Independent, English-speaking legal protection for tenants in Spain — rental contract review, tenant rights under the LAU, deposit recovery, and eviction defence. We act only for you, never the landlord or the agency.
Most legal help for renting in Spain is written for landlords. Search for advice and you will find page after page about how to let a property, register a tourist licence, or evict a non-paying tenant — and almost nothing written for the person actually signing the lease and handing over a deposit. That gap matters, because the tenant is usually the party with the most to lose and the least information. You are committing to months of rent, putting down a deposit equal to one or two months' rent, and signing a contract in Spanish that you may not fully understand, often under time pressure because you need an address to register your residency, your visa, or your children's school place.
Spanish tenancy law is, on paper, protective of tenants. The Ley de Arrendamientos Urbanos (the LAU, Law 29/1994) gives long-term residential tenants substantial rights — a minimum guaranteed term, limits on deposits, and protection against arbitrary eviction. The problem is that many of the contracts foreign tenants are asked to sign are quietly written to sidestep those protections. A landlord who labels a long-term home as a "seasonal" or "temporary" let (arrendamiento de temporada) strips the tenant of the five-year security the law would otherwise provide. A clause that makes the tenant liable for the landlord's IBI property tax, community fees, or major repairs shifts costs that legally belong to the owner. A deposit demand of three or four months' rent exceeds what the law allows for a residential lease. None of this is obvious if you cannot read the contract closely in Spanish — and by the time a problem surfaces, you have usually already paid.
At Platinum Legal Spain, our team of bar-registered solicitors and legal specialists acts exclusively for tenants. We do not represent landlords or letting agencies, we take no commission from anyone, and our only job is to make sure the contract you are about to sign is fair, legal, and enforceable — and to step in if something goes wrong once you have moved in. Whether you are a digital nomad visa holder renting in Barcelona, a retiree on a non-lucrative visa settling on the Costa del Sol, a student taking a room in Valencia, or a family relocating to Murcia, the legal risks of a badly drafted Spanish lease are the same — and so is the protection we provide.
Help before you sign, and representation if a problem arises after you move in.
A clause-by-clause review of your lease in plain English — term, rent, deposit, who pays what, break clauses, and any term that breaches the LAU. You sign knowing exactly what you are agreeing to.
Our most popular service →Clear guidance on your rights under Spanish law — minimum term, rent increases, repairs, privacy, and what your landlord can and cannot do during the tenancy.
Know where you stand →If a landlord withholds your deposit without justification at the end of the lease, we pursue its return — formal demand, negotiation, and court action where needed.
Get your fianza back →If you face a desahucio (eviction) — for alleged non-payment or at the end of a term you believe is protected — we defend your position and protect your right to remain.
Urgent help available →We verify the property can lawfully be rented to you as a home — that it is not an unlicensed tourist let or a property the landlord has no right to rent — before you commit.
Avoid renting a problem →Ongoing support during the tenancy — unaddressed repairs, abusive rent increases, breach of contract by the landlord, and early termination on the terms the law allows.
Support throughout your lease →Before you sign a Spanish lease, send us the contract. We review it line by line and send you a clear written report in English: what each clause means, where it departs from your rights under the LAU, what to push back on, and whether it is safe to sign. If changes are needed, we tell you exactly what to ask the landlord to amend.
Most Spanish leases are fine. But a meaningful minority contain terms that are unfair, unenforceable, or designed to remove rights the law gives you. These are the issues we most often flag for foreign tenants:
The single most important question about any Spanish lease is which legal category it falls into — because the category, not the title at the top of the page, decides what rights you have. Two contracts can look almost identical and give you completely different protection. Foreign tenants are rarely told this, and it is where most of the damage happens.
This is the contract you want if Spain is going to be your home. It is governed by the strongest part of the LAU: you get security of tenure for up to five years (seven if the landlord is a company), a deposit capped at one month's rent, controlled rent increases, and protection against arbitrary eviction. If you are renting somewhere to live — to base your residency, your visa, your work, or your family — this is the contract you should be signing, and any attempt to give you something else deserves scrutiny.
This contract exists for genuinely temporary stays with a specific, non-permanent purpose — a semester of study, a fixed work placement, a few months while you look for a permanent home. It carries almost none of the long-term protections. The danger is that some landlords offer a seasonal contract for what is plainly a permanent residence, precisely because it lets them avoid the five-year commitment, raise the rent freely, and ask you to leave at the end of a short term. If a landlord insists your year-round home is "seasonal", that is not a technicality to wave through — it is the whole ballgame, and it is the first thing we check.
Renting a room rather than a whole property sits in a greyer area, and the written terms matter enormously — who holds the head lease, how the deposit is handled, what happens if a flatmate leaves, and whether you have any security at all. Students and new arrivals are most exposed here, because these arrangements are often informal and rarely reviewed before money changes hands.
Knowing which of these you are being offered, and whether it matches your actual situation, is the foundation of every contract review we do. Get the category wrong and every other protection in the law becomes irrelevant.
Spain's main tenancy law, the Ley de Arrendamientos Urbanos, gives long-term residential tenants real protection. Knowing these rights is the difference between accepting a bad clause and pushing back on it:
These protections only work if your contract reflects them — which is exactly why a review before you sign is worth far more than the fee. If a dispute has already started, see our guidance on landlord and tenant disputes in Spain.
The end of a tenancy is where disputes peak. A landlord must return your fianza once you leave, deducting only for genuine, documented damage beyond normal wear — not for routine cleaning, not for ordinary ageing, and not because they would simply prefer to keep it.
