In Depth on TVR: Everyone had it… and the price skyrocketed

There is less and less housing to rent and more demand for apartments, which makes their price much more expensive. Pure law of supply and demand. These are the facts and in the program A Fondo, on TVR (tomorrow, 2:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m.), they try to rewind some decades, analyze Spanish and Riojan society and draw conclusions about how we have arrived at this situation. The answer is not easy, because the reasons pile up, they derive from public and private behavior and from crises that have been shaking the world and Spanish economies.

Punishment of the owner

However, there is something that most of those consulted agree on (even the weakest link in the chain, the citizens who cannot find an apartment): the national Housing Law (approved last year) has worsened the situation. Among other things, it imposes limits on rental income, sets new extensions for evictions, establishes a surcharge for unoccupied apartments and reduces the tax benefit in personal income tax. Measures that put the burden on the owner of the property, causing them to withdraw their intention to rent.

The regional government and the Bar Association emphasize that the protection of vulnerable people has been transferred to the owners, when it is the responsibility of the Administration. “Apparently, the Law has achieved an effect contrary to what was intended in several aspects,” says Federico Bravo. “There are 63 million euros available to encourage buying and renting, but if you put the owner in a worse legal condition than the tenant, there will be no rent,” adds the manager of the Rioja Housing Institute.

Apartment owners, applicants for buying or renting, investors or real estate managers explain to the ‘A Fondo’ program what the real situation is like on the street, the difficulties that exist when renting and how apartments, despite their price, , ‘fly’ as soon as they hit the market.