Tanca Tanca

Housing Glossary

You will find information here on all topics relating to housing in Barcelona

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Accrued interest

The interest applied as a penalisation when the debtor does not comply with repayment obligations. The amount must be established in the contract.

Active supermortgage

This allows the client to choose their loan's benchmark index (MIBOR at three months, six months or a year) so that payment can benefit from lower interest rates sooner.

Adaptable instalment

Characteristic of UCI superloans that allow the borrower to not pay one instalment a year for the first three years if there are problems due to holidays, extraordinary expenses, etc.

Advanced cancellation fee

A commission arising from the financial risk involved in the advanced cancellation of an operation. The applied commission compensates the financial institution for its financial losses.

AEDE

Direct state aid for paying the deposit on a property.

Affordable housing

Group of social housing or dwellings from social renovation projects that are sold or rented at below-market prices.

Affordable rent

The cost of renting these dwellings is below market prices after being included in operations concerning the rented flat pool, social renovation or social housing promotions.

Amortisation

Payment made to repay a loan.

Amortisation period

The duration of the loan. The contract establishes the date of the first and last payments. The longer the period, the lower the payments are, but the higher the interest. You therefore pay more in the end. The monthly instalment should not exceed 35% of your net income.

API

Estate agent. A qualified professional who acts as an intermediary between the two interested parties to facilitate the signing of a real estate contract, which can be a rental agreement, a sales agreement or another similar contract. They usually charge a percentage of the sales price as compensation or commission.

Applicant

A citizen who makes a registration application to the Barcelona Social Housing Applicants Registry, and who represents the other members of the dwelling unit included in the application.

APR

Annual Equivalent Rate. Effective annual cost of the mortgage in terms of interest, commissions and the repayment period. To compare loans, it is not enough to just look at the lowest APR, you also have to compare the conditions, the repayment period and the distribution of instalment payments.

Arbitri municipal de plusvàlua

Former denomination of the capital gains tax on landed property.

Assessment

The value of a dwelling certified by a specialised assessment company, in accordance with the mortgage market law. This certificate not only indicates the real value of the property, it also serves as a reference for obtaining the necessary financing.

Authorisation

Document in which the owner authorises the tenant to carry out building work in the dwelling's interior.

Close glossary

Housing offices only offer face-to-face assistance by prior appointment, so check out the “Housing calls you” service here to receive the most appropriate personalised assistance. If you also need assistance in energy rights, book an appointment with an energy-advice point (PAE) by clicking here. On the other hand, if you reside in an IMHAB public dwelling you can consult our contact, management and processing channels here.​

ASSISTANCE INCLUDED IN ROYAL DECREE-LAW 11/2020
Status:
AVAILABLE until 31 October 2021
Addressees: People with a habitual home rent agreement
Administration granting assistance: Government of Spain

 

ASSISTANCE GRANTED BY THE GOVERNMENT OF CATALONIA
Status: NOT AVAILABLE since 04/06/2020
Addressees: People with a habitual home rent agreement
Administration granting assistance: Department of Territory and Sustainability of the Government of Catalonia, Catalonia Housing Agency

Rent assistance dossier

In recent months, the institutions have approved urgent measures to tackle the economic and social impact caused by Covid-19 in housing matters. The State Government has issued two decrees, Royal Decree-Law 8/2020, in force since 18 March, and Royal Decree 11/2020, in force since 2 April, which provide for measures for people living in rented housing. On 18 May, the Government of Catalonia also published an assistance line for people living in rented homes whose incomes have been affected by Covid-19.

In these pull-down menus you will find the various types of assistance available to people living in rental housing.

If you have any query, you can call 010. For any assistance, you can send an e-mail to your district’s housing office. You can also find more information in the FAQs section. Download PDF's FAQs guide on the following link.

