If the home will be your main home, you need a home lease (vivienda habitual). A seasonal or temporary lease (temporada) is only for a stay away from your main home. It must state a real reason and, as a rule, lasts 12 months at most. On the Costa del Sol the same flat can be offered on either contract, and ads often call both "long term". This guide is for anyone renting here who needs to tell them apart before signing.
Key points
- A home lease renews each year, at your option, up to 5 years (7 with a company landlord).
- A temporary lease lasts more than 31 days and, as a general rule, no more than 12 months. It can be extended only by express agreement.
- Since 8 October 2026 a temporary lease must state a real, provable reason. Without one, the law treats it as a home lease.
- At signing you pay at most 4 months on a home lease and, by our reading, 3 on a temporary lease.
- If you need the padrón for schools or health care, ask for a home lease.
Good to know: Many of the rules below come from an emergency decree, Real Decreto-ley 29/2026. It is dated 6 October 2026, was published on 7 October and took effect on 8 October. Congress must vote to confirm or repeal it within 30 days (Constitution, art. 86). Congress repealed the decree it replaced on 2 October (BOE). If this one is repealed too, the older rules return. Check the current text of the law on BOE before you sign.
Home lease vs temporary lease: what each one is
Spanish rental law, the Ley de Arrendamientos Urbanos (LAU), now has two kinds of lease for a home.
- Home lease (arrendamiento de vivienda habitual). The main purpose is to meet your need for a home (LAU art. 2.1). This is the contract for the place where you actually live.
- Temporary lease (arrendamiento de vivienda temporal). It covers your need for a home while you are temporarily away from your usual home. There must be a justified reason you can prove (LAU art. 2.3). Ads still call it de temporada or seasonal.
Until 8 October 2026, seasonal lets were a different animal. The LAU treated leases "por temporada, sea ésta de verano o cualquier otra" as leases for a use other than housing (LAU art. 3.2, 2023 wording). That put them outside most tenant protections. The current article 3 no longer mentions seasonal lets (LAU art. 3).
A third kind of stay sits outside the LAU altogether: holiday rentals run under tourism rules. These can last 31 days at most (LAU art. 5.e).
How long is a long term rental in Spain?
On a home lease
You and the landlord can agree any length. If it is under 5 years (7 if the landlord is a company), it renews every year until it reaches 5 or 7. Only you can stop it, with at least 30 days' notice before the end date (LAU art. 9.1).
After 5 or 7 years, if neither side gives notice, it renews year by year for up to 3 more years. The landlord must give 4 months' notice and you must give 2 (LAU art. 10.1). You can leave once 6 months have passed, with 30 days' notice (LAU art. 11.1). The Honest Let covers your rights on a home lease in more detail.
On a temporary lease
The rules are much tighter (LAU art. 9 bis):
- it must last more than 31 days and, as a general rule, no more than 12 months;
- it can be extended only by express agreement, and only while the reason for the stay still exists;
- the yearly renewals to 5 or 7 years do not apply (LAU art. 9.4);
- you can leave after the first month, with 10 days' notice (LAU art. 11.2).
On both kinds of lease, a tenant who leaves within these rules owes the landlord no compensation (LAU art. 11.3).
When a temporary lease becomes a home lease
The contract must state the reason for your temporary stay. The reason must be real and provable, and it is the landlord who must prove it. If no valid reason is stated, the lease is treated as a home lease from the day it was signed (LAU art. 7.2).
The same happens in two other cases (LAU art. 9 bis.2):
- the lease runs past 12 months without a reason that justifies it;
- more than two temporary contracts follow each other, between the same people, for the same home.
In those cases the first contract counts as a home lease, with the 5 or 7 year rules.
Good to know: Seasonal contracts signed before 8 October 2026 keep the old rules until their end date. Then they end, with no right to extend. If one is renewed, the renewal follows the new rules for temporary leases (LAU, transitional provision 8).
