Catalan parliament debates law to restrict home purchases to primary residence, but Junts and PP delay vote with legal challenge
The Catalan parliament is set to debate a bill that would limit home purchases in stressed areas to primary residence or long-term rental, but opposition parties Junts and PP have asked the region's statutory guarantee council to review its constitutionality, pushing a final vote to September at the earliest.
The proposed restrictions
The bill, pushed by the Comuns party and backed by the governing PSC and ERC, modifies Catalonia's Urbanism Law to allow municipalities in stressed residential market zones to restrict speculative purchases. In these areas, which cover 90% of the Catalan population, any buyer (individual or company, large holder or not) would be required to use the property as their primary residence or to rent it out as a permanent home. Short-term rentals, tourist lets, business use, and house flipping would be banned. Inherited properties would also fall under the rules, and owners would have twelve months to comply. Exceptions exist for buying a home for a relative up to the second degree of kinship, and for a single second residence in a different municipality. Violations would be treated as very serious infractions under an expanded sanctions regime.
Political backing and opposition
The law is the price of Comuns' support for President Salvador Illa's budget and represents the most far-reaching housing intervention yet attempted in Spain. The left-wing party argues it will curb the accumulation of homes by investors and funds.
Cid, the Comuns spokesperson, said inequality in Catalonia is built on those who accumulate housing to collect rents, often large holders and banks. Junts and the PP, however, see the bill as an attack on property rights and municipal autonomy.The employers' association orders and Junts executes.
Vergés also accused the government of trying to rush the law through by single reading during the summer, calling it an "August-ness" tactic.It affects a fundamental right, the right to housing, and also affects the powers of municipalities.
Legal challenge and delay
Junts and the PP announced on 7 July that they will ask the Consell de Garanties Estatutàries (CGE), Catalonia's statutory guarantee council, to examine the bill's constitutionality. The request suspends the parliamentary process until the CGE issues its opinion, which can take up to a month. The PP has also said it will later take the law to Spain's Constitutional Court. The plenary debate on whether to process the bill by single reading was scheduled for this week, but the CGE referral means a final vote cannot happen before the summer recess.
- Junts and PP announce they will request a CGE review of the housing speculation law.
- Parliament debates whether to process the bill by single reading.
- Deadline for the CGE to issue its non-binding opinion (one month from referral).
- Earliest possible final vote on the law, according to parliamentary sources.
What comes next
Parliamentary sources estimate the law will not be put to a vote until September or October, after the CGE delivers its non-binding report. Even if the bill eventually passes, the legal challenges could see it struck down. For now, the most ambitious attempt to reshape Catalonia's housing market is on hold.
