Israel has been looking for an apartment for several weeks. He is 41 years old and a year and a half ago he returned to his parents. “I was sharing an apartment, but I had a bad experience and it wasn’t viable. They offered me to come for a while, to save a little,” he explains. When he decides to resume his research and become independent, he finds himself facing a hostile and impossible market. Despite his permanent contract and a net salary of 1,500 euros, all doors were closed to him. But, in addition, Israel is coming up against practices that housing rights groups, consumer associations, testimonies on social networks and groups of friends have been denouncing for months: unfair clauses and direct accusations. illegal, such as the month of agency which prohibits the law.
The Ministry of Social Rights announced this Monday the opening of an investigation after detecting illegal practices in several real estate agencies, such as the invoicing of management commissions, unjustified temporary contracts and other unfair clauses. “Passing on property management and contract formalization costs to tenants is an expressly prohibited practice,” they said from this department.
The national housing law, in effect for more than a year and a half, prohibits charging future tenants for what is known as “agency month.” However, many real estate agencies continue to require this payment from users. Some ask for it directly, even if they then use subterfuge to justify it, which is currently being investigated by the General Directorate of Consumer Affairs. “In general, they continue to charge fees to tenants, rather than landlords, because their business is to exploit tenants,” says Víctor Palomo, spokesperson for the Tenants’ Union.
“What is paid are the days corresponding to the month of September, depending on the day you enter, the month of deposit and the month of the agency. It would be two monthly payments and not much,” a RedPiso employee explained by telephone in Israel, according to a recording to which elDiario.es had access and which is reproduced below. “Agency month? » he asks. “Yes, it’s more for the services, for the services that we give you in exchange for the rent,” she replies.
The services they refer to involve a handyman, which is usually included in homeowner’s insurance paid by the owner, cleaning before entering the apartment and non-payment insurance. “Different strategies are used, from billing in b, which is very common, to the tenant service contract which, in practice, is a fee, because it is paid before signing the contract and there is no service to the tenant. It’s a way to get around the law,” Palomo explains.
For Israel, linked for years to movements for the right to housing, these tips are not new. “But non-payment insurance only benefits the owner, not the tenant,” he responds in the appeal, specifying that it is “for both parties.” “It is true that this benefits the owner more than the tenant, but it gives you the security that if at any time you have a problem, the problem of non-payment is not so extreme,” explains the worker.
From the tenants’ union, it is explained that “only the illegally charged tenant can go to court”. In practice, this represents an obstacle. “People think the legal fees are going to cost more than what they’re going to recover. In addition, it involves facing a legal procedure that lasts a long time and requires respect,” says Palomo, who emphasizes that the solution must come from the General Directorate of Consumer Affairs, which is currently investigating these practices, and from the systems of ‘arbitration, which also consider the state standard, but which are not yet fully developed.
Precisely, the union has initiated proceedings through Consumption and actions, such as the singling out of real estate agencies and funds which apply these formulas. In May, the Sindicat de Llogateres and the Col-lectiu Ronda filed a class action against Inmo Criteria, for unfair clauses contained in 2,000 rental contracts throughout Catalonia, including anti-payment insurance. In 2023, the two organizations have already managed to obtain that a Barcelona court declares a clause of this type void, considering that “the owner has mechanisms that allow consultation (solvency) in advance”, so that it cannot “pass on expenses that can generate measures that guarantee” this payment capacity.
Precisely, to guarantee this payment capacity, real estate companies are demanding more and more requirements. According to the experts consulted, requirements such as rates, months of deposit or the requirement of a certain rent are, in practice, barriers to entry that make access to housing difficult. “I started looking with my paycheck,” Israel explains. Subsequently, he spoke with his parents to try to obtain the contract by adding their pensions. “As they cannot be seized, non-payment insurance does not accept them,” he specifies. And the third option: “My sister is a civil servant and offered to rent with me. Between the two payrolls, it’s 4,000 euros per month, so you see how the doors open for you and they mark you as a priority to visit the apartments. Not even like that: “When they are agencies, the vast majority continue to ask you for fees.
For the moment, the few legal victories in terms of unfair clauses, in particular that of the recovery of unpaid insurance, have appeared against the investment funds which manage the real estate parks and not against private tenants or real estate companies. At the beginning of this month, Mónica, a resident of Parla, obtained from the court the cancellation of the point in her contract which imposed this concept on her and obliged the manager to return 1,000 euros. “They are giving me to pay the fees. If they appeal, I will end up losing money, but I prefer to pay the lawyer rather than the vulture fund,” he explained in an interview with elDiario.es.
Israel is always looking for an apartment to live in, without spending more than 30% of its payroll on it. At no time did he consider taking the agency month step: “I refuse, I have already thought about occupying, even if I see it as something collective, in a context where we are politically organized. ”
