The Constitutional Court admits the appeal against the Navarre regional housing law

The Plenary of the Constitutional Court, by order of October 20, 2026, has agreed to admit for processing the appeal of unconstitutionality number 6911-2026 against the sole transitional provision, sections 1 and 2, of Foral Law 14/2026, of July 2, amending Foral Law 10/2010, of May 10, on the Right to Housing in Navarra. The agreement is published in the Official State Gazette (Boletín Oficial del Estado) number 267, of Wednesday, October 28, 2026, section I, page 143743, with reference BOE-A-2026-22528, and bears the signature of the Secretary of Justice of the Plenary, Alfonso Pérez Camino. The appeal is promoted by more than fifty deputies of the Popular Parliamentary Group in the Congress.

The object of the appeal: two sections and a transitional regime

The challenge is directed exclusively at the sole transitional provision of the foral law, not the rest of the regulation. Section 1 provides that the effects of the suppression of section 10 of article 7 of Foral Law 10/2010 shall apply to all protected housing developments under rental and affordable rental regimes, regardless of the date of their final qualification.

Section 2 goes further: protected housing under those regimes whose protection period remained in force upon the entry into force of the law shall be subject to the indefinite duration regime provided for in article 43 of Foral Law 10/2010, also without regard to when they were finally qualified. This is the point that the appellants are submitting to the court.

What the reform promoted by the Parliament of Navarra changes

Foral Law 14/2026 was approved by the Parliament of Navarra, promulgated in Pamplona on July 2, 2026, by the President of the Foral Community, María Chivite Navascués, and published in the “Official Gazette of Navarra” (Boletín Oficial de Navarra) number 135, of July 13, 2026. Its text later appeared in the Official State Gazette number 183, of July 28, 2026, pages 106114 to 106116, reference BOE-A-2026-16359.

Its three main changes are:

• Suppression of section 10 of article 7, which allowed protected housing under rental or affordable rental regimes to be designated for sale after twenty-one years from their final qualification.
• New wording of article 49.1, which extends the rights of first refusal and redemption (tanteo y retracto) of the Government of Navarra to disqualified housing and its annexes when they belong to a Large Holder (Gran Tenedora) and are in an area declared as a Stressed Residential Market, during the ten years following the end of the protection regime.
• Repeal of the first transitional provision of Foral Law 20/2022, of July 1, which limited indefinite protection to files with a request for provisional qualification subsequent to its entry into force.

From thirty years to indefinite protection

The preamble of the regulation reconstructs the evolution of the protected housing stock in Navarre. Foral Law 8/2004, of June 24, generally established thirty years of protection from the date of definitive qualification; Foral Law 10/2010 maintained those thirty years for ownership and lease with an option to buy, and established fifteen years for leasing. Foral Law 20/2022 generalized the indefinite nature of the protection regime.

The result, according to the legal text itself, is the coexistence of developments subject to different periods depending on the moment of their definitive qualification. With the repeal of the 2022 transitional provision, the foral law seeks to “avoid disqualification processes that reduce the available protected stock” and favor the permanence of affordable housing in the Navarrese residential market. It entered into force the day after its publication in the “Official Gazette of Navarre.”

No automatic suspensive effect

The order from the Constitutional Court is limited to admitting the appeal and does not anticipate any ruling on the merits: the agreement to admit the case for processing does not by itself alter the validity of the challenged provisions, which will continue to be applied until a resolution exists. The court must now resolve whether retroactively extending indefinite protection to developments qualified under previous temporary regimes is compatible with the Constitution.

The outcome has direct effects for tenants and owners of protected housing in Navarre. If the court upholds the transitional provision, thousands of protected rental homes qualified before the 2022 reforms will be shielded from disqualification and sale; if it annuls it, those developments may return to the temporary deadlines provided for in the regulations under which they were qualified.

Source: Official State Gazette, no. 267, of October 28, 2026, section I, page 143743 (official reference: BOE-A-2026-22528).