Real estate contracts: leases in stressed markets, land and turnkey works
Nextica Law & Tax drafts and negotiates the contracts behind a real estate portfolio: residential leases under Law 12/2023 and Catalonia's declaration of stressed residential market areas, commercial leases and their assignment, turnkey construction contracts, land-for-future-building swaps and sales with their conditions precedent. With the land registry and planning review of the asset done before signing, not after.
In Catalonia, the rent in a residential lease is no longer set by the market alone. Signing without checking the area can cost years of yield.
What's included
1. Classifying the contract before drafting it
residential, commercial, business lease or assignment of tourist operation, because each has its own statute and its own term.
2. Checking whether the property sits in a declared stressed residential market area and what limits that carries over to the rent of the new contract.
4. Drafting the rent and its indexation with the applicable index, the additional guarantee within what the law allows, and the allocation of costs and works.
5. Construction-phase contracts
design, site supervision, turnkey execution and supply, with deadlines, penalties and handover.
6. Land contracts
purchase options, exchange for future construction and contributions to a land-pooling board, with the contributor's guarantees in writing.
7. Marketing and brokerage mandates, with exclusivity, duration, when the fee is earned and what happens if the buyer appears later.
THE WRONG CONTRACT CHANGES WHICH LAW APPLIES
And in this sector the same property can be leased in four different ways, each with its own regime and minimum term.
Setting the rent on a new contract without checking whether the property lies in a declared stressed residential market area: the declaration triggers rent limits that do not depend on what the parties agree, and the check is done by cadastral reference before signing, not after.
Law 12/2023 on the right to housingAssigning a property for tourist use without a current licence
in Catalonia touristic use requires its own authorisation, and since Decret llei 3/2023 the planning permission covering that activity has a time-limited validity that must be verified in every deal.
Decret 75/2020 on Catalan tourism and Decret llei 3/2023Drafting a business lease as if it were a premises lease
if what is handed over is the going concern with its organisation, the regime and the tenant's protection change completely, and the classification is decided by what is delivered, not by the document's title.
Frequently asked questions
How do I know whether my flat is in a stressed market area?
The area declaration is made by the competent authority for specific zones and for a limited period, so the check is done by the property's address and on the date of signing, not from memory. The declaration determines the rent regime of the new lease and the information that must be given to the tenant. It is a check that takes minutes and saves rewriting the whole contract later.
I am swapping my land for future construction. What protects the landowner?
Essentially three things: an in rem or financial guarantee that responds if the works are not delivered, a timetable with verifiable milestones and consequences for breach, and a very precise definition of what is to be delivered —areas, specifications, deadlines and permits— so that the future building does not become an argument about what was said. All of that is negotiated before the deed, because afterwards it becomes litigation.
Let's talk about your company.
Tell us your situation and we'll reply within 24 working hours.