Among the difficulties that Valencian real estate agencies encounter in meeting the demand for housing, in recent months there has been an increase in filters to accept tenants. The offer is so scarce, they say, that now the owner can even afford to cast and ends up adding so many characteristics that the list of candidates inevitably dwindles. "Continuous work experience of more than one year" can be one of the requests, but also give references or ensure that you are not - and demonstrate it - in any delinquency file.
This is seen at RK Inmuebles Valencianos, one of the companies that manages the most rentals in Valencia. "The owners are more demanding and now they even ask us for a solvent guarantor who responds with their payroll for 30% of the amount of the rent," explains Silvia Doménech, accounting and legal director of the firm. She explains that even the owners veto families with children and/or tenants with pets and claim that they do so motivated by the new Rental Law, which is generally perceived to be more rigid with respect to property. "It is because of the concept of vulnerability, which pulls them back."
We asked the Real Estate Association of the Valencian Community (Asicval) about this question, which last week already warned in this newspaper - after the UPV study on the worrying housing shortage in Valencia - that "the new law is the only thing that had done was to complicate everything a little more," according to its president Nora García Donet.
They explain from their legal department that the Law speaks of economic vulnerability and social vulnerability, but the great novelty is how this affects eviction processes from homes owned by a large holder, a situation in which many fear finding themselves. Now the law introduces a conciliation or intermediation procedure in cases where the owner is a large owner of a home and the property is occupied by a person in a situation of economic vulnerability.
"There is no veto for minors, but it is true that depending on the dependent children, the economic situation to be declared in those cases varies," they explain from Asicval's legal department. They point out that "in some cases what the Law has done is that the evictions are delayed in time, because the reports have to be requested and the Administration does not resolve immediately and furthermore now it is up to a large holder to impose a lawsuit obviously the law obliges him to go to a conciliation act," their legal team explains.
Among the sources consulted, they know of cases of owners in whom tenants reported for non-payment have left their pets inside the apartment. "The Law does not contemplate any situation for pets, but in an eviction it is true that it ends up being a complicated situation for the owner, which is why many people now even avoid them," the same sources provide.
The requirements also apply to shared apartments, which have been growing in recent times, to an average of 250 ads per month in Valencia alone, according to Asicval. A recent report on shared apartments in Spain 2023 carried out by apartments.com establishes that 40.66% of shared apartments are distributed between Barcelona (16.90%), Madrid (16.01%) and València (7.75% ). In Valencia, furthermore, the average rent for these apartments is 470.93 euros per month, well above the average (414.91 euros).
With this scenario, it is not surprising that the requirements grow. This report points out that gender is still not an important condition, since 54.76% of the published advertisements do not specify preference, but it reveals that the apartments that only accept girls have gone from 13.18% to 19.45%. Those that only accept boys go from 2.11% to 3.14%. Couples are accepted in 8.86% of cases in 2023. In 2022, they marked 6.52% of the offer.
Other interesting facts are related to pets and smokers. In the first case, ads where pets are accepted represent 9.32% of the total, a percentage higher than the 6.78% in 2022. Regarding the habit of tobacco, in 41.76% of the cases it is specified that The rooms are non-smoking.
"When you have to share, the normal thing is to set rules so that coexistence works and this happens in shared rentals mainly because nowadays you can set rules because there is little supply. Accessing a shared room almost requires passing a casting because the owner has many options... When there are few homes, casting is normal," explains Ferran Font, Director of Studies at Pisos.com.
