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Rents: Can landlord and tenant freely agree rents in Spain?
The landlord and tenant can freely agree the rent. Monthly rent payments are the general rule, with the rent due within the first seven days of each month.The landlord cannot ask for more than one month payment in advance.
The contracting parties can update rent on a yearly basis during the first five years of the contract only according to the variations of the Consumer Price Index (Indice de Precios al Consumo, IPC). In addition, the landlord should notify the intention to increase the rent with a written notification.
Once this period of time has elapsed, the contract can be renewed at a new rent, which must not be more that 20% higher than the current rent.
If the landlord makes improvements, he is entitled to increase the annual rent on the basis of the legal interest rate, incremented by three points, applied to the total investment, less any public subsidies. But the rent increase cannot exceed 20% of the rent.
