasonal rentals, room lets and the new eviction suspension

Royal Decree-Law 29/2026 of 6 October has been in force for just over two weeks and is starting to land in day-to-day practice. Its three legs (eviction protection, redefinition of seasonal and room rentals, and reinforced limits in strained-market areas) change daily advice on urban leases. These are its operational keys, taken from the BOE consolidated text.

Eviction suspension for vulnerable people until 2030

Article 2 establishes, until 31 December 2030, a suspension regime for eviction proceedings involving people in a situation of vulnerability with no housing alternative. The design distinguishes two cases: when the claimant is one of the entities dedicated to acquiring properties or portfolios of unpaid mortgage loans under the conditions of the provision, the suspension operates without compensation; for all other claimants, the suspension is set with periodic review, grounds for lifting and a maximum duration of three years from when it is agreed, with compensation in favour of individual landlords and legal entities dedicated to affordable or social mainstream rental.

Extraordinary enervation and the Administration's role

The second piece, in article 5.Two, is the most procedurally novel: an extraordinary enervation of the action in evictions for non-payment when the tenant is in a situation of economic vulnerability. The competent Administration has a maximum, non-extendable period of two months from notification to offer a suitable housing alternative or, failing that, to pay the landlord or judicially deposit the full amounts claimed and accrued, plus costs. During that period, the proceedings and any eviction are suspended.

If the Administration pays or deposits in full, the contract continues as normal. If two months pass with no alternative and no payment, the Administration is automatically subrogated into the tenant's debtor position and the eviction cannot proceed while the vulnerability persists. The practical effect is to shift the cost of inaction onto the Administration, something firms will need to watch closely in daily practice.

The end of the cause-free seasonal let

The reform deeply amends the Urban Leases Act 29/1994 with a declared goal: stopping the use of seasonal and room rentals to circumvent the Housing Act 12/2023. The central piece is a presumption: any seasonal or room-let contract lacking an express cause evidencing a real, provable need for temporary housing automatically becomes a mainstream housing contract. Drafting seasonal contracts now requires documenting the temporary cause in a provable way, not merely mentioning it.

For room lets, article 3 expressly brings them into the housing lease modalities, mainstream or seasonal depending on the residential need they serve, and sets a price cap: the sum of the rents of the partial contracts in force over the same dwelling may not exceed the rent of a contract for the whole unit. In strained residential market areas, moreover, the unit rent or the sum of partial rents must respect the limits of article 17(6) to (8) of the LAU. Regional regulations are preserved.

The application context

The preamble grounds the reform in CGPJ data: launches from mortgage foreclosures fell by almost 70% in 2019-2025 compared with 2013-2018, and the weight of LAU-derived launches over all contracts fell by nearly 50% in a stock that grew by more than 600,000 contracts. The decree also connects with the strained-area map, which Catalonia expanded this very week, as we reported in our news on the 53 municipalities declared and 118 extended.

For day-to-day work, two immediate consequences: review seasonal and room-let contract templates as soon as possible, and adjust procedural strategy in ongoing eviction proceedings involving potentially vulnerable tenants. Related reading: the rent extension under RDL 28/2026 and the editorial on housing decree-laws and legal certainty.