 

 

Royal Decree-Law 11/2020

Since the entry into force of Royal Decree-Law 11/2020 of 31 March, a series of additional urgent measures have been adopted in the social and economic sphere to tackle the impact of Covid-19. A number of these actions are addressed to people living in rented accommodation who are in one of these three situations:

  • People with difficulties or impossibility in paying their rent.
  • People with imminent termination of their rent agreement.
  • People who find themselves in a judicial proceeding

Do you have difficulties in paying your rent?

If you are the holder of habitual home rent agreement and have difficulties in paying your rent as a consequence of the impact of Covid-19, you can apply for this assistance.

If the proprietor of your apartment is a company, a public housing entity or a multiple landlord, that is to say one which owns more than 10 urban buildings or a built-up area of more than 1,500 m2, you can apply for two types of assistance. The proprietor will be obliged to accept at least one of them:​

  • A 50% reduction of the rent during the period of the State of Alarm. If this period is insufficient, the measure can be extended to the following months, up to a maximum of 4 months.
  • Moratorium of payment of the rent during the period of the State of Alarm. If necessary, this postponement could be extended during the following months, one by one, up to a maximum of 4 months. The moratorium, which would be applied automatically, would be applicable from the following monthly instalment and the payment of the monthly instalments included in the postponement would be prorated during at least the following three years. The tenant would not suffer any type of penalisation and the postponed amounts would be paid without interest.

The period for applying for this assistance is 09 August 2021. Once the renter (tenant) has submitted the application, the homeowner will have to communicate the selected option within a maximum of 7 business days, unless alternative measures have been agreed voluntarily.

If your apartment belongs to a small proprietor, you can apply for temporary and extraordinary postponement of the rent payment. The application must be submitted before 30 September 2020. Once the renter (tenant) has submitted the application, the homeowner will have to communicate, within a maximum of 7 business days, the conditions for postponing or spreading the debt into different instalments, or, as case may be, any alternative measures proposed.

​The landlord is not obliged to accept the application for temporary postponement. If the landlord does not accept any postponement agreement, you will have the option of applying for the programme of transitional financing aids:

  • Transitional financing aids are a series of financial loans endorsed by the State and provided by the banking institutions to ensure the payment of the rent of the habitual residence. The maximum amount which can be requested is the equivalent of 6 monthly rent instalments, which will have to be returned, with no interest of any type, within a maximum period of 6 years, which exceptionally could be extended for 4 years more.
    • If you are unable to return your transitional financing aid, you can opt for the New Rent Assistance Programme, through which you will be able to receive an approximate maximum amount of up to 900 euros a month and up to 100% of the rent, or, as the case may be, up to 100% of the principal and interest of the loan formalised for the payment of the rent of the habitual residence.

 

Is your rent agreement about to expire?

Any person who holds a rent agreement on their habitual residence which has an expiry date between 2 April 2020 and up 09 August 2021 may request an extraordinary extension of the rent agreement for a maximum period of 6 months. This extension must be accepted obligatorily by the homeowner, unless the parties reach another type of agreement. You can find a request form here.

This possibility for the tenant is binding on the landlord, whether a legal entity or natural person.

If the holder’s rent agreement terminated before 2 April 2021, the extension of the agreement can also be requested, but in this case, in being a date prior to the RDL 11/2020 the landlord does NOT have the obligation to accept it.

 

Are you involved in a judicial eviction process?

If you are a family unit with a habitual rent agreement, you are in a situation of social and economic vulnerability and are involved in a judicial eviction proceeding, you can apply to the court for the extraordinary suspension of the eviction process. The court will inform the Social Services of this application and the extraordinary suspension of the eviction process will commence. In cases which are currently in progress but eviction has not been ordered or the court hearing has not been held, the proceeding will be suspended until the Social Services adopt the measures they consider appropriate. This suspension will end on 31 October 2021.

