The government designates Bermeo as a stressed area and imposes rent caps

The municipality of Bermeo will henceforth be a stressed market area. This has been decided by the order of October 28 issued by Denis Itxaso González, the commissioner for Housing and Urban Agenda, and was published today, November 9, in the Official Gazette of the Basque Country (BOPV), issue number 214, with official reference 2026/4724. Consequently, rent caps will be applied to new residential leases there, and the figure of the large lessor has been specified.

The basis for the decision is Law 12/2023, of May 24, on the right to housing. Article 18.2 of that law grants the autonomous community’s housing administration the power to declare stressed areas, supported by Article 10.31 of the Statute of the Basque Autonomous Community and Law 3/2015, of June 18, on Housing. The file was processed under number AAAA_ORD_5678/26_09, and the starting point was the request from the municipality: the Bermeo City Council requested the designation on March 6, 2026.

The order of July 17 initiated the procedure and made the information public. The text was published in issue 146 of the BOPV and issue 145 of the Official Gazette of Bizkaia (BOB), both on August 3, opening a period of twenty business days for allegations; the municipality was notified on July 20. According to the new order, «no allegations were submitted» during those periods, and therefore, the designation has been approved based on the previously written justifying memorandum.

Rent caps on new leases

As established in Article 17.6 of Law 29/1994, of November 24, on Residential Leases, the rent of a new contract signed in a stressed area cannot be higher than the last rent in force for that dwelling in the last five years, after applying the annual update clause, and no fees or expenses not included in the previous contract may be imposed on the tenant. As an exception, it may be increased by a maximum of 10% if one of the following cases is verified:

• A housing rehabilitation action was completed within two years prior to the signing of the contract.
• Rehabilitation or improvement works verify a 30% energy saving in non-renewable primary energy.
• Accessibility improvements have been made, duly verified.
• The contract is signed for ten years or more, or the tenant has the explicit right to extend it for ten years or more.

Furthermore, according to Article 17.7, when the lessor is a large lessor, the rent cannot exceed the maximum limit of the reference price index system. This limit will also apply to dwellings that have had no lease contracts in the last five years, provided that the resolution of the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda so states; the order explicitly justifies applying this case to Bermeo.

Who is considered a large lessor

The Order has fixed the definition according to article 3.k) of Law 12/2023 in the declared area: a natural or legal person, provided they are the owner of:

• five or more urban dwellings for residential use, or
• a built area of more than 1,500 square meters for residential use.

Garages and storage rooms are excluded from the calculation. Dwellings belonging to public administrations, their instrumental entities, or companies in which they hold a majority stake are exempt. The current resolution section, however, includes the five-dwelling criterion in the text, and the 1,500 square meter option appears in the justifying memory and the legal basis section.

Three-year validity

The designation has a validity of three years and may be extended annually by following the same procedure, provided that the circumstances that led to it are maintained and the measures taken since the previous declaration are justified. The declaration also requires a specific plan to correct the imbalances, along with a development calendar. The Order must be communicated to the Secretary General for Urban Agenda and Housing of the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda, to receive the list of stressed areas in a quarterly resolution.

The reason: price evolution

The memory verifies the condition of letter b) of article 18.3 of Law 12/2023: that the price of buying or renting a home has increased by at least three percentage points more than the cumulative growth of the consumer price index of the autonomous community in the five years prior to the reference date. The Order states that the concurrence of that circumstance is “sufficiently verified” in the case of Bermeo.

How to appeal

The Order exhausts the administrative route. Interested parties may file a request for reconsideration before the minister within one month, or a contentious-administrative appeal before the administrative litigation section of the competent court within two months, starting from the day after its publication in the BOPV. The minister has ordered the text to be published in that official gazette and in the BOB, and signed it in Vitoria-Gasteiz on October 28.

The decision has a direct consequence for owners and landlords in Bermeo: the rent for new leases is subject to the limits of the reference index and the non-exceedable limit of the previous rent, and large owners will have the maximum limit of the reference price system. Furthermore, the three-year validity leaves the review open, as the market evolution will determine whether the designation is extended or terminated.

Fuente: Boletín Oficial del País Vasco (BOPV), n.º 214, 9 de noviembre de 2026, Otras disposiciones, orr. 1-6 (official reference: 2026/4724).