Thread: Tenant rights

Hola a Todos!

My girlfriend and I just moved to Barcelona and rented a warehouse loft space, and we love it here. Could someone point me to an exhaustive English resource for tenant rights and landlord rights?

We´re in the middle of a situation where our landlord wants to rent the space to a film producer for a certain time period, during which she wants us to live at her flat. We don't particularly mind this, if we are also compensated. We just want to make sure that she is contractually obligated (ie, forced) to comply with what we "agree" upon.

We know we have the right of refusal (most likely) but I want to know EVERYTHING.

Thanks for your time and any information.

Hola colorbar!

The ultimate answer will depend a bit on what it states in your contract, but as a general orientation:

If you have a valid contract, are paying the rent and the duration is not up then there is no way the owner can throw you out or ask you to leave for a certain period of time.

If you are interested in this "deal" then best is to put it on paper clearly stating the duration, the reason (filming) and the agreed compensation.

Hola Greg!

Thanks for your reply.

I'm looking for something exhaustive. The entire code or law regarding tenant/landlord rights would be really helpful.

Does anyone know where I could find that? Oh, and in English.

Here is the law: "Ley de Arrendamientos Urbanos"

I haven't been able to find an English version but if you run it through Google Translate it should give you a reasonable orientation.

You will be interested in the section: "Artículo 8. Cesión del contrato y subarriendo" - this would cover the part of sub-letting it to the film crew. But this contemplates you as the tenant subletting the property, not the owner.

Thanks again. Okay, so I've read it and understood some.

I guess we could hold her to a lot of different breaches of the law. First, she's intending on "sub-letting" for more than the actual rent. Which doesn't bother us, as long as we're getting something in exchange, should we decide to comply with her.

She did offer us a portion of her take from the film people, in addition to staying at her place for the 20 days. But I'll probably spend the night writing up a document that stipulates everything that I can foresee having to deal with from her, as long as whether we want her to do this in the future.

I've also considered the possibility that she is doing all of this (there are other irregularities in the way she relates to us) to get us to break the agreement and leave with less than 30 days notice...which would mean, in our case, giving up the security deposit.

Originally Posted by colorbar

I guess we could hold her to a lot of different breaches of the law. First, she's intending on "sub-letting" for more than the actual rent. Which doesn't bother us, as long as we're getting something in exchange, should we decide to comply with her.

The thing is the law wouldn't allow her to sub-let, quite the opposite. It is only you as the tenant who can do that.

She did offer us a portion of her take from the film people, in addition to staying at her place for the 20 days. But I'll probably spend the night writing up a document that stipulates everything that I can foresee having to deal with from her, as long as whether we want her to do this in the future.

Anything you agree on should stipulate that the existing contract remains intact. That way after the 20 days all goes back to "normal".

I've also considered the possibility that she is doing all of this (there are other irregularities in the way she relates to us) to get us to break the agreement and leave with less than 30 days notice...which would mean, in our case, giving up the security deposit.

I hope I've helped and you manage to go about this safely. Good luck!

If any famous actors come for the filming, get some autographs