Student accommodation
Coliving
A coliving is a building of private rooms or studios with a shared kitchen, lounge and work areas, run by an operator with services included and a community life. It is aimed mainly at young professionals and stays of several months. In Spain it has no national law of its own.
Also known asco-living · shared living · managed shared housing
What sets it apart
It is not cohousing: in cohousing the community owns the building or manages itself, while in a coliving a professional operator lets and manages it. Nor is it a student residence: the residents are a mixed group, there is no academic calendar and there is seldom a dining hall or any dealing with families. When the units may also be complete homes and stays vary more, the sector talks about flex living.
No national law names it. The Andalusian Housing Act (Ley 5/2025) is one of the few rules that define it (art. 4.j): private living units that are not complete homes, intended for temporary residence, with shared services and rooms, and managed by a single professional or business operator. Madrid, Catalonia and other regions fit it into figures of their own, collected in coliving rules by region.
Worth knowing
The product's name does not decide the contract. If the resident meets their housing need there, the Spanish Urban Leases Act (LAU) treats it as a residential lease, habitual or temporary, even when only one room is let. Both routes and the October 2026 change are in residential lease or lease for other use, and the rest of the obligations in the guide to coliving rules.
Sources
Related terms
- Student residenceStudent residence is the generic name for any building that houses students for the academic year with services included: a colegio mayor, a university residence or a private building run by an operator. In Spain it is a label of use and of marketing, not a legal figure of its own.
- Flex livingFlex living is furnished, serviced accommodation that an operator lets for stays of variable length, from weeks to months, in complete flats or in rooms with shared areas. It sits between coliving, the traditional residential let and the serviced apartment.
- LAU: residential lease or lease for other useSpain's Urban Leases Act (LAU) separates the residential lease (art. 2), which meets the tenant's housing need —even when only one room is let—, from the lease for a use other than housing (art. 3), which is governed by what the parties agree. In a coliving, that choice decides the contract's whole regime.