False seasonal leases and the tenant’s right to remain in the accommodation

In recent times, especially in coastal and tourist areas, there has been a proliferation of offers of well-priced and well-equipped rental properties, but with one major drawback: the advertisements specify “only available during the winter months”, “only available from October to May”, or some similar formula.

The reason for this is none other than the owners’ desire to make the property as profitable as possible, so that they can rent it out during the low season at normal housing market prices; and at normal, but exorbitant, holiday market prices during the high season, to holidaymakers or other people who are going to use it for holiday purposes. However, after evicting those who had been tenants during the low season.

This desire of landlords to squeeze as much profitability as possible out of their properties often clashes with the tenants’ desire for stability.The people who normally, if they are comfortable in the home and are meeting their payment obligations, will not want to leave, even during the summer months and with the promise to return in October. Realistically, such a formula could only appeal, perhaps, to students from other localities who need housing only during the school year, or to teachers and professors in the same situation.

But this ambition of landlords does not only clash with the tenants’ desire for stability, but also with the Ley de Arrendamientos Urbanos. It should be noted that, when the rented property is a dwelling which is to be used precisely for that purpose, as the tenant’s main residence, the contract shall be extendedThe total duration of the programme shall be for periods of one year until a total duration of 5 years is exceeded. años. Y esto será así diga lo que diga el contrato, pues la misma Ley prevé que el contrato es aplicable únicamente en todo lo que no contradiga a la Ley. In this sense, fixing for a property that the tenant must forcibly vacate it at the end of the term indicated in the contract, if this was less than 3 years,is illegal and therefore null and void.

In our opinion, the only legitimate way for the landlord to make his property more profitable during the summer months would be to set a higher price for those months, so that if the tenant signs, he will have to pay those amounts, however much higher they are than the price for the normal months, and there is nothing he can do about it. What is unacceptable is to pretend to benefit from the stability that comes from having a property rented for a long period, and at the same time, from the profitability that comes from renting it out for holidays.The owner could find that nobody wants to rent it to him, given the supposed obligation to vacate it in summer; or that once it is rented, the tenant, knowing his rights, refuses to vacate it until after 3 years.

Whatever your case may be, we recommend that you do not rely on the advice of an estate agent, as legal advice is not their field of activity, nor do they need to be up to date with current law. Before making a decision as important as renting a property, consult your lawyer.