Tenant Protections: From Republican Postponement to Francoist Appropriation

The 1931 rent strike spurred tenant protection measures that the Spanish Republic failed to consolidate. Franco's regime later expanded these protections.

The Republic, preoccupied with other pressing matters, did not legislate on the rent crisis that erupted in 1931. It was Franco's regime, in 1946, that enacted a law extending tenant protection, inheriting and broadening emergency measures from the Republican era.

The 1931 rent strike became the first major social confrontation of Spain's Second Republic. Just two weeks after its proclamation, on May 1, 1931, the National Confederation of Labor (CNT) mobilized thousands, particularly in Catalonia, protesting unemployment, inflation, and demanding rent reductions. The provisional government, led by **Niceto Alcalá Zamora**, ignored the demands, and the protest continued throughout the year, met with harsh repression that resulted in an estimated six to seven deaths and around 200 arrests.

The nascent Republican regime was deeply involved in drafting foundational political and social reforms. The Constitution's text, military reform, the establishment of a secular state, the **Catalan Statute** (Estatut de Catalunya), and agrarian reform commanded all attention. While agrarian reform did include a bill on rural leases, urban rent issues were relegated to the background.

## The Urgency of Thousands of Families

Thousands of families unable to meet their rent payments could not wait for major constitutional debates to conclude. The situation escalated, leading to a strike between July and December 1931, where **100,000 tenants** withheld their rent payments. The protest was concentrated primarily in **Barcelona** and its metropolitan area. Their demands were clear: a 40% rent reduction, the deposit to cover the first month's rent, and exemption from payment for the unemployed.

To de-escalate tensions, the second government of **Manuel Azaña**, operating under the new Constitution, passed a decree in December of that year. This decree extended the existing rental model, itself an inheritance from **Miguel Primo de Rivera**'s dictatorship. The measure aimed to ensure tenant stability and capped rent increases, using 1914 rents as a reference. It was presented as an emergency solution pending a future **Urban Leases Law** that the government promised to introduce to the Cortes.

The decree mandated the compulsory renewal of urban rental contracts at the tenant's discretion and the landlord's obligation. It set a limit on increases based on rents from December 31, 1914, with retroactive effect. The only exception to this renewal was if the landlord could prove the need for the property for personal use or for immediate family members. Higher-rent contracts and those for newly constructed buildings after 1924 were excluded from the decree's scope.

## A Promised Law That Never Materialized

The promised Urban Leases Law, however, never saw the light of day during the Republican period. Not even a formal draft was produced, despite being a recurring demand. The only extraordinary measures taken were during the Civil War, when **Largo Caballero**'s first government implemented rent reductions.

Legislation on this matter, which had become a persistent social problem, was not definitively addressed until 1946, under the Franco regime. The so-called **Ley de Bases** significantly expanded tenant protection. It extended the mandatory lease renewal to third-degree relatives who had cohabited in the dwelling during the year preceding the main tenant's death. Furthermore, it compelled the leasing of vacant properties.

Despite allowing for rent adjustments, this law significantly altered the real estate market until its partial repeal. It was in 1985, through the **Boyer Decree** (Decreto Boyer), that many of the protections consolidated by the Francoist law began to be dismantled.

## The 1931 Decree: A Temporary Lifeline

The decree of December 29, 1931, issued by the Republican government, reflected an intention to address the rent issue definitively. Its preamble stated: "It is a repeatedly expressed purpose of the Government to submit a bill to the Cortes for deliberation in a short period that will definitively regulate urban leases." However, the urgency of the situation, with the expiration of the previous decree of December 26, 1930, necessitated an extension with modifications.

The decree stipulated in its **Article 1** that urban property lease contracts would be extended at the tenants' will and mandatorily for landlords, without altering clauses, except as specified. **Article 2** detailed the exceptions: newly constructed buildings or units not occupied before January 1, 1924; contracts granted after January 1, 1925, with rents exceeding 500 pesetas per month that were not renewals of existing leases at that date; and entertainment venues or performance spaces.

**Article 3** extended the renewal benefits, in case of the tenant's death, to cohabiting family members if the property was for residential use, or to partners or heirs if it was a business.

**Article 4** limited eviction actions to non-payment, allowing the tenant to avoid it by depositing the debt with the court within three days.

**Article 5** stipulated that renewal would not apply if the owner required the property for themselves or their ascendants or descendants, or to establish their own business. **Article 6** permitted rent review for contracts whose price had not increased since December 31, 1914, or if the increase was subject to elevation. A 10% increase was set for rents not exceeding 1,500 pesetas annually in 1914.

**Article 7** allowed tenants to request a rent reduction if they considered the increase exceeded the authorized amount relative to 1914 rents. **Article 8** offered the possibility of reviewing rental amounts for properties leased for the first time since 1914, if the tenant felt disadvantaged by the agreed price, using comparable district buildings from 1914 as a reference.

A relevant point in the decree was **Article 20**, which excluded resident foreigners from its benefits if their home countries had special provisions on rent renewal or rates that did not apply to Spaniards. The decree entered into force on January 1, 1932, and was to remain in effect until the promised law was enacted.