Seasonal vs long-term lease compared
| Home lease (vivienda habitual) | Temporary lease, signed from 8 Oct 2026 | Seasonal contract signed before 8 Oct 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who it is for | Your main home | A stay away from your main home, for a stated reason | Was used for any short stay |
| Length | Any; renews yearly to 5 years (7 with a company landlord) | Over 31 days, usually 12 months at most | As agreed; ends on the end date |
| Right to stay on | Yes, at your option | Only by express agreement while the reason lasts | No |
| Leaving early | After 6 months, 30 days' notice | After 1 month, 10 days' notice | As the contract says |
| Rent in advance | 1 month at most | 1 month at most | No legal cap |
| Deposit (fianza) | 1 month | See below | 2 months |
| Extra guarantee | Up to 2 months | Up to 1 month | No legal cap |
| Agency fee for the tenant | Not allowed | Not allowed | Was not covered by the rule |
| Padrón | Register here | Usually stays at your main home | Usually stays at your main home |
Deposit and money at signing
On a home lease, the landlord can ask for one month's rent in advance at most (LAU art. 17.2). Add a deposit of one month (art. 36.1) and an optional extra guarantee of up to two months (art. 36.5). That is four months in total.
On a temporary lease signed from 8 October 2026, the extra guarantee is capped at one month (art. 36.5). The law sets the deposit at one month for leases of homes and two months for other uses (art. 36.1). A temporary lease is now a lease of a home under article 2, so one month should apply. That gives three months in total. Ask for each amount in writing.
On both, a landlord cannot require you to buy rent-default insurance (art. 36.5). Agency and contract fees cannot be passed on to you under any name (art. 20.2). Property taxes such as IBI cannot be charged to you either (art. 20.1).
Seasonal contracts signed before 8 October 2026 counted as "other use" leases. So the deposit was two months, and none of these caps applied. That is how six months up front became common on the coast.
The padrón and your lease
Everyone who lives in Spain must register on the padrón of the town where they usually live. If you live in several towns, you register where you spend most of the year (Ley 7/1985, art. 15). You need it for school places, the health centre and many other steps.
This is where the two contracts pull apart. A home lease matches a move: the home is where you live, so you register there. A temporary lease assumes your main home is somewhere else. If you register at a temporary address as your only home, the contract and your life tell different stories. Ask the town hall what it accepts before you sign. Our guide to the padrón and the NIE explains the paperwork, and moving to Estepona covers the local steps.
September to June lets and families
Many coastal ads say "long term" but run from September to June. The owner takes the home back for summer holiday rentals, when prices peak. For a family moving here, that means:
- you move out in June, when the fewest homes are free and rents are highest;
- you have no right to stay on;
- you change homes, and maybe schools, every year.
Under the new rules, a September to June contract must state why your stay is temporary. If this is your family's main home, there is often no true reason to state. Without one, the law treats the lease as a home lease (LAU art. 7.2). Getting that recognised can still mean a dispute. It is simpler to ask for a home lease from the start. Our guide to moving to the Costa del Sol with kids covers school places and timing.
Winter lets: who they suit
A winter let usually runs from October or November to March or April. It can suit:
- people who keep their main home in another country and spend the winter here;
- someone on a work posting or a course with a clear end date.
A three-month winter stay is too long to be a holiday rental under the LAU, which caps those at 31 days (LAU art. 5.e). So it is now usually a temporary lease, and the contract must state a real reason (art. 7.2). The law does not list which reasons count. Make sure yours is written down and that you can show it.
A winter let does not suit a family that is moving here for good. Look at long-term rentals instead.
Red flags in a rental ad
- "Long term" with an end date in June or July.
- A temporada contract offered for what will be your main home.
- A temporary contract with no reason written in it, or a reason that does not fit you.
- An offer of "11 months, then a new contract", over and over.
- More than one month's rent in advance, or six or twelve months up front.
- A fee for the agency, the contract or "management".
- Rent-default insurance as a condition.
- "No padrón" for a home you will live in all year.
- A "private owner" abroad who wants a deposit before you see the home.
Which contract do you need?
Ask for a home lease if:
- this will be your main home or your family's main home;
- you need the padrón for schools, health care or residency;
- you plan to stay a year or more, or you are not sure yet.
A temporary lease can be right if:
- you keep your main home elsewhere and you can say why you are here for a while;
- your stay has a clear end, such as a work posting or a course;
- the contract states that reason and runs no more than 12 months.
Not sure? Start from the home lease. You can leave it after 6 months with 30 days' notice (LAU art. 11.1). A temporary lease gives you no way to stay on. A clear renter profile helps owners say yes to a home lease.
This guide is general information about Spanish rental law as checked on 9 October 2026. It is not legal advice. The rules are changing quickly this year and depend on a decree-law that parliament has yet to confirm. Check the current law on BOE and ask a lawyer (abogado) about your own contract.