Reimagining Registration in Spain’s Housing Market: Rights, Shortages, and the Path to Fairness

Luis, a pseudonym for a tenant in Spain, has been searching for a room for eight months. He lives in Vitoria, and his landlord plans to sell the five flats he rents. The landlord claims retirement and has begun sending notices to all tenants. The tenant notes, for example, that a couple also resides in his apartment. He has been calling since February, and the shortage of rooms is glaringly obvious.

To cover the Basque Income Guarantee and to replace lost housing, Luis posted an ad on a rental portal. He says, I’m looking for a standard room. The demand is high, and similar requests flood the internet. Some homes refuse registration, a practice that creates a market where rooms or apartments are available for registration but offer no actual right to live there.

Luis explains, I have seen this already. They don’t cut corners. When you show interest in a room, you are told this is a contract that cannot be lived in. They register you, you pay 300 euros, you pretend to reside there and you survive on the arrangement. It is a fake registration to access aid. The alternative is a room without registration. Social services say there is a housing crisis. They mention that if an eviction happens, a fake registration could be created to place someone in a shelter.

private registration

The law in Spain requires everyone to register in their municipal registry. Since 2015, a number of projects have allowed exceptions, including registering a shanty, a caravan, a cave, or even the absence of a roof. This requires intervention by the city council’s social services, which must verify that the person truly lives there.

The issue becomes more intricate when it involves rooms. Immigrant associations, domestic workers, social movements, and housing rights advocates have long criticized this across the country.

In the Valencian Community, organizations such as Valencia Acull and media outlets like El Periódico de España have condemned the practice. Reports indicate that social services in various municipalities refuse registration to people who live in substandard housing or in rooms that lack a proper address. The same reports note instances where a woman was charged an extra 200 euros per month just to register for a room. In 2020, Catalan social groups mapped municipalities reporting the most complaints tied to the lack of a fixed address.

Registration for leases without rights is common in the Basque Country. Leases under formal contracts may still restrict subletting, and if more than one person is registered, the owner can uncover the arrangement. Property owners, wary of taxation, sometimes register many people who do not actually reside there. The opposite trend emerges too: people are allowed to register but denied living rights. Fees for this right can range from 200 to 400 euros per month. The issue affects foreigners, but it is not limited to them.

Access to services

Onti Etorri Errefuxiatuak is among the associations that signed the campaign I am your neighbor, but I cannot exist without registration. They urge Basque municipal councils to guarantee registration for residents who cannot prove their address.

The registry serves as a gateway to many rights. Without it, access to healthcare, basic education for minors, social benefits, residence permits, and voting becomes difficult. For many, achieving registration is impossible. Some live with relatives or friends and pay a registration fee elsewhere, or work remotely while employers do not grant proper registration.

Municipal councils are urged to register people living on the streets. The proposal is to create open channels for registration in general housing cases. If social services know that a person is living in a room but cannot register them, they should coordinate with a social office. Domestic workers face similar issues; if authorities discover unregistered occupants, consequences may follow promptly.

Regarding the current situation, the view is that people who are homeless have a formal record, while those living at home often do not. Both groups have rights, and the core problem is that living in an apartment does not always grant registration. An administrative mechanism is proposed to allow residents in apartment buildings who cannot prove their address to register without harming others.

Can a landlord deny registration?

Valeria Racu, a spokeswoman for the Tenants’ Union in Madrid, notes that registration fees are a reality in marketplaces like Wallapop and Milanuncios. Non-EU immigrants, under immigration rules, must register to regularize their status. Young people and those with limited means may find sham room contracts as their only route to housing.

Nonetheless, landlords cannot refuse registration. Madrid City Council indicates that if a person lives in a home but is not listed on the rental agreement, the contract owner can authorize the registration. If the owner is not registered, one of the registered adults must declare that the occupant resides there.

Registration is a right that unlocks other rights and should not depend on a landlord’s willingness. The issue arises when housing is treated like a market good and used as extra labor. If abuses occur, residents should organize into housing associations and report it because it is illegal.