Before you sign: the tenant's checklist

1.Have I seen the flat in person?

Listing photos don't show damp, noise or real daylight. Visit the flat and, while you're inside, test everything:

• Turn on the taps and check the pressure and hot water.
• Switch the lights on and raise and lower the blinds.
• Look for damp stains on ceilings, corners and behind furniture.
• Ask how the home is heated in winter.

2.Have I talked to previous tenants?

Nobody knows a flat better than the person who already lived there. If you can, ask the outgoing tenant: how the landlord responds when something breaks, whether the deposit came back without trouble and what the area is really like.

3.Have I looked the building up on Pisopedia?

On Pisopedia, tenants review the flats they rented: what the landlord is like, what the area is like and how much rent they paid. Search the address before you sign: if there are reviews, you will sign with far more information.

4.Have I made a photo inventory?

On the day you get the keys, photograph and film everything: walls, floors, appliances, furniture and any damage that already exists. Keep the photos with their date.

That inventory is your best evidence the day you move out and claim the deposit back.

5.Have I read the whole contract?

art. 9art. 10art. 11art. 20.2art. 36

Read it calmly before signing, and pay special attention to:

• The duration and extensions. If you sign for less time, the contract is extended compulsorily year by year up to five years — or up to seven if the landlord is a company — and can then continue tacitly for up to three more (arts. 9 and 10 of the LAU).
• The deposit and any extra guarantees. The deposit is one month's rent. On top, only an agreed extra guarantee is allowed: at most two months in contracts of up to five years — or seven if the landlord is a company — and at most one month in temporary rentals. Rent-default insurance can never be required of you (art. 36).
• That agency management and contract-formalisation costs are not being passed on to you: the law bans it, under any concept and under any name (art. 20.2).
• What it says about leaving early. Once six months of the contract have passed, you can leave with at least thirty days' notice, and that decision gives the landlord no right to claim compensation from you (art. 11).

6.The law behind this guide

The LAU articles cited in this guide include the wording of Royal Decree-law 29/2026 of 6 October, in force since 8 October 2026. Like every royal decree-law, it is subject to validation by the Congress of Deputies within thirty days of its promulgation (article 86 of the Constitution).