We came here to live, not to be used

This is how you're being used.

You came to Barcelona to work, study, raise a family or start again. To get your residence papers, enrol your children or see a doctor, you needed an address, fast. Owners and agencies knew that.

When Catalonia capped rents in 2024, many owners moved their flats into "temporary" leases the cap didn't reach: new temporary contracts in Barcelona rose 62% in a year (Ara). When Catalan law brought temporary leases under the cap on 1 January 2026, the label moved again, to "holiday" or "leisure", the only exemption left (idealista). How we got here, step by step.

So you were handed a furnished flat, an 11-month contract and a form saying you're on holiday, or that you have a home somewhere else. You pay more: temporary flats cost about 17% more per square metre (OCU). You get fewer rights. Then you get the blame: in the local press, rising rents became the "expat effect" (Ara).

Signing under pressure doesn't make you guilty. But once you know how the game works, staying silent keeps it running. Being new here doesn't make you the problem. Refusing to be used is how you become a neighbour.

Sign the pledge

This is our home. We will not sign that we are tourists. We will not be used against our neighbours.

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We came here to live, not to be used.

Expats stand with locals for fair housing in Barcelona.

Every fake holiday lease is a bet: that you don't know the law, and that you'll leave on the end date. Here is what the owner is betting you will never read.

The label doesn't decide. Your life does.
A lease is what its real purpose is, not what its title says. If the flat is your permanent home, it is a housing lease, with all its protections. Courts have reclassified disguised temporary leases, for example in Albacete on 11 July 2025 (OCU).
The owner has to prove it. Not you.
Since 1 January 2026, Catalan law requires the contract to state the temporary purpose and your permanent home elsewhere. The owner must file proof of the temporary reason with your deposit. If nothing is on file, the law presumes the flat is your permanent home (idealista). That's why you'll be pushed to supply the proof yourself: get it in writing.
A fake lease can become 5 to 7 years.
A housing lease can be extended every year, at your choice, up to 5 years, or 7 if the owner is a company (OCU). And the legal rent cap applies.
Fines up to €900,000.
Catalonia can fine a false lease purpose, or rent more than 30% over the cap, up to €900,000 (idealista). By July 2026, 654 cases were open (idealista).
The agent's signature is on it too.
Estate agents who take part in fraudulent temporary contracts can be sanctioned (Don Porqué). On a real housing lease, agency and contract fees are the owner's to pay, not yours (idealista).
Only a judge can make you leave.
Changing the locks, removing your things or cutting water or power to force you out can be the crime of coercion (Criminal Code, article 172), even after the end date and even if rent is owed (Garon Abogados). Call 112.
A new contract can work for you.
If the owner signs a new contract with you for the same flat, the duration rules of a permanent lease apply unless they prove the temporary reason still exists (idealista). Since 8 October 2026, more than two chained temporary leases make the first one a regular lease across Spain, if parliament validates the decree (OCU).
Every lease leaves a paper trail.
Your deposit must be filed with INCASÒL, and the proof of any temporary reason with it (idealista). Temporary leases must also be entered in a national registry since 1 July 2025 (OCU).

The owner can't tell which tenant knows this. Now every tenant can.

Honestly: this is a right, not a guarantee.

Staying is strongest when the flat really is your only home and the temporary reason was invented. If your temporary reason was real, it can go the other way: a Barcelona court ruled against a tenant whose 11-month lease really was a stopgap, and he paid the owner's legal costs (OCU). Check your case and get free advice before you act.

PDF guide

Cracking the fake holiday lease

The full guide: your rights, the steps, what to do if the owner goes to court, and what owners may not do.

Download the guide Poster to share

Searching right now, before 12 November?

Owners' groups say many owners won't put flats back on the long-term market until parliament votes on the new housing decrees (Público). Even before the decrees, Barcelona's long-term listings were down 22% on a year earlier, and temporary leases made up 57% of listings (idealista). If you're stuck choosing between a fake lease and no home, protect yourself either way:

Save proof that the label was required, not chosen. Screenshot the listing, keep every message, and write down that same day who said what. Ask the agency in writing whether a temporary reason or declaration is a condition for renting.
If you have no alternative and sign, keep it to the minimum and invent nothing: no made-up reasons, no documents that aren't true. The law targets the owner's false purpose, not your need for a home, but what you sign or hand over can be used against you later.
Know your exit. While the October decree is in force, a tenant on a new temporary lease can leave after one month with 10 days' notice, without penalty (OCU). This may end if the decree falls on 12 November.
Register at the address (padró) as soon as you can, and get free advice in the first weeks, not at the end date.
Report agencies that demand a false declaration (Generalitat complaint procedure), and send your case to us. Every documented case is proof the shortage is being engineered.