Rent assistance from the Government of Catalonia to contribute to minimising the economic and social impact of COVID-19

The Government of Catalonia has publicised an assistance line addressed to all family units whose incomes have been reduced due to Covid-19, either because one or more of their members have become unemployed, have been affected by a Temporary Redundancy Plan (ERTO), have had their working day reduced due to care obligations or have lost their income due to other similar circumstances and pay up to €900 in rent.

Since June 4, it has been decided to suspend, as a precaution, the submission of new applications until the processing and assessment of the applications already submitted allow us to analyze that the availability of credit is sufficient and that it makes viable the continuation or not of the presentation of new applications. Consult the resolution of the suspension.
 

Addressees

These subsidies are addressed to individual persons who have a rent agreement on a home which is their habitual permanent residence located within the territory of Catalonia and who have been affected by a situation of unforeseen economic and social vulnerability as a consequence of COVID-19 due to one of these circumstances:

  • Having become unemployed;
  • Having been affected by a Temporary Redundancy Plan (ERTO)
  • Having had their working day reduced due to care obligations, in the case of being an entrepreneur;
  • Other similar circumstances which signify a loss of income.

Requirements

In order to be eligible for this assistance, the incomes of the family unit must meet the following requirements:

  • The sum total of the incomes of the members of the family unit, in the month prior to the application for the assistance may not be greater than 1,613.52 euros per month.
  • However, this maximum will be extended to 2,151.36 euros per month when the family unit, which is composed of the spouses and their descendants under protection who cohabit together, are responsible for a member with a degree of disability greater than 33% (intellectual) or 65% (sensory or physical) or with a serious illness which disables them from any work activity.
  • If the principal debtor is the person who suffers this disability, the income limit is increased to 2,689.20 euros per month. In addition, these maximum incomes can be increased by 53.78 euros for each dependent child, or 80.67 euros per child in the case of a single-parent family.

The sum total of the rent plus the expenses and basic supplies of the home (electricity, water, gas, heating oil, telephone and community fees) must be equal to or greater than 35% of the net income of the family unit.

The applicant must certify the payment of the rent of the months of January, February and March 2020. If the rent agreement has been signed during this period, payment must be certified from the beginning of the agreement.

All the members of the family unit have to comply with the tax obligations imposed by the State and the Government of Catalonia and their Social Security obligations.

The applicant must not be subject to any of the cases of prohibition due to being a beneficiary of subsidies under Section 13 of the General Subsidies Act nº 38/2003 of 17 November.

The amount of the rent must not be greater than 900 euros.

 

Incompatibilities

These assistances may not be requested by:

  • The holder of the rent agreement or any other member related by marriage or another analogous stable relationship, by consanguinity, adoption or affinity to the second degree with the renter or any person who is a partner or stakeholder of any natural or legal persons who act as renters.
  • The holder of the rent agreement or any other member who is the owner or usufructuary of a home located in Spanish territory, unless they are unable to use and enjoy it due to separation or divorce or for any other reason beyond their control, or when the home is inaccessible due to the disability of the holder or of any member of the family unit. It is not considered that the person is the owner or usufructuary of a home if the right devolves on only a proportional part of the home and this has been acquired by succession mortis causa.
  • The holder of the rent agreement or any other member who has sufficient economic resources in current accounts or any other analogous deposits in financial institutions. Sufficient economic resources are understood to be any exceeding 1.5 times the annual IPREM.
  • The holder of the rent agreement or any other member who has a concession deed on the homes managed by the Catalonia Housing Agency, directly or by way of other public administrations or non-profit organisations.

Application and decision periods

Since June 4, it has been decided to suspend, as a precaution, the submission of new applications until the processing and assessment of the applications already submitted allow us to analyze that the availability of credit is sufficient and that it makes viable the continuation or not of the presentation of new applications. Consult the resolution of the suspension.

These assistances can be requested from the day following the publication of the Decision in the Official Journal of the Government of Catalonia until 30 September 2020.

