Eviction in Spain: what the court must check before you are put out

What the law allows a lease to be terminated for

Residential tenancies are governed by the Urban Tenancies Act — Ley 29/1994 (LAU). A breach by either party entitles the other to demand performance or to seek termination under art. 1124 of the Civil Code (art. 27.1 LAU).

Six grounds for the landlord

Beyond that, the landlord may terminate the contract outright (art. 27.2):

• non-payment of rent, or of any sum the tenant has undertaken to pay;
• non-payment of the deposit (fianza) or of its top-up;
• subletting or assignment without consent;
• wilful damage to the property, or works carried out without the landlord’s consent where consent is required;
• activities in the dwelling that are a nuisance, unhealthy, harmful, dangerous or unlawful;
• the dwelling ceasing to serve primarily as the permanent housing need of the tenant or of whoever actually occupies it.

Two grounds for the tenant

The tenant may terminate where the landlord fails to carry out the repairs required by art. 21, or interferes with the use of the dwelling, whether in fact or in law (art. 27.3).

A separate rule for leases entered in the Land Registry

Where the lease is registered and provides that non-payment terminates it and the property must be returned at once, termination takes effect once the landlord has demanded payment through a court or a notary and the tenant has not replied within ten working days, or has replied accepting termination (art. 27.4).

What the court must check before admitting the claim

The Housing Act — Ley 12/2023 — rewrote parts of the civil procedure code, and the central change is a filter at the door. For four categories of possession claims (numbers 1, 2, 4 and 7 of art. 250.1 of the procedure code) the claim will not be admitted unless it specifies:

1. whether the property is the habitual residence of the person occupying it;
2. whether the claimant is a large holder within the meaning of art. 3(k) of the Housing Act. A claimant who states they are not must attach a Land Registry certificate listing the properties registered in their name.

Who counts as a large holder

A natural or legal person owning more than ten urban residential properties, or more than 1,500 m² of built residential floor space — garages and storage rooms excluded in all cases. In a strained residential market area the autonomous community may, with reasons given, lower this to five or more properties within that area.

And here is what the filter no longer contains

This matters in practice: guidance about eviction still widely describes compulsory conciliation as a live requirement. If you plan to argue that the claimant skipped conciliation, check the current text with a lawyer first.

The exact day and hour is not a formality

Every court ruling that schedules an eviction must state the exact day and hour — regardless of whether an eviction was attempted earlier. This is a standalone provision introduced by the same act.

It pairs with a second one: an eviction judgment needs no further step before the eviction is carried out at the appointed day and hour — it is enough that enforcement was requested in the claim itself. And the ordinary waiting period before enforcement does not apply to evictions for non-payment or for expiry of the term.

But there is a counterweight, and it is about you: where the property is a habitual residence, the social services procedure described below must have been completed before the eviction. Skipping it is not a technicality but a failure to observe an express requirement of the act.

Vulnerability: what happens without you asking

This is the most under-used part of the law. It operates automatically.

First. Where the property is the defendant’s habitual residence, the court must, in the order admitting the claim, inform the defendant of the option of approaching the regional and local authorities responsible for housing and social assistance — and not in general terms: the act requires the exact identifying details of those authorities and how to contact them.

Second, and most important. The court notifies those same authorities of the case immediately and on its own motion, so that they can verify whether the household is vulnerable and, if it is, put to the court an offer of decent housing under a social tenancy, immediate support measures, and the benefits the household may be entitled to. Where vulnerability is confirmed, the authorities must tell the court within ten days at the latest.

Third. Once that reply arrives, or the deadline passes, the court gives the parties five days to make submissions and suspends the scheduled date of the hearing or of the eviction if it is imminent.

Fourth — the suspension itself. The court decides by order whether to suspend the proceedings so the authorities can put their measures in place. The maximum is two months where the claimant is an individual and four months where it is a legal person. Once the measures are adopted or the period expires, the suspension is lifted automatically and the case resumes.

The yardsticks the court uses

The act gives the court explicit criteria. Economic vulnerability: rent plus electricity, gas, water and telecommunications take more than 30% of household income, and that income falls below:

• as a general rule, three times the IPREM (the monthly public income indicator);
• plus 0.3 IPREM per dependent child; 0.35 in a single-parent household and for each child with a disability of 33% or more;
• plus 0.2 IPREM for each household member over 65 and for each person in a situation of dependency;
• where a household member has a disability of 33% or more, a dependency situation, or an illness that demonstrably and permanently prevents them from working, the general threshold rises to five times the IPREM, with the per-child increments still added on top.

Social vulnerability is assessed separately: whether the occupants include people in a situation of dependency, victims of violence against women, or minors. The court must weigh the case as a whole — including any vulnerability of the claimant.

If people are living there without a contract

Notice is served on whoever is actually living there and may also be addressed to unidentified occupants; the officer serving it may be accompanied by law-enforcement agents in order to establish identities.

Where the claimant has asked for immediate delivery of possession, the court requires the occupants, within five days, to produce a document justifying their possession. If no sufficient basis is produced, the court orders the premises to be vacated, and no appeal lies against that order. The vulnerability rules continue to apply where the recipient of the notice or the other occupants could be identified.

If you bought the property at auction

If the purchaser asks, they are put in possession of a property that is not occupied. Where it is occupied, eviction is ordered at once — with the exact day and hour — provided the court has ruled that the occupants have no right to remain. Eviction of those who occupy the property as a matter of fact or without sufficient title may be sought within one year of acquisition; after that, only through separate proceedings. The occupants are summoned to a hearing within ten days, where they may state and prove their position.

Step by step

• Read what is actually being claimed against you. Non-payment, expiry of the term and occupation without title are three different procedures with different rules.
• Check the claim carries both mandatory statements — habitual residence and large holder. Their absence is a ground for not admitting it.
• If the claimant says they are not a large holder, check the Land Registry certificate is attached. The act requires that specific document.
• Check the ruling states the exact day and hour. Its absence breaches an express provision.
• Do not wait to be invited — approach social services yourself. The court must notify them, but the assessment is produced by them, not by you or the court, and they have ten days.
• Work out your own threshold in advance: rent plus utilities against 30% of household income, and income against three times the IPREM with the increments.
• Take appeal deadlines from the ruling itself — they are deliberately absent here.

Common misconceptions

«A large holder must go through conciliation first»

That provision is struck down in the consolidated text of the act. Building a defence on it without checking the current text is unsafe.

«You have to raise vulnerability yourself or it is ignored»

The court notifies social services on its own motion. But the confirmation is produced by those services — so approaching them yourself, and early, still matters.

«They can evict on any day without warning»

The ruling must state the exact day and hour, and for a habitual residence the social services procedure must have been completed first.

Official sources

• Ley 12/2023 on the right to housing — BOE
• Ley 29/1994 de Arrendamientos Urbanos — BOE

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This is an informational explainer, not legal advice. It is written from the texts of the acts in force, but it does not account for the circumstances of your case. Decisions on your situation are made by a lawyer.