They'll ask you for a “reason”. Get it in writing.

To even have a shot at many flats, you'll be pushed to give a “valid” reason you're only here for a while: a work project, a course, a home somewhere else. Agencies ask whether you have a reason that justifies a temporary lease, and have tenants sign a declaration explaining why they need a temporary home (Ara).

It's blatant, and there's a reason for it. Catalan law makes the owner prove the temporary purpose and your home elsewhere (idealista). So they get you to supply that proof yourself. The paper protects them, not you: it's what they would use against you if you ever claim your rights (OCU).

What it sounds like

“The owner only does holiday leases now.”
“Owners are taking long-term flats off the market until the new laws change.”
“Just send me something that shows your stay is temporary: a letter from work, a course, anything.”
“Put that you have a home in your own country.”

A composite of what renters in Barcelona report being told, not the words of any one agent.

If you hear this, that's the trick. They know you live here, and they're asking you to put your name to something false so the owner can dodge the law. If you can, answer in writing (there's a message to copy). It may cost you this flat. It also leaves them a written record of what they asked, and every tenant who answers this way makes the trick riskier for the next owner who tries it.

Talk in writing. Email or messages, not calls. If they say it on the phone or at a viewing, write back the same day to confirm what they said.
Ask the question directly. Is a temporary reason, a declaration or a document a condition for renting this flat? Their answer, in their words, is evidence that the reason was their demand, not your choice.
Keep everything. The listing, every message, and any wording or template they send you for your “reason”. And screenshots of your search: how few long-term flats there were.
Invent nothing. Don't make up a reason or hand over a document that isn't true, even if they suggest one. What they demand in writing can be used against them. What you invent can be used against you.

Messages to send

Keep them short, polite and neutral. Many agencies write in Spanish, so each one is here in both languages.

Will this affect my visa?

Fear is the fake lease's best friend. Here's what's true.

Many newcomers stay silent because their papers depend on an address. That's exactly what the fake lease counts on. Know what's risky and what isn't.

Standing up for your rights isn't a crime.
Under Spanish law, foreigners have the rights of assembly and association “in the same conditions as Spaniards” (Ley Orgánica 4/2000). Joining a tenants' union, going to an assembly or joining a group is lawful.
A lease dispute is a civil matter.
Asking what kind of lease you really have is a legal argument between you and the owner, settled in a civil court if it comes to that. It isn't a crime, and nobody is accusing you of one. Only a judge can order you out (Garon Abogados).
Keep paying, and you keep the high ground.
Pay every month, on time, by bank transfer. Unpaid rent is what turns a strong case into a weak one (3Cat).
The fake lease is what's hurting your papers.
Your life here runs on proof that you live here. A contract that says you're on holiday, or that you have a home somewhere else, says the opposite. The bills are often in the owner's name, and every eleven months you start again: new address, new deposit, new padró.
Get on the padró, whatever the label says.
Barcelona accepts a lease of three months or more (Barcelona Urbana), and the padró is how residents prove their habitual home (Ajuntament). It's the key to school enrolment and, for people still sorting out their papers, to the public health card (SAIER guide).
Never sign something untrue out of fear.
A false statement can be used against you later (OCU). If an agency demands one, get the demand in writing and get advice before you sign.

If your permit is pending or depends on your address, get advice on your own case before you act. The city's SAIER advises newcomers on their legal situation (Ajuntament), and the Bar Association offers free first guidance (ICAB).

Silence keeps the trick running. Your rights don't expire with your lease.

We Stay: the steps

If the flat is really your home, the law can let you claim full tenant protections and turn a fake temporary lease into a regular, long-term one (see what the law says). It's a right short-stay agencies would rather you never heard about. We Stay is how to use it: lawfully, step by step, and together.

Start today, however far away your end date is. The earlier you build your file and find your people, the stronger you are.

