Editorial: two decree-laws on the same day are not the best way to legislate on housing

This is an editorial by the AGENTE LEX newsroom. It expresses the portal's opinion.

BOE no. 249 of 7 October 2026 published two royal decree-laws approved the day before. Both concern housing. Both amend the Urban Leases Act (LAU). And both touch the same Article 10, the one that regulates the extension of contracts.

We do not go into the substance of the measures here, which each reader will judge. We speak of form, because form is also law.

The facts

• Royal Decree-Law 28/2026 gives a completely new wording to Article 10 of the Urban Leases Act. Under its second final provision, it comes into force on 15 November 2026.
• Royal Decree-Law 29/2026 came into force on 8 October 2026. According to its preamble, it has six titles, twenty-one articles, two additional provisions, two transitional, one repealing and eleven final. Besides the Urban Leases Act, it amends, among others, the Civil Procedure Act, the income tax law, the VAT law, the Local Finance Act, the SOCIMI law, the Right to Housing Act and the Securities Markets Act. It also amended Article 10 of the Urban Leases Act, which Royal Decree-Law 28/2026 rewrites.

The details of the new Article 10 are in our analysis of the rental extension.

Why it is a problem

For citizens. A landlord or tenant who wants to know which rules apply to their contract has to read two rules from the same day, check which of them is in force at any time and reconstruct the current wording. For several weeks an already-amended text and one that will replace it will coexist.

For professionals. Lawyers, property administrators, notaries and judges have to work with an article that changes twice within a few weeks, with different transitional regimes. Every query requires checking dates before giving an answer.

For the quality of the rule. Royal Decree-Law 29/2026 mixes in a single text very different matters: leases, civil procedure, state and local taxes, public assets, guarantees and a new financial product. The more heterogeneous a text is, the harder it is to find what affects each person and the easier it is for a reform to go unnoticed.

For parliamentary debate. The preamble of Royal Decree-Law 28/2026 recalls that it is referred to Congress for validation. The more heterogeneous a decree-law is, the harder it is for that debate to address each of its parts in detail.

What we ask

1. One text per reform. If two rules are going to amend the same article, they should do so in a coordinated way in a single provision.
2. Consistent entry-into-force dates for rules that apply to the same contract.
3. Homogeneous texts, which do not mix leases with financial products or local taxes.
4. Immediate consolidated texts, so anyone can check the wording in force at any time.

Meanwhile

For firms, the recommendation is practical: date every query and check the wording of Article 10 in force on the specific day that matters for the contract. An undated query can lead to applying a wording that is no longer in force, or not yet in force. And review the parliamentary status of both royal decree-laws before 15 November.

It is no minor matter: in a lease, the applicable wording can depend on the date of signing, of the extension or of any communication between the parties.

It is the same rule of dating the query that we apply in our newsroom, as we explain in the editorial on how we verify official sources. More editorials in Opinion.