Summary of the law on urgent measures for the control of rent prices in residential lease agreements

The LCR entered into force on 22 September 2020, without prejudice to the fact that (i) the provisions of the LCR which may incur expenses to be charged to the budgets of the Generalitat will take effect on the date of the entry into force of the law on budgets corresponding to the budget year immediately following the entry into force of the LCR; and (ii) the application of the rent control regime for newly built housing or housing which has undergone major refurbishment will enter into force within three (3) years of the entry into force of the LCR (that is, from 22 September 2023).

For this purpose, in accordance with the LCR, the municipalities, or parts thereof, in which any of the following circumstances exist will be considered to be tense housing market areas:

• If the average price of housing rent experiences sustained growth which is clearly higher than that of the average of the territory of Catalonia.

• If the average burden of rent on the personal or family budget is more than thirty percent of the household’s usual income, or if the average price of housing rents exceeds thirty percent of the average income of persons under thirty-five years of age.

• If the price of housing rents has experienced, within five years prior to the area being declared a tense housing market area, an accumulated year-on-year growth which is three percentage points higher than the year-on-year rate of the Catalan consumer price index (the “IPCC”).

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