Renting a home is becoming more and more expensive in many areas of Spain, an example are the prices in large cities such as Madrid or Barcelona, which have risen by 10.9% and 16.1% respectively in the last year, according to data of the Idealista real estate portal. In addition to this cost, another concern is added to be able to enter a flat: that the rent is not greater than the maximum percentage of the salary that the tenant can invest, so it is important to know this limit.
Arantxa Goenaga, a lawyer from the Círculo Legal Barcelona firm, explains that it has always been considered that the ideal is for the cohabitation unit to allocate 30% of the salary to rent. This percentage had not been defined until the Law for the Right to Housing approved definitively this 2023, and it is also applied by both financial institutions to grant a mortgage loan and non-payment insurance.
Despite having defined an adequate percentage, according to David Gordo, Housfy's real estate expert, there is no legal limit, so the owner and tenant can agree on a price that exceeds the recommended limit, which for Gordo is a maximum of 40%. of the incomes. However, he warns that it may happen that the landlord wants to ensure the collection of the rent and contract non-payment insurance in which it is required that the rental price cannot exceed a specific percentage of the renter's income.
However, “once a lease is formalized, the only financial obligation that the tenant has is to pay the rent; he has no obligation to update his financial data and send it to the owner ”, they assure from Housfy. But they can be required.
Goenaga recalls that in the event that the lessor has non-payment insurance, insurers can request new documentation to update the lessee's financial data. And if it turns out that the rent exceeds the recommended income limit, it could be the situation that the insurer does not want to continue insuring the landlord because the criteria are not met, but nevertheless the owner could not terminate the contract with the tenant for not stating in him this situation.
“As long as the tenant continues to pay the rent, the contract cannot be terminated and they will be thrown out, but if they do not meet the limit [percentage of income that can be used for housing], in the end they will not be able to pay and it will be cause for termination Goenaga says. Regarding people who want to rent an apartment and cannot afford it with their salary, but have enough savings to do so, he comments that the entire annuity is usually charged in advance or they request another type of guarantee such as a guarantee to be able to answer for the pay.
“Rental prices are increasing more and more because there is greater demand than supply. And the current regulations are not helping to make it possible to access normally, quite the contrary ”, denounces Goenaga. It also regrets that the measure of declaring stressed areas -and, with it, limiting the price of rents- when the average cost of rent exceeds 30% of the average household income has not improved the situation, but rather has caused many homes leave the market or other formulas are sought such as seasonal rental, shared rental or room rental.
