Las medidas civiles sobre vivienda previstas en el Proyecto de Real Decreto-ley de 21-7-2026, precedente del RDL 29/2026, en un contexto comparado

Abstract

The unexpected Draft Royal Decree-Law (RDL) of July 21, 2026, preceding RDL 29/2026, envisages a series of far-reaching civil law reforms concerning housing, with the approval process set to resume in late 2026. Some of these measures make perfect sense—such as the need to regulate housing associations or to enable chattel mortgages on industrialized construction components. Others, however, may create more problems than benefits: the distortion of the concept of «housing»; the risk of unconstitutionality arising from attempts to ban «speculative purchases,» certain aspects of the ban on «eviction to nowhere,» or the imposition of perpetual sales price caps on specific homes; the legal uncertainty resulting from the presumption of truthfulness afforded to the tenant regarding the property's final condition, a new extraordinary mandatory lease extension, or the retroactive application of new lease extensions; the increasingly evident «administrativization» of the lease agreement; or the flawed concept of «affordable housing». All of this is analysed in this paper, which concludes that, if those measures are consolidated through the validation of RDL 29/2026, access to housing will become even more difficult.