Do it together: join the We Stay group

Now

Register at your address (padró). It's free. Barcelona accepts a current lease of three months or more (Barcelona Urbana), and the city describes the padró as how residents prove their habitual home (Ajuntament).
Pay rent only by bank transfer, on time, with a clear reference: the month and the address. Never in cash.
Build your file. The contract, a screenshot of the listing, every message, and a note of what you were told when you signed. Keep every message where you were asked for a temporary “reason”. Add proof of your life here: padró certificate, work contract, school enrolment, health centre (CAP) registration, residence permit with this address. Keep copies outside the flat.
Sign nothing new that says you're temporary, on holiday or have a home elsewhere. Get advice before signing a "new" contract or extension.
Check the paperwork. Ask INCASÒL whether your deposit was filed, and whether a temporary reason was filed with it. Check the legal rent with the Generalitat calculator.
Join the local groups and register your case with us.

Two to three months before your end date

Get advice on your case from a Barcelona housing office, the Bar Association's free guidance or the Sindicat de Llogateres.
With your adviser, tell the owner in writing (a burofax, the certified letter used in Spain) that the flat is your permanent home, that the lease is therefore a regular housing lease, and that you'll keep paying the rent.

On and after the end date

Keep paying on the usual date, by transfer. If the owner refuses the money, ask a lawyer about depositing it with the court (consignació), a tactic the Sindicat has used with tenants who stay (NacióDigital).
Don't hand back the keys or sign an end-of-lease document just because the date has passed. Only a judge can order you out.
If court papers arrive, act the same day. You have 10 working days to oppose (Legal Today), and must ask for a free court-appointed lawyer within 3 days (Mundo Jurídico). Call your adviser and the Sindicat.

Your case is strong if…

You moved here to live, not for a fixed period.
You have no other home; you gave up the last one.
You work or study long-term here, or your children go to school here.
You're on the padró at this address, or can be.
The "holiday" wording was the owner's, not your real situation.
You can keep paying the rent on time.

Your case is weak if…

You really were here for a fixed term and kept a home elsewhere.
You chose a temporary lease knowingly and said you'd leave.
You couldn't afford the owner's legal costs if you lost.

Then don't stay on this basis. Ask a housing office about your other options.

The risks, honestly

You could lose and pay costs. A case can take months. Never stop paying: one missed payment gives the owner a far stronger case (3Cat). If your residence permit depends on your address, ask your adviser how a dispute could affect it.

Free help

Start with a housing office: free, in every district, with legal advice.

Barcelona housing offices

Free legal advice and mediation, one office in every district.

habitatge.barcelona

Bar Association: free guidance

First legal guidance on housing; free legal aid depends on income.

icab.es

Sindicat de Llogateres

Catalonia's tenants' union. Assemblies where people in the same situation decide together.

Sindicat de Llogateres

Check the legal rent

The Generalitat's calculator, with your address or cadastral reference.

habitatge.gencat.cat/preuslloguer

Your deposit and filed reason

INCASÒL holds the deposit registry (Registre de Fiances).

incasol.gencat.cat

Register at your address

The padró: free, about a week, with a lease of three months or more.

ajuntament.barcelona.cat/tramits

Report a fake lease

The Generalitat's complaint procedure, for contracts signed since 30 January 2025.

tramits.gencat.cat

Learn Catalan, free

Courses with the CPNL, and conversation pairs with a local volunteer (Voluntariat per la llengua).

cpnl.cat

Print it. Post it. Share it.

Put the poster up in your building. Post it in your expat groups. Send the guide to the friend who just signed.

PDF guideCracking the fake holiday leaseHow to stay lawfully, build your file, and what owners may not do.Poster: PDF and imageYour “holiday” lease may not be legalOne page to print, post and share.PDF guideOrganize your building and neighbourhoodFind your local group, welcome newcomers and act together.Images to postCards for Instagram and FacebookReady to post, including the pledge in six languages.Stickers to printStickers for expat spacesBlunt messages for the bars, coworkings and groups where expats gather.Poster: PDF and imageHow we got hereThe timeline on one page: who decided each step.

Also: the poster as an image (PNG)

Sources (31)

We will not be used against our neighbours.

This is how you're being used.

Sign the pledge

Just signed

We came here to live, not to be used.

Searching right now, before 12 November?

They'll ask you for a “reason”. Get it in writing.

What it sounds like

Messages to send

Will this affect my visa?

We Stay: the steps

Now

Two to three months before your end date

On and after the end date

Free help

Barcelona housing offices

Bar Association: free guidance

Sindicat de Llogateres

Check the legal rent

Your deposit and filed reason

Register at your address

Report a fake lease

Learn Catalan, free

Print it. Post it. Share it.

Find your people.

The We Stay group

Neighbour guides

The tenants' union

Fair agents and owners

The language of your street

Join us: register your case