New direction to penalize empty homes, overcrowding and abusive rents.

The Government of Catalonia has created a new directorate unit, the Directorate-General for Housing Discipline, which will assume the sanctioning power over empty homes, overcrowding, large holders and rent control. The measure is approved by means of Decree 130/2026, of 28 July, published in the Official Gazette of the Government of Catalonia (DOGC) No. 9719 on 30 July 2026, and is effective from the same day of publication.

The decree amends Decree 242/2025, of 4 November, on the restructuring of the Department of Territory, Housing and Ecological Transition, and transfers to the departmental structure the inspection and sanctioning powers in housing matters that until now were exercised by the Housing Agency of Catalonia. The change derives from Law 11/2026, of 9 July, on fiscal, financial, administrative and public sector measures, which amended Law 13/2009, on the Agency, so that these powers, provided for in Law 18/2007, on the right to housing, come under the direct authority of the Government of Catalonia’s administration.

A directorate-general with its own sanctioning power

The new Directorate-General for Housing Discipline is attached to the Housing Secretariat and centralises strategic direction, coordination of inspection, processing of sanctioning procedures and execution of resolutions. It is responsible, among other functions, for initiating and resolving sanctioning files, promoting the restoration of legality and adopting provisional, precautionary and coercive measures.

Three services and two instructing sections report to the directorate:

• Housing Inspection Service: inspects habitability, substandard housing, overcrowding and empty homes, as well as the regime for protected housing and rental regulations.
• Sanctioning Regime Service for Habitability, Rentals and Residential Conservation: resolves and executes sanctions, with the corresponding Sanctioning Proceedings Instruction Section, which processes infringements for excessive rent and fraudulent practices.
• Sanctioning Regime Service for Officially Protected Housing and Housing Users: manages sanctions related to officially protected housing and the protection of users.

Sanctionable areas

The decree establishes the areas on which the new structure must set action criteria and technical and legal guidelines:

• empty homes
• overcrowding and substandard housing
• large holders
• legal regime of officially protected housing
• habitability certificates
• urban rentals and rent control
• conservation of the residential housing stock and protection of users

From the Agency to the Department

The reorganisation leaves the Catalan Housing Agency without the inspection and sanctioning powers, which pass to the Department. In parallel, the decree abolishes the Procedural and Disciplinary Regime Service of the Housing Secretariat and repeals letter c) of Article 38 of the annex to Decree 157/2010, of 2 November, on the restructuring of the Housing Secretariat and approval of the Agency’s statutes. The affected staff will keep their duties and pay until the jobs are adapted.

The text is signed by Salvador Illa i Roca, President of the Government of Catalonia —by substitution, Albert Dalmau Miranda, Minister of the Presidency, in accordance with Decree 112/2026, of 21 July—, at the proposal of the Minister Sílvia Paneque i Sureda, of Territory, Housing and Ecological Transition. The processed file is 26.210.011.

The new structure gives the Government of Catalonia a single body with the capacity to inspect and impose sanctions in housing matters, with effect from 30 July itself. For tenants, owners and large holders, the measure aims to implement rent containment policies and the fight against empty homes, at a time when compliance with housing regulations is one of the Government’s priorities.

Source: Diari Oficial de la Generalitat de Catalunya, no. 9719, 30 July 2026, General Provisions, pp. 1-7 (official reference: Decree 130/2026, of 28 July).