Before looking at the different types of leases excluded from the LAU (Urban Lease Law), we must remember the following:
The Urban Leases Law (LAU) is a special law that establishes the legal regime applicable to the leases of urban properties that are intended for housing or uses other than housing.
The text of the Urban Leasing Law is included in the Law 29/1994, of November 24 and during all these years it has undergone various modifications.
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To which leases will the LAU apply?
As we have said previously, the Urban Leases Law 29/1994 will be applicable to urban properties that are intended for housing or for use other than housing.
Housing lease
The following will be considered a rental of housing for the purposes of applying the LAU:
“Article 2:
1. A housing lease is considered to be a lease that falls on a habitable building whose primary purpose is to satisfy the tenant's permanent need for housing.
2. The rules governing housing leasing will also apply to furniture, storage rooms, parking spaces and any other premises, leased spaces or services transferred as accessories to the property by the same lessor.”
Leasing for use other than housing
The following will be considered a lease for use other than housing for the purposes of applying the LAU:
“Article 3:
1. A lease for use other than housing is considered to be a lease that, involving a building, has as its primary purpose a lease other than that established in the previous article.
2. In particular, this consideration will be given to leases of urban properties entered into on a seasonal basis, whether summer or any other, and those entered into to carry out an industrial, commercial, artisanal, professional, recreational, healthcare, cultural or teaching activity on the property. , whoever the people are who celebrate them.”
What leases are excluded from the LAU?
Whether or not the lease contract is regulated by the LAU is quite important in order to know the regime applicable to the lease contract.
He article 5 of the LAU includes leases excluded from said special legislation.
The following leases will not be governed by the LAU:
TO) The use of the homes that the doormen, guards, employees, employees and officials, assigned to them by reason of the position they hold or the service they provide.
This section requires that these people be assigned housing based on the position they hold. If the delivery of the home has nothing to do with the position or service provided by said person, we will be facing an urban lease.
B) The use of the military housing, whatever their qualification and regime, which will be governed by the provisions of their specific legislation.
C) The contracts in which, leasing a property with a house, whether the agricultural, livestock or forestry use of the property is the primary purpose of the lease. These contracts will be governed by the provisions of the applicable legislation on rural leases.
As we see, in these mixed leases where the rural property is rented and also a house-room (cortijo, etc.), the classification of the lease contract will be subject to or excluded from the LAU depending directly on the main element leased. If what is leased as the main element is agricultural, livestock or forestry use, we have to go to the Rural Leases and, failing that, to the Civil Code, even if a home is located on the leased rural property. On the other hand, if what is rented is mainly the home and, in addition, the rural property (land), the precepts of the LAU would apply.
D) The use of the university housing, when these have been expressly classified as such by the University itself that owns or is responsible for them, that they are assigned to the students enrolled in the corresponding University and to the teaching, administration and services staff dependent on it, due to the link that is established. establish between each one of them and the respective University, which will be responsible in each case for establishing the standards to which its use will be subject.
AND) The temporary transfer of use of the entire furnished and equipped home in conditions of immediate use, marketed or promoted in tourist offer channels or by any other means of marketing or promotion, and carried out for profit, when it is subject to a specific regime, derived from its tourism sector regulations.
This section does not refer to the seasonal rentals (private apartments without any special qualification that are rented during the summer or winter) to which the LAU does apply when they are considered in the toarticle 3.2 as "leases for use other than housing“. The leases excluded from the LAU in this section refer to those that are subject in a special way to tourist, state or regional regulations, and are classified by these entities as tourist leases (tourist apartments, etc.).
Are there other leases excluded from the LAU?
In addition to the above, which, as we say, are expressly excluded from the application of the LAU in its article 5, we could cite other leases whose applicable legal regime will not be the LAU:
1.- He industrial leasing which is understood when the tenant rents the premises as a physical space and also receives the business or industry established therein, so that the object of the contract is not only the assets listed therein, but a property unit with its own life. and capable of being immediately exploited or pending to be exploited by mere administrative formalities. (example: lease of a bar with all the elements, belongings and furniture).
2.- He lease by a legal entity to use the home for accommodation of managers or employees. Such contracting -precisely due to the succession of occupants- is considered not subject to the legislation on urban leases in terms of the benefits it entails for the tenant.
3.- The renting a room in which common rooms are shared with other people, such as kitchen, bathroom, etc.
Practicing lawyer since 1984. Member No. 2181 by the Illustrious Bar Association of Granada.
Law enthusiast in general and especially Civil Law, Leases, Inheritances and Communities. He likes to write about all legal areas.
