Why Having an Empty Home in Spain Could Soon Cost You More

Why having an empty home in Spain could soon cost you more

If you own a Spanish property that you're not using, the government wants to raise your taxes in order to encourage you to put it on the rental market, one of several fiscal changes Prime Minister Sánchez wants to implement to fix the housing crisis.

By mistake, or for deterrent purposes, the proposal for a law on measures to facilitate the rental of housing presented last week by the Socialist Parliamentary Group, under the protection of the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Housing, inflates the fiscal punishment with which it threatens the owners of second homes that have them unemployed.

The plan also contemplates a new scheme of reductions in the IRPF for homeowners that benefits those who rent for the first time, according to Gestha

The recent proposals of the PSOE generate controversy between economists and experts in the real estate sector.Read more Tax proposals of the PSOE and their impact on the Spanish real estate market in Actualidad.es.

The PSOE seeks to promote affordable housing rent by raising taxes to second residences. The measures would raise the tax base of the IRPF between 400 and 15,600 euros and would sink foreign investment, according to tax advisors. Read

The General Council of Economists warns that penalizing empty housing or raising taxes will not solve the rent problem if the offer is not increased.