Spain's interim lower house secured eviction limits through a tight 35–34 vote to protect vulnerable tenants who lack alternative state housing. However, a companion proposal prohibiting companies from buying properties below 70 percent of market value was defeated after centre-right Basque lawmakers sided with the conservative opposition. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez called the upcoming November snap election following previous legislative gridlock over these measures. The opposition Popular Party has already vowed to repeal the protections and prioritize new construction if it takes power.
Key points
Eviction shields now protect precarious tenants unless regional authorities are capable o…: Eviction shields now protect precarious tenants unless regional authorities are capable of securing them alternative housing.
Centre-right Basque lawmakers allied with conservatives to reject purchasing curbs over f…: Centre-right Basque lawmakers allied with conservatives to reject purchasing curbs over fears they would shrink the rental supply.
The Popular Party leads in pre-election polling and has pledged to repeal these left-wing…: The Popular Party leads in pre-election polling and has pledged to repeal these left-wing housing decrees if victorious.
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Spanish parliament passes housing reforms limiting evictions but their duration will depend on upcoming snap election outcome.
The Spanish parliament has passed measures to limit evictions and real estate speculation in an attempt to make housing more affordable, a day after a nationwide general strike over the country’s housing crisis.
Spain’s interim lower house of parliament ratified the housing measures on Thursday; however, their duration will depend on the outcome of a snap election scheduled later in November.
The leading opposition party, the conservative Popular Party, has said that it will repeal the measures of the left-wing government if it takes power, which polls indicate could happen.
Large demonstrations over unaffordable housing swept the country in September when televised images of the eviction of 87-year-old Maria del Carmen Abascal, known as Maricarmen, from her home, shocked many Spaniards.
Protest camps sprang up in several cities, the largest in Madrid’s emblematic Puerta del Sol square. Maricarmen’s subsequent death in October caused national uproar, prompting Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s minority government to rush to present two decrees.
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