If your deposit is withheld without proper justification, we act quickly: a formal written demand setting out the law, negotiation to recover the sum, and, where a landlord still refuses, a claim through the Spanish courts. We tell you at the outset whether your claim is strong and what it is realistically worth before you spend anything pursuing it.
If you receive notice of a desahucio — whether for alleged non-payment or because a landlord disputes your right to stay — do not ignore it. Spanish eviction proceedings move quickly once filed, and missing a deadline can cost you the case by default.
We assess your position immediately: whether the term is in fact protected, whether the rent claim is correct, and whether the process has been followed properly. Many evictions can be challenged, delayed, or resolved on far better terms with prompt legal representation. The most important thing is to act the day you are notified, not the week after.
Whether or not you have the contract formally reviewed, never sign a Spanish lease until you can tick off every item below. If you cannot, that is the moment to pause and ask questions — not after the deposit has left your account.
The rental market in Spain is built around landlords and the agencies that serve them. The agency that shows you the flat is paid by the owner; the "standard" contract you are handed was drafted to protect the owner; and the advice floating around online is overwhelmingly written for people letting property, not renting it. As a tenant — especially a foreign one, signing in a second language under time pressure — you are the one party in the transaction with no one in your corner by default.
That is the gap we exist to close. Acting only for tenants, taking no commission from any landlord or agency, and reading every contract solely through the lens of what protects you, means our advice is never compromised by who is paying. It is a deliberately narrow position, and it is the whole point: when the deposit is disputed, when a "seasonal" label appears on a permanent home, or when an eviction notice lands, you want someone whose only loyalty is to you. Whether you are arranging housing around a Digital Nomad Visa, a Non-Lucrative Visa, or a student visa, that independence is what turns a contract you have to trust into one you can actually rely on.
There is no legal requirement to have a lease reviewed, but for a foreign tenant it is one of the cheapest forms of protection available. A residential lease commits you to months of rent and a deposit, in a language and legal system you may not know well. A review tells you, before you sign, whether the contract is fair and legal — and what to change if it is not. The cost of the review is almost always a fraction of what a single bad clause can cost you.
For a long-term residential lease the legal deposit is one month's rent, and the landlord must lodge it with the regional housing authority. A landlord may ask for an additional guarantee, but this is capped by law for leases within the protected term. Demands for three or four months upfront are a red flag. At the end of the lease the deposit must be returned, less only genuine, documented deductions for damage beyond normal wear.
A seasonal contract (contrato de temporada) is meant for genuinely temporary stays — a few weeks or months for a specific, non-permanent purpose. When a landlord uses one for what is really your home, it removes the multi-year security and renewal rights the LAU gives long-term residential tenants. It is the most common way protections are stripped from foreign tenants, and it is the first thing we check when we review a contract.
For a primary residence, even a one-year contract generally gives you the right to stay and renew for up to five years (seven if the landlord is a company), provided you meet your obligations. A landlord cannot simply refuse to renew within that period except in narrow, legally defined circumstances. If your contract appears to limit you to a single year with no renewal, that is worth reviewing before you sign.
No. Rent can only be increased as the contract and current housing law allow, and in designated stressed-market areas (zonas tensionadas) increases are subject to additional caps. A clause that lets the landlord raise the rent "at any time" or "by any amount" is not enforceable. We check the increase clause as part of every contract review.
As a general rule the landlord pays the IBI property tax, community fees, building insurance and structural repairs, while the tenant covers utilities they use and minor maintenance from everyday wear. Some contracts try to shift the landlord's costs onto the tenant. These clauses are not always enforceable, and we flag any that do.
In most residential leases you have a legal right to withdraw after the first six months, giving the landlord at least 30 days' notice. The contract may provide for limited, proportionate compensation if this was agreed in writing, but punitive "you forfeit everything" penalties generally overreach what the law allows. We confirm your exit rights as part of the review.
First, ask in writing for an itemised account of any deductions. If the landlord cannot justify them, we send a formal legal demand setting out your rights, negotiate the return, and — if the landlord still refuses — pursue the claim through the Spanish courts. We tell you upfront whether your claim is strong and what it is realistically worth before you incur any cost.
Act immediately — Spanish eviction proceedings (desahucio) move quickly, and missing a deadline can lose you the case by default. Contact us the day you are notified. We check whether your term is protected, whether any rent claim is correct, and whether the process was followed properly. Many evictions can be challenged, delayed, or resolved on better terms with prompt representation.
A property licensed only for tourist use is not necessarily set up to be your legal long-term home, and renting one as a residence can leave you without the protections of a standard residential lease — and exposed if the authorities act against an unlicensed let. We verify the property can lawfully be rented to you as a home before you commit. See our guide to the tourist rental licence in Spain.
Under current housing law, the cost of letting agency services on a residential lease falls on the landlord, not the tenant. If you are being asked to pay a substantial agency fee to secure a long-term home, that is worth questioning — and we will flag it in a contract review.
Yes. Spanish tenancy law is national, so we review contracts and act for tenants across every region — the Costa del Sol, Costa Blanca, Costa Cálida, Barcelona, Madrid, Valencia, the Balearics, the Canaries and beyond. Contract review is handled remotely by email, so your location is never an obstacle.
Send us your rental contract and we will tell you, in plain English, whether it is safe to sign — quoted upfront, typically back within 48 hours.
The information on this page is general guidance only and does not constitute legal advice. Spanish tenancy law (the Ley de Arrendamientos Urbanos) and regional housing rules vary by autonomous community and change over time; deposit limits, minimum terms, rent-increase caps, and stressed-area (zona tensionada) designations are subject to change. Always obtain advice on your specific contract and circumstances before acting. Platinum Legal Spain is an independent English-speaking legal practice acting for tenants across Spain.