With partial rules
Coliving regulation in the Basque Country, Spain: habitability rules for collaborative housing only (2026)
There is no coliving rule in the Basque Country. What there is, is a habitability piece: Decreto 80/2022, de 28 de junio (Basque Decree 80/2022 on habitability), defines "vivienda colaborativa" (collaborative housing) —a home in a building for a group of people who, without being a family, share services and a common regime— and requires it to meet the Annex I conditions laid down for facility housing (alojamientos dotacionales). On planning use, licences, length of stay or horizontal property it says nothing.
The general guide to coliving regulation in Spain →
The short answer
In the Basque Country there is no coliving figure like Madrid's or the Canary Islands'. The Basque Housing Act 3/2015 contains neither the word "coliving" nor "colaborativa", and the habitability decree does not use "coliving" either. All that exists is a definition inside a technical decree, and it serves one purpose: deciding which habitability conditions the building meets.
That is why this page is one of partial rules, with a warning: a decree defining collaborative housing does not make it a coliving rule. Whether it serves as one is doubtful, because the decree regulates nothing beyond habitability.
What the rule says
Vivienda colaborativa: Vivienda que se encuentra inserta en un edificio destinado a ser ocupado o habitado por un grupo de personas que, sin constituir núcleo familiar, compartan servicios y se sometan a un régimen común. ("Collaborative housing: a home located in a building intended to be occupied or lived in by a group of people who, without forming a family unit, share services and submit to a common regime.")
With that definition, Art. 7(1) of the decree (BOPV no. 168 of 1 September 2022) makes an exception. Every Basque home meets the minimum conditions of Annex I, "excepto en el caso de las viviendas colaborativas que, por sus características, deberán cumplir, con independencia de su régimen de uso y propiedad, las normas establecidas en el Anexo I relativas a los alojamientos dotacionales" (except collaborative homes which, given their features, must meet, whatever their regime of use and ownership, the Annex I rules for facility housing). In other words: a collaborative housing building is designed to facility-housing rules, even though it is not facility housing.
Art. 5 adds a practical consequence. The decree sets the minimum usable floor area per number of residents below which a home is overcrowded —25 m² for one person, 35 for two, 50 for three and 60 for four (Art. 5(5))— and, if the collaborative housing building has the common services of section I-C.2.4 of Annex I, those areas are reduced by 5 m² (Art. 5(6)).
The conditions
What the decree requires of collaborative housing fits in a few lines:
- Habitability: the Annex I rules for facility housing, whatever the regime of use and ownership (Art. 7(1)).
- Occupancy: the minimum areas per resident of Art. 5(5), reduced by 5 m² if there are common services (Art. 5(6)).
- Common services: the building may have a kitchen, dining room, laundry and drying, lockers or mailboxes; with them, each unit may have a single space for living, cooking, eating and sleeping with a separate toilet, and if the shared kitchen and dining room add up to more than 3 m² per unit, that single space may be reduced by up to 5 m² (Annex I, section I-C.2.4).
- Refurbishment: works on these buildings must also meet the minimum conditions of Annex I (Art. 7(2)).
- Use, licence, stay and horizontal property: no rule in the decree.
The decree came into force 90 days after its publication (sixth final provision), and buildings built before then are governed by its second transitional provision (Art. 7(3)).
What the rule does not say
Worth knowing
The decree says nothing about planning use (residential or tertiary), the licence, the length of the stay, the operator or horizontal property. And the facility housing whose rules it borrows is, under Art. 23 of the Basque Housing Act 3/2015, a public facility, not private coliving. For all of that, each project depends on its municipality's planning.
What doesn't change
Without a figure of its own, the contract with the resident and the obligations of running the operation are settled as in any other region: they are in the general guide to coliving regulation in Spain and in LAU: residential or other use.
Frequently asked questions
Is there coliving regulation in the Basque Country?
Not of its own. Habitability Decree 80/2022 defines collaborative housing in its Annex IV and Article 7(1) applies to it the Annex I rules for facility housing, but it does not regulate planning use, licensing, length of stay or horizontal property. Basque Housing Act 3/2015 does not mention coliving.
Which habitability conditions does a coliving space in the Basque Country meet?
If it fits the Annex IV definition of collaborative housing, those of Annex I of Decree 80/2022 for facility housing, whatever its regime of use and ownership, as Article 7(1) says. The definition requires a building for a group of people who, without forming a family unit, share services and submit to a common regime.
How much floor area does each resident need?
Article 5(5) of Decree 80/2022 sets the minimum usable floor area to avoid overcrowding: 25 square metres for one person, 35 for two, 50 for three and 60 for four. Article 5(6) reduces those areas by 5 square metres when the collaborative housing building has the common services provided for in section I-C.2.4 of Annex I.
Is a coliving space in the Basque Country facility housing?
No. The decree only applies the design rules of facility housing to it (Article 7(1)). The facility housing of Article 23 of Basque Housing Act 3/2015 is a public facility; a private collaborative home borrows its habitability rules, but not its nature or its regime.
Other regions
- MadridRules of its own since November 2023: the "residencia compartida" (shared residence) of the General Plan's Planning Rules, a residential use allowed only in a dedicated building.
- CataloniaRules of its own since December 2020: housing with complementary common spaces under Llei 18/2007, with a certificate of occupancy and no horizontal division of the building.
- Valencian CommunityPartial rules: Act 3/2023 only regulates not-for-profit collaborative housing; operator-run coliving has no figure of its own, and the city of València is processing it in its General Plan.
- GaliciaRules of its own since 1 January 2026: shared accommodation under Act 8/2012, by public or private developers and with 30 m² of usable area per unit.
- AndalusiaPartial rules: Act 5/2025 has defined coliving (Art. 4(j)) since 24 January 2026, but the minimum floor area depends on regulations that have not been issued.
- Balearic IslandsRules of its own since May 2024: housing with complementary common spaces under Llei 5/2018, with a single certificate of occupancy for the building and no horizontal property.
- Canary IslandsRules of its own since February 2024: housing with complementary common spaces under Act 2/2003 and the floor areas of Decree-Law 1/2024, with regulations pending.