The 11-month Rental Contract and Other Legal Urban Myths in Spain

September 7th, 2016

Spain is not different when it comes to “legal urban myths”, statements that sound true but are legally wrong. Let’s see some of them:

Administrative residency and tax residency are the same: taking out your “residencia” at the Police Station does not make you a tax resident of Spain. To be one, you need to prima facie file tax returns in this country or you are exempt from doing so, prove continuous residency via electricity bills, “empadronamiento” certificates and so on.
Infidelity is a ground for divorce: as explained in the previous article, the only “ground” for divorce is to have been married for 3 months. End of.
Public nakedness is a criminal offence: unlike many other countries, walking around naked per is not a statutory offense unless it is proven there is a sexual connotation. However, if you expose yourself you will be subject to heavy fines: The Supreme Court ruled in 2015 that nudity cannot be condoned for it affects the peaceful daily coexistence.
11 months is the limit for short term rentals: Never has a legal urban myth expanded so rapid and damagingly. There is no such thing as an 11-month contract that is different from say one with a 9 or 13-month term. In fact, the law in Spain states that any residential rental contract can be legally extended to 3 years by the tenant. Holiday lets do exist but they are not defined by the term, but by the use of the dwelling: sporadic, non- permanent, accidental, circumstantial are some of the words use by the Courts to differentiate short term from long term or permanent.
Red cars cost more to insure: many people will not know it but the car insurance industry is colour-blind.
Legal letters have to be replied to: it is often the case that parties to a legal dispute feel that one email or letter needs to be matched with a reply, thus causing endless threads of communications. From a tactical point of view too, giving out to much information to a would-be litigant can be counterproductive. To sum up, avoid the temptation of a courtesy reply unless these letters are coming from the Courts or from Government offices.