Spain votes on 29 November, and housing is one of the biggest issues in the campaign. The leader of Spain’s main opposition party has now set out what he would do in his first 100 days in office.
Alberto Núñez Feijóo leads the People’s Party (PP), Spain’s main centre-right party. If the PP wins the election, he would become prime minister, replacing the Socialist Pedro Sánchez, who has governed since 2018. Feijóo says his government would pass three housing laws in its first 100 days:
- An anti-squatting law to remove illegal occupants (“okupas”) from a property within 48 hours
- A new Land Law (Ley del Suelo), meant to make more land available for building
- A reform of Spain’s apartment-building rules (propiedad horizontal), which govern how owners in shared buildings make decisions
“I promise that in the first 100 days the Council of Ministers will approve three laws,” Feijóo said. “That is a concrete commitment: 100 days, three bills.” He added that the laws are already written and will not be improvised. In his view, they would improve legal certainty for property owners in Spain.
He was speaking at a housing event in Seville, alongside Juanma Moreno, the PP president of the Andalusia regional government.
Tax breaks for landlords and tenants
Feijóo also promised tax deductions for landlords and tenants who renew a rental contract for up to three years, as long as rent rises stay below inflation (Spain’s Consumer Price Index, or IPC). “This will be a contract, a tax contract,” he said.
He said he refuses to set landlords against tenants. “I refuse to take part in another confrontation between owners and tenants,” he said, adding that it is possible to give legal security to owners while protecting renters.
“Zero tolerance” on squatting
On squatting, Feijóo said he has “every sympathy for citizens who follow the rules, and total firmness with the freeloaders.” Respecting private property, he argued, is essential for a country to function. “Under our government, squatters will be out in 48 hours,” he said.
Help for young buyers and a million new homes
Feijóo promised young people “the biggest help in history” to buy a home. He gave an example: a young person who buys an average-priced home (€250,000) after five years of work could save €25,000 in taxes and would need €50,000 less to qualify for a mortgage.
He also repeated his goal of building one million homes in the next four-year term. After weeks of street protests over housing, including a protest camp in Madrid’s Puerta del Sol square, he said he wants the people protesting to have “a decent home” by the end of the term.
Attack on Spain's current Prime Minister
Feijóo accused current PM Pedro Sánchez of “using the drama” of Maricarmen Abascal, an elderly woman who was evicted from her Madrid flat and later died. Her case has become a symbol in the housing debate. Feijóo claimed Sánchez ignored a letter she sent him a year earlier and “put it in a drawer at the Moncloa” (the prime minister’s official residence and office).
He also criticised the Socialist Party (PSOE) after its spokesperson, Montse Mínguez, resigned over properties owned by her partner. Feijóo called the campaign “a lesson in Socialist hypocrisy” and said the party was “in no position to give lessons.” He compared her housing speeches to those of José Luis Ábalos, a former Socialist minister at the centre of a corruption case, on the subject of corruption.
