Regulation and data
Temporary residential lease (LAU)
A temporary residential lease meets the housing need of someone away from their habitual home for a justified cause that can be proven, including leases of single rooms. Royal Decree-law 29/2026 added it to Spain's Urban Leases Act: it lasts more than thirty-one days and, as a rule, no more than twelve months.
Also known astemporary housing lease · arrendamiento de vivienda temporal · art. 2.3 of the LAU
How it works since 8 October 2026
Until October 2026, a seasonal let was signed as a lease for a use other than housing. Royal Decree-law 29/2026 brought it into the housing regime with a paragraph of its own, art. 2.3, and took "the lodging or accommodation of people" out of the other-use lease (art. 3.2). How it fits with the other two contracts is under residential lease or lease for other use. Its rules:
- The cause, written and real (art. 7.2): the contract has to state why the tenant is away from home, and proving it falls to the landlord. With no cause in the contract, it is a habitual-housing lease from the day it was signed.
- Duration (art. 9 bis.1): more than thirty-one days and, as a general rule, no more than twelve months; it can be extended by express agreement if the cause persists, without exceeding twelve months in total unless the cause continues beyond that.
- Chaining (art. 9 bis.2): going beyond twelve months without justification, or chaining more than two contracts between the same parties for the same home, turns the first one into a habitual-housing lease, with its minimum term and extensions.
- Leaving (art. 11.2): the tenant may withdraw once a month has passed since signing, giving ten days' notice.
Worth knowing
What people take for granted: that every seasonal lease changed on 8 October. The eighth transitional provision keeps those signed earlier as leases for other use until the agreed term ends, and they then expire with no extension; if they are renewed, the renewal is already a temporary residential lease. Rules that the regional governments lay down on this figure apply in their territory (twelfth additional provision), and university housing that a university assigns to its own students falls outside the LAU (art. 5.d). For coliving, it is developed in the guide to coliving rules.
Sources
Related terms
- ColivingA 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.
- 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.