Six months' notice and compensation: what RDL 28/2026 would change for landlords from 15 November

Published 9 October 2026

Status: RDL 28/2026 was published in the BOE on 7 October 2026 and is due to take effect on 15 November 2026. Like every decree-law it must be validated by the Congreso within 30 days, and would be repealed if voted down. RDL 28 amends the text of article 10 as set by RDL 29/2026, which is awaiting its own vote. The first versions of these housing decrees (RDL 26/2026 and 27/2026) were voted down on 2 October. This article will be updated when the results are known. Checked against the BOE on 10 October 2026.

For all four October 2026 rental decrees in one place, see Spain's rental decrees: what applies since 8 October 2026.

The short version

• Today, once the minimum term is over, a landlord who does not want to renew must give four months' notice and the tenant two. These rules date from 2019 and apply until 15 November whatever the vote; after that they continue only if RDL 28 falls, or for a lease already in its yearly renewals on 15 November, until those renewals end.
• If RDL 28 is validated, from 15 November the landlord's notice becomes six months, and the lease renews for five more years (seven with a company landlord) unless notice is given.
• A landlord who gives notice would owe the tenant compensation unless an exception in the decree applies. It is the greater of twelve months' rent at the top of the official reference range for the home, or one month's rent at that same value for each year the tenant has lived there.
• Leases with under six months left on 15 November can be given four months' notice instead of six, but compensation would still apply. Notices given before 7 October carry no compensation. Later notices for an end or renewal date after 15 November do, unless an exception applies or the lease is still in the old yearly renewals.

The rules today

During the minimum term (five years, or seven where the landlord is a company or other legal entity) the landlord cannot end the lease at an anniversary. If the agreed term is shorter, it renews yearly up to the minimum, and only the tenant can leave, with 30 days' notice (article 9.1). The one exception is article 9.3: an individual landlord whose contract expressly said at signing that they might need the home for themselves, their parents or children, or a spouse after a final separation, divorce or annulment judgment can recover it after the first year, with two months' notice.

Once the minimum term is over, article 10.1 renews the lease year by year for up to three more years, unless the landlord gives four months' notice or the tenant two. The tenant can also end any of those yearly renewals with a month's notice. These rules come from RDL 7/2019, and RDL 29/2026 did not change them in substance.

A landlord's notice does not always end the lease. Subject to the conditions in each article, a vulnerable tenant can claim one more year where the landlord is a large owner (gran tenedor), and in a declared stressed housing market area the tenant can claim up to three more years (articles 10.2 and 10.3, since 2023). RDL 29/2026, in force since 8 October and also awaiting its vote, lets a tenant who has paid every month for the past eight claim up to two more years in some cases (final provision 5).

What RDL 28 would change from 15 November

Once the five or seven-year minimum has passed, the landlord would have to give at least six months' notice before the lease, or any renewal of it, ends. The tenant's notice stays at two months.

Without that notice, the lease would renew automatically for five years, or seven with a company landlord, instead of year by year. The tenant could still leave early under article 11, after six months, with 30 days' notice.

A landlord who validly gives notice would owe the tenant the greater of:

• twelve months' rent, calculated at the upper value of the range the state rent reference system gives for that home; or
• one month's rent at the same value for each year the tenant has lived there, with part years counted by month and part months by day.

Where the reference system has no individual value for the home, the rent in force on the date of the notice is used. The compensation is paid when the keys are handed back (the exception for the landlord's own use works differently, below). If the home is sold, the buyer takes over the obligation unless one of the exceptions applies.

After a notice, any renewal the parties agree must run for at least five years (seven with a company landlord). In any renewal agreement, a term that makes the original contract worse for the tenant is void.

When no compensation is due

The decree requires these exceptions to be stated expressly, in detail and in writing in the notice:

• the landlord, as an individual, needs the home as a permanent residence for themselves, for relatives up to the second degree by blood or adoption, or for a spouse after a final separation, divorce or annulment judgment. If the home is not occupied within three months of being handed back, force majeure aside, the compensation becomes due;
• the tenant has not lived in the home for more than six of the previous twelve months without a justified reason, and neither their spouse (unless legally or de facto separated) nor their dependent children have lived there either (article 7.1);
• on the date of the notice, the tenant owns another suitable home in the same municipality outright, or holds a right of use or usufruct over it (a property right, not a tenancy), and can occupy it;
• the parties sign a new main-residence lease;
• the tenant rejects, expressly or by not taking it up, a formal offer made within the notice period of a new lease on the same home that guarantees five years (seven with a company landlord) at a rent within the limits of article 17.6, even outside a stressed housing market area.

Compensation is also not due where the tenant qualifies for one of the extensions above that the landlord must accept and does not ask for it. If the tenant does ask, the compensation is deferred until that extension ends, and is then due unless an exception applies.

Which existing leases it would cover

For main-residence leases already running on 15 November:

• The new rules, compensation included, apply to any end or renewal date after 15 November.
• Non-renewal notices validly given before 7 October 2026, when the decree was published, keep their effect and carry no compensation.
• If a lease has under six months left on 15 November, four months' notice is enough, but compensation still applies.
• A lease already in the old yearly renewals (up to three years) stays on the old rules until that whole renewal period ends, and then moves to the new rules.
• A lease that ran on past its term under the Civil Code (tácita reconducción) comes under the new rules from its first renewal date after 15 November. The time since the original contract counts towards the five or seven-year minimum, and requests to end it given before 7 October keep their effect with no compensation.

What agents should do now

• List every managed lease whose end or renewal date falls after 15 November, and note how much time is left on that date.
• Tell landlords: the decree protects only notices given before 7 October, so do not assume a notice sent now avoids compensation for a lease ending after 15 November, if the decree is validated. If it is not validated, four months' notice with no compensation remains the rule, but the tenant may still claim one of the extensions above, so the lease may not end on the date in the notice.
• Where a landlord means to rely on an exception, write it into the notice in full.
• Do not promise landlords either outcome.

This article explains the law as published; it is not legal advice for a specific contract. Sources: RDL 28/2026 (BOE); RDL 29/2026 (BOE); LAU, consolidated text (BOE).

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