The applications are decided on according to the order of entry into the corresponding registry, with the complete and correct documentation, until the exhaustion of the budget endowment.

The maximum period for deciding on the applications and notifying the decision is six months from the date of submission. Once this period has elapsed with no express decision having been notified, the applicants may understand their applications to be dismissed due to administrative silence.

Application process

Applications must be submitted on a standardised form, duly completed and signed by the person applying for the assistance, accompanied by the documentation stated above.

Applications may be submitted:

  • Preferably, by electronic means to the website of the Government of Catalonia.
  • To the pools forming part of the mediation network for social housing rental or the local housing offices which collaborate by means of an agreement with the Catalonia Housing Agency.
  • To the head office of the holding or administrating body of the home, in the cases of rentals of homes managed by administrations, public corporations or non-profit organisations which collaborate by means of an agreement with the Catalonia Housing Agency.
  • To the Catalonia Housing Agency itself.

The standardised application forms can be obtained from the entities stated above and the Virtual Procedures Office.

Documentation

The required documentation relating to the rent agreement and the family unit is as follows:

  • The rent agreement bearing the name of the applicant.
  • Family record book or equivalent document, if applicable, detailing the family unit.
  • In the event that the applicant for the assistance who lives in the home is the spouse of the rent agreement holder or is in a situation of separation, divorce, marriage annulment, or in the event of decease of the renter, the applicant must provide the documentation certifying the attribution of the use right of the home, whether by subrogation, separation agreement or ruling of separation or divorce, or any other lawfully valid deeds.
  • The receipts for rent paid in the months of January, February and March 2020 for the habitual residence of the applicants. If the rent agreement has been signed during this period, payment must be certified from the beginning of the agreement.
  • In the case of rent instalments matured and unpaid, the certificate of the owner or administrator of the home certifying the detailed amount of the debt and the corresponding months.
  • In the event of the rent instalments being up to date, the receipts for payments made by bank transfer, standing order, deposit in account or receipt issued by the administrator of the home for the months of April to September, enclosed with the application for the assistance.

In regard to the documentation relating to income:

  • Certification of the incomes of the last month of the members of the family unit of working age:
  • The last pay slip prior to the submission of the application. In the case of self-employed persons, the corresponding quarterly Income Tax return.
  • In the event of being affected by a Temporary Redundancy Plan (ERTO), the company’s certificate declaring that the applicant is included in an ERTO.
  • In the event of reduction of the working day of self-employed persons due to care obligations, a formal statement specifying the cause of the reduction of the working day and quantifying the income of the month prior to the application and the current income.
  • In the case of other similar circumstances which signify a loss of income (reduction of working day, substantial loss of income, etc.), a formal statement certifying the specific circumstance which has caused the reduction of income and quantifying the income of the month prior to the application and the current income.

Formal statement by the applicant declaring compliance with all the requirements laid down for being a beneficiary of the assistance during all the requested months.

The bank statements of the holder of the rent agreement and the other members of the family unit, certifying that in their current accounts or other analogous deposits in financial institutions they do not have sufficient resources exceeding 1.5 times the annual IPREM (€9,681.12).

In regard to the documentation relating to the basic supplies of the home:

  • The bills of the basic supplies (electricity, water, gas, heating oil, telephone and community fees) of the last three months prior to the submission of the application, or failing these, the statements of the bank account or accounts certifying the payments.

In regard to the documentation relating to the payment of the assistances:

  • Application for bank transfer to make the payment of the assistance – in the name of the owner or administrator of the home, the renter or the banking institution, as the case may be – signed by the corresponding party and with the banking institution’s certificate of conformity.

Within the framework of the assistances to totally or partially cancel the microcredits, the following specific documentation:

  • Loan deed signed with the banking institution.
  • Certificate from the banking institution stating the name of the holder of the microcredit, the constitution date of the loan and the breakdown of the amount granted.

More information

You can access the complete information and all the necessary documents to request help at the following link.