Renting in Spain without getting scammed, and keeping the padrón open

Check that the flat and the landlord are real before you pay. Then check that the lease is one your town hall will accept as proof of address, because everything else you need to register depends on it.

Last updated: 25 October 2026

Check the person and the flat first

INCIBE, Spain's national cybersecurity institute, lists the warning signs on rental listings. Among them:

A price that is "anormalmente bajo o fuera de precio de mercado".
Photos copied from another website, or the same photos in other listings.
An owner abroad who cannot show you the flat in person, or who suggests intermediaries for the keys or the contract.
Pressure to decide fast: "Las prisas deben ponerte en alerta."
Requests to pay through anonymous money-transfer services, or to a bank in a different country from the supposed owner.

INCIBE also suggests searching the flat's address online and using Street View to see whether the building matches the photos. The practical rule that follows: view the flat in person, and do not send money to someone who cannot show it to you.

Ask for a nota simple

A nota simple is a summary of what the property registry says about a flat: who owns it, and what rights or charges are registered against it. The Colegio de Registradores describes it as "puramente informativa", unlike a certificación, which is a signed public document.

You can request one on the registradores' online portal using the property's registry data or its CRU identifier, without creating an account. Searching by owner name needs an electronic certificate. The registrar bills 9.02 euros per property, taxes not included, and the portal asks you to state why you want it, because the registrar judges whether your interest is legitimate.

Compare the owner's name on the note with the ID of the person you are dealing with. If the person is not the owner, ask for written authorisation from the owner, and treat a refusal as an answer.

The type of lease decides what you can register

Spanish law separates two things. A housing lease (arrendamiento de vivienda) covers a building whose main purpose is to meet the tenant's need for a home (LAU article 2). A lease "para uso distinto del de vivienda" is everything else, and until October 2026 the text of article 3 named seasonal lets (por temporada) as one of those.

That article has just moved. Real Decreto-ley 29/2026, in force from 8 October 2026, changes articles 2 and 3: it adds a definition of a temporary housing lease for a tenant who is "temporalmente desplazado de su domicilio habitual, por causa justificada y acreditable", and removes seasonal lets from the list in article 3. The previous decree-law with similar content (26/2026) was repealed by the Congress on 2 October 2026, and a decree-law needs Congress to validate it. We could not confirm whether 29/2026 has been validated, so read the consolidated LAU on the BOE site on the day you sign.

What does not change is that the label on the contract does not make you a resident. What matters next is what your town hall accepts.

What the padrón actually requires

A common belief is that a seasonal lease can never be used for the padrón. The official instruction is more nuanced. The INE and the Dirección General de Cooperación Autonómica y Local issued technical instructions to town halls in a resolution of 17 February 2020 (published in the BOE on 2 May 2020, amended since). It says the padrón "pretende reflejar el domicilio donde residen las personas que viven en España", and that the town hall may ask for the document that legitimises your occupation of the home only as evidence that you live there, not "para juzgar cuestiones de propiedad, de arrendamientos urbanos".

It then gives examples of a valid document: a property title, or a "contrato vigente de arrendamiento de vivienda para uso de residencia habitual acompañado del último recibo de alquiler". It adds that the town hall "tiene la potestad de aceptar otros documentos", such as utility bills, and can check by other means, including a local police report, that you live there. For non-EU residents, the same text says ID is checked "con independencia de la situación legal del extranjero en España".

So the rule is proof of where you live, but a standard housing lease is the easy route and town halls set their own bar:

Madrid asks for a lease in force for a home or a room, with a minimum duration of six months, signed by everyone named in it, plus the latest rent receipt for extended leases and proof of payment for e-signed ones.
Valencia asks for a lease of more than six months. It says month-to-month renewals do not count, requires the latest receipt or transfer paid in the last two months, and requires the property's cadastral reference in the lease. For tourist or non-habitual-residence contracts, and for clauses that stop other people from being registered, it may ask for extra proof. In some cases it also wants the owner's written authorisation and ID.

Before signing, ask for the term, the cadastral reference and a written OK to register on the padrón, and check the contract has no clause forbidding it. Rules in other towns may differ, so check your own town hall's page. For what to do once you are registered, see the order of padrón, TIE, Social Security and health card.

Who pays agency fees

Since the housing law of 24 May 2023 (Ley 12/2023, which amended article 20.1 of the LAU), the text reads: "Los gastos de gestión inmobiliaria y los de formalización del contrato serán a cargo del arrendador." That applies to every landlord. Before that, from 2019, it applied only when the landlord was a legal person, which is the version many older articles still describe.

The October 2026 decree-law goes further: it says such costs cannot be passed to the tenant "ni directa ni indirectamente". The same caveat applies about its validation. If an agent asks you for a fee to formalise a lease, ask which law they are relying on.

The deposit

For a housing lease, the fianza in cash must be "una mensualidad de renta" (article 36.1). An extra guarantee is allowed, but for housing contracts of up to five years (seven if the landlord is a legal person) it cannot exceed two months' rent (article 36.5, as amended in 2019).

Regions may require the landlord to deposit the fianza with a public body (additional provision 3 of the LAU). In the Comunitat Valenciana the Generalitat says the landlord must deposit it "en el plazo máximo de UN MES, a contar desde la fecha de firma del contrato". Ask your landlord for proof it was deposited. Other regions have their own bodies and deadlines.

Sources

Who can do this for you

A lawyer can read a lease before you sign it and check the owner against the registry. A realtor who works with tenants can find flats whose contracts the local town hall accepts.

This page is general information, not legal advice. It was checked against the sources above on the date shown. Spanish rental law changed more than once in the first weeks of October 2026 and may change again. Confirm the current text and your town hall's requirements before relying on any of it.