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When and how rent is paid under the LAU
Article 17 of the Spanish Urban Leases Act (LAU) sets the basic rules for housing: unless otherwise agreed, rent is monthly and paid within the first seven days of the month; the landlord cannot demand more than one month in advance; and payment is made electronically, unless one party has no bank account or access to such means and asks otherwise.
The landlord must give a receipt for the payment, unless a method that proves payment (such as direct debit) was agreed. The receipt must list each item separately and show the current rent. For a one-off receipt, use our free rent receipt generator.
VAT: housing exempt, commercial units at 21%
Article 20.One.23 of Spanish VAT Act 37/1992 exempts the letting of buildings or parts of them used exclusively as homes, and extends the exemption to parking spaces, annexes and furniture let together with the home. There are exceptions: for example, furnished homes where the landlord provides hotel-type services, or leases of buildings to sub-let them.
Commercial units, offices and parking spaces let separately are not covered by that exemption and are taxed at the standard 21% rate (Article 90). The owner must declare that VAT on their form 303; FixrOS prepares the draft.
19% withholding: who applies it and who files it
When the tenant is a company, a professional acting in the course of their business or another entity (including owners' communities), they must withhold 19% of the rent of an urban property, calculated without VAT (Article 101.8 of the Income Tax Act and Articles 76 and 100 of the Regulation). No withholding is required, among other cases, if rent paid to the same landlord does not exceed €900 a year or if a company rents a home for its employees (Article 75.3 of the Regulation).
The withholding is paid to the Tax Agency by the tenant, with their forms 115 (quarterly) and 180 (annual summary). FixrOS does not generate them, because the owner does not file them: it deducts the withholding from the bill, shows it on the owner statement and keeps it for their income tax return.
Which costs can be recharged to a housing tenant
Article 20 LAU, as worded by Royal Decree-law 29/2026, allows the parties to agree that the tenant pays the building's general costs that cannot be individualised (for example, the home's share of community fees according to its quota), always in writing and stating the annual amount in the lease. However:
- The taxes linked to the home, such as IBI, cannot be imposed on the tenant unless they are the taxpayer.
- Property management and lease formalisation costs, including those for managing, amending or renewing the lease, cannot be passed on to them directly or indirectly.
- In buildings not under horizontal property, community costs cannot be charged to them.
- Metered utilities are always paid by the tenant.
These Article 20 rules belong to Title II of the LAU, on housing. Shops and other non-housing leases are governed by what the parties agree (Article 4.3), and Title III does not refer to this article. In FixrOS each recharged cost is set per lease, so you can match it to what each case allows. Royal Decree-law 29/2026 was awaiting ratification on 18 October 2026; we will update this page if it changes.
SEPA direct debit or over-the-counter payment
To collect by direct debit you need a SEPA mandate signed by the tenant's account holder, with their IBAN and your creditor identifier. Keep it while collections continue: it is what the bank will ask for if the tenant disputes a debit. If the tenant won't domicile, the over-the-counter bill (Cuaderno 57) avoids transfers with unidentifiable references.
What to do when a bill is returned
- Check the reason for the return: an empty account is not the same as a revoked mandate.
- Contact the tenant the same day and put it in writing.
- If the lease allows it, recharge the bank's return fees.
- If the debt persists, issue a debt certificate and follow the rent arrears procedure.
