A rent agreement for a period of less than a year. Is it even legal?

A rent agreement for a period of less than a year. Is it even legal?

Renting a house in Spain is very common, especially among young people who do not want to depend on their parents. But it is also not uncommon for a lease to be granted only for a certain period of time, for example, while studying at a university or for temporary work. However, when concluding a contract of this type, there are many doubts if it is concluded for a period of less than a year.

What's going on with the short-term tent?

As for city rentals in Spain, this issue is regulated by Law 29/1994 of November 24. In this document, you can read that a rent is considered to be «a rent of a habitable living space, the main purpose of which is to satisfy the renter's constant need for housing».

It is the characteristic of «constant need for real estate» that means that renting a student's or a worker's home who is forced to live in another city for a short period of time is not considered rent as such.

Thus, the difference is not so much in the duration of the rent agreement, as in the fact that the house is not used as a habitual residence or to meet a permanent need, since the renter only uses the housing for temporary use with a permanent place of residence elsewhere (even if it is the parents' apartment).

A temporary type of rent is a seasonal rent, «whether it is summer or any other». For instance, in cases when a person comes to the city for a few days for part-time work, he/she can use this type of rental for several days that he will spend in the destination city.

Thus, short-term rent agreements are legal, provided that the reason for the temporary nature of the contract is indicated, and the renter has another place of residence.

If these conditions are not met, the contract becomes a rent agreement, i.e. indefinite, and the law provides that the term of the contract must be at least five years if the owner is an individual, and seven years if the owner is a legal entity.

The term can be freely agreed upon by the parties, but if it is less than the above period, «after the expiration of the agreement, it will be forcibly extended by annual payments until the rent reaches the minimum period».

It is possible to terminate the contract and cancel the extension if the lessee notifies the renter at least 30 days before the next date of extension of the agreement about the desire to complete the rent.

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