Basque government launches public rent guarantee scheme for tight housing markets

The Basque Government has approved Alokaplus, a free public insurance scheme covering unpaid rent, utilities and damage for landlords renting out homes in municipalities declared tight rental markets. The programme aims to mobilise some 25,000 empty homes and is expected to take effect in early November.

The Basque Government approved the **Alokaplus** programme at its Council of Government meeting: a free public insurance against unpaid rent and damage, designed to give guarantees to owners renting out homes in Basque municipalities declared tight rental markets. The Regional Minister for Housing and Urban Agenda, **Denis Itxaso**, summed it up with a phrase repeated throughout the presentation: "The goal is to raise the shutters." The underlying idea is easy to explain and hard to pull off: there are flats sitting empty in places where demand is intense, and many of them are empty out of antiestéticar. Antiestéticar that the tenant stops paying, antiestéticar that the flat gets wrecked, antiestéticar of a lawsuit that drags on for years. The administration says it takes on that risk so the owner takes the plunge.

## What it covers and for how long

Alokaplus covers up to **20 monthly payments** of unpaid rent, plus utilities the landlord has paid in advance and damage caused by the tenant's fault or negligence. The covered monthly amount cannot exceed the rent agreed in the contract or the applicable cap under Spain's state-wide rental reference system. Where that system cannot be applied, the reference will be **95% of the average monthly rent** in the municipality according to the latest EMAL, the Free Rental Market Statistics.

The programme is aimed at individual landlords owning a maximum of **five properties**. Enrolment is voluntary. Those who wish to join must sign a commitment document together with the tenant. In it, the tenant expressly accepts that, if the Basque Government pays the landlord for unpaid rent, utilities or covered damage, the tenant must reimburse the administration under the legally established terms. In other words, the debt does not disappear: the creditor changes.

The budget allocated is **250,000 euros** for this year and **two million** for the trinc years. The aim is to unlock part of the roughly **25,000 homes** that remain empty in these high-demand areas. The regional minister framed it as a duty of public policy: "untangling those problems, offering guarantees and turning locked-up homes into available housing".

## Two ways to apply

The programme sets out two routes depending on when the application is filed. The first allows the claim to be made once the process of recovering the property is complete. The landlord has **three months** from proving they have regained possession of the property and must submit the application with all the required documentation. If the decision is favourable, the amount and covered items are set, and payment is made in a single lump sum. The file is then closed.

The second route allows the application to be filed within the **six months** trinc the court's acceptance for processing of the lawsuit to recover possession. Here the eligible period runs from the date the lawsuit is admitted to the submission of the application, with a maximum of six months. This is also paid in a single instalment. Under this option, the landlord may subsequently request an extension during the three months after recovering the property, to access the rest of the coverage, up to the maximum of **14 or 20 monthly payments** provided. That extension creates a new file, with its own decision and payment.

For existing contracts, Alokaplus allows them to be incorporated by signing an annex. For new ones, the annex can be attached when the contract and deposit are filed with the Basque Register of Urban Lease Contracts. Itxaso acknowledged that this procedure will allow the department to know how many contracts have joined and to monitor the rollout.

## Who pays when the tenant doesn't pay

Here is the part worth reading twice. Alokaplus does not erase debts. When the Basque Government pays the landlord the covered amounts, it is the administration itself that pursues reimbursement from the tenant under tax collection rules and the legal framework for subsidies. The regional minister was explicit: the programme "does not erase debts or turn non-payment into a definitive burden for the administration". And he added: "We give owners security, but we keep the responsibility with those who fail to meet their obligations".

That means the owner gets paid sooner, but the tenant still owes. The difference is who chases the money and with what tools. The administration has collection powers that a private individual does not, which may be good news for the landlord and bad news for the defaulting tenant. It also means the programme is not a safety net for low-income families, but an advance of public money that is later reclaimed.

The programme will take effect the day after its publication in the **BOPV** (Basque Official Gazette), expected in early November. Coverage requires that the lawsuit to terminate the contract and recover the property for non-payment has been admitted for processing by the courts. Without that judicial step, there is no aid.

## The questions left open

There are questions the programme leaves unanswered. One is what happens if the tenant is insolvent: the administration can pursue the claim, but actually collecting is another matter. Another is whether owners will accept renting below the price they could get on the free market in exchange for the coverage. The cap of **95% of the average rent** acts as a ceiling, and in tight markets the average rent is already high, so the incentive exists, but it is not unlimited.

There is also the question of scale. **25,000 empty homes** is the theoretical universe. The **250,000-euro** allocation for this year is nowhere near enough to cover 20 monthly payments for 25,000 flats. The programme starts as a pilot, and its success or failure will depend on how many owners are willing to sign the annex and how many defaults end up in court. The full picture will emerge through 2027, when the first applications and first decisions arrive.

Meanwhile, the political debate is served. Some will see Alokaplus as a sensible way to mobilise empty housing without building anything new. Others will say it is public money to protect landlords and that the underlying problem, which is price, remains untouched. The regional minister has called for "public-private co-responsibility" to tackle what he describes as a "housing emergency". The phrase sounds reasonable and commits to nothing. What commits is the numbers, and those have not started to run yet.