Rental of a room

Dear Sir,

We are a retired couple and we own a house with various bedrooms which we don’t have a use for.

In view of the price increases of electricity, gas, groceries etc and due to the inflation we have thought of renting out one or more of the rooms in our house to supplement our pension income.

We would be grateful if you could let us know if this is legal in Spain, as we have told that legally it cannot be done.

ANSWER

The rental situation has been changing for some time, mainly due to the price of rental a complete dwelling. Many people in your position rent a bedroom in order to assist with the payment of a mortgage loan or to supplement their income.

The rental of a bedroom is not regulated by the Urban Rental Law (Ley de arrendamientos urbanos), but it is based on an agreement between the parties ruled by the Civil Code.

When the owner rents a bedroom and remains living in the property, the process involves drawing up a contract including the terms and conditions that both parties have agreed upon. Therefore, in this document will be included the duration of the rental, the price and any extensions. Implicit with this arrangement are the use of any common areas of the dwelling, such as the bathroom and kitchen, unless this is expressly excluded.

Other aspects that have to be considered:

■ Duration.

■ Price and payment schedule.

■ Included services, such as the use of the telephone, internet, and how the utilities will be shared or if these are included in the price of the room.

■ Identification of the bedroom that is the object of the contract.

When a room is going to be rented, the owner can fix the price freely, although you would be well advised to check the market value depending on the type of property, facilities, location etc.

Obviously, this income will have to be declared irrespective of if you are a resident in Spain or a non-resident.

If the rental is going to be the main resident of the tenant, it is important to include this point in the contract, there may be an important reduction in the amount of income that has to be declared in the tax form, thus reducing the amount that has to be paid in respect of income tax. If the rental is for short period, such as for students etc, there is no right to this deduction.

Someone who rents a property, also has the right to sub-let part of this property, providing the owner permits this. The urban rental law indicates that it is only legal to sub-let a partial share of a property, providing there is consent of the owner. In this case, a contract will also be very advisable in order to regulate any disputes or misunderstandings.

As we have mentioned before, when one rents a room, one also rents the use the various common areas, such as the kitchen, bathroom, and therefore it is important to include in the contract the share of the costs of the utilities. The usual is to agree the price of the room plus a fixed amount for these costs, or when the bills comes in to agree on a percentage of the amount.

Regarding the sub-letting of a tenant, it is imperative and legally obligatory to inform the owner of the property of any changes in the identity of the occupants of the property.

In the past, it was usually students who shared the rental of a property. One of them may be the lease holder, and the others sub-let a room, but this has changed relatively recently, due to the rising costs of everything.

In other cases, some people rent a room for company, and income generated is also welcome.