The Rental Contract in Spain: Duration, Deposit and Extensions (2026)

A Spanish rental contract runs on statutory floors the parties cannot contract below, even when the written lease says otherwise. Duration, the deposit, and who pays the agency all have a mandatory rule under the Ley de Arrendamientos Urbanos (LAU), and the rule wins over a clause that tries to say something different. This page covers what actually governs the contract, from signing to the point it ends.

Information last verified on 23 July 2026. This page provides general legal information about Spanish law and does not constitute legal advice in an individual case.

Duration: the 5/7-year floor

The parties are free to agree whatever term they want, but the LAU sets a floor under it. If the agreed term is shorter than 5 years, or 7 years when the landlord is a legal person (a company rather than an individual), the contract is extended automatically, year by year, once it reaches its stated end date, until the total duration reaches that minimum (art. 9 LAU). The only way out of this automatic extension is for the tenant to notify the landlord, with at least 30 days' notice, that they do not want to renew, at the end of the term or of any of the yearly extensions. The floor protects the tenant, not the landlord: nothing stops the tenant leaving on notice, but nothing lets the landlord end the tenancy early just because the written term was shorter.

After the floor: the extra three years

Once the contract has actually run for the 5 or 7-year minimum, a second mechanism takes over. If neither side has given proper notice not to renew, the contract keeps extending, year by year, for up to 3 more years (art. 10 LAU). The notice periods here are asymmetric: the landlord needs 4 months' notice before the relevant date, the tenant needs 2 months'. If the tenant does not want a given yearly extension inside this window, 1 month's notice before that year's end date is enough.

Two extraordinary extensions sit alongside this ordinary one, both introduced by the 2023 housing law. A vulnerable tenant can request an extra year beyond the contract's own term, backed by a social-services certificate, mandatory for the landlord when the landlord is a gran tenedor (see the housing law page). And in a declared zona de mercado residencial tensionado, the tenant can generally request a further extraordinary extension of up to 3 more years, which the landlord must accept unless a specific exception applies, such as a new contract on different terms or the landlord already having exercised the own-use recovery right below.

When the landlord can recover the property early

The LAU lets a landlord end the tenancy before the minimum term is up in one specific case: recovering the property for the landlord's own use, or that of close family. Four conditions all have to hold (art. 9.3 LAU):

• The right to recover for own use must have been written into the contract at the moment of signing. It cannot be invoked later if it was never mentioned.
• The landlord must give the tenant at least 2 months' notice.
• At least the first year of the contract must already have elapsed.
• The landlord must be a natural person, not a company. A corporate landlord has no equivalent right under this article.

If the landlord recovers the property this way but then does not actually move in within the timeframe the law expects, the tenant has a remedy: the tenant can choose between being reinstated in the property for up to 5 more years, or receiving an indemnity equal to one month's rent for every year that was left to complete the original 5-year term. The exception is narrow by design; it is not a general early-termination right for the landlord.

The deposit and any extra guarantee

At signing, the law makes a cash deposit compulsory: one month's rent for housing, two months' for a lease used for something other than housing (art. 36 LAU). The parties can also agree to an additional guarantee on top of the cash deposit, commonly a bank guarantee or a deposit from a third party, but that extra guarantee is capped: for contracts of up to 5 years (up to 7 years when the landlord is a company), it cannot exceed two more months' rent. Together, deposit plus capped extra guarantee is the ceiling on what a landlord can require as security at the start of the tenancy.

Who pays the agency

Since the reform of art. 20 LAU, gestion inmobiliaria fees and the costs of formalising the contract are the landlord's responsibility, not the tenant's, regardless of what the parties might otherwise try to agree. This sits apart from the running costs of the property itself (gastos generales), which the parties can still agree the tenant will cover, provided that agreement is in writing and states the annual amount at the date of the contract.

Rent, updates and ending the contract

This page covers the contract's structural terms: duration, deposit, and the landlord's narrow right to recover the property early. How and when the rent itself can be increased during the contract is a separate set of rules, covered on the rent increase page. What happens when the tenant stops paying, or the term genuinely expires and the tenant will not leave, is covered on the eviction page.

This page is general legal information about Spanish law and does not constitute legal advice in an individual case. The controlling text is the current version of the Ley de Arrendamientos Urbanos in the BOE.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the minimum length of a rental contract in Spain?

There is no fixed minimum the parties must agree to, but if the agreed term is shorter than 5 years (7 years when the landlord is a company), the law extends the contract year by year until it reaches that minimum, unless the tenant gives 30 days' notice not to renew. Once that minimum is reached, the contract can keep extending for up to 3 more years unless proper notice is given.

Can a landlord end my lease early to move back in?

Only if that right was written into the contract at signing, at least the first year has elapsed, the landlord gives at least 2 months' notice, and the landlord is a natural person rather than a company (art. 9.3 LAU). If the landlord does not actually occupy the property afterward, the tenant can demand reinstatement or an indemnity.

How much deposit can a landlord charge in a Spanish rental?

By law, one month's rent as the cash deposit for a housing lease. The parties can also agree an additional guarantee, but for contracts of up to 5 years it cannot exceed two more months' rent, so deposit plus extra guarantee is capped at three months' rent combined in most cases.

Who pays the real estate agency in a Spanish rental contract?

The landlord. Since the reform of art. 20 LAU, gestion inmobiliaria fees and the costs of formalising the contract are the landlord's expense by law, not the tenant's.

What notice does a tenant need to give to leave at the end of the contract?

During the initial extensions toward the 5 or 7-year minimum, 30 days' notice. Once that minimum has been reached and the contract is in its extra extension period, 2 months' notice, or 1 month before the end of any single yearly extension inside that period.