The Council of Ministers approves the housing decree after an in extremis pact between PSOE and Sumar

It was predictable and it happened. Again, a negotiation carried out until the last minute. The Council of Ministers plans to approve this Tuesday the so-called Maricarmen decree, a package of measures regarding Housing after the eviction of the 87-year-old woman and the social mobilization, with campaigns in different cities in Spain, put pressure on the parties to reach an agreement. However, differences in the wording of the final text between the PSOE and Sumar have caused the cabinet meeting, scheduled for 9:30 a.m., to delay its start by one hour, until 10:33 a.m.

At first, some Sumar ministers did not join the meeting, as described by this sector of the Government, pending calls and cross-talk, and finally, around 10:50 a.m. they attended after consummating an agreement between the two parties. The blockade has been saved on the fly with the approval of two decrees, the path decided to avoid the fiasco of not reaching an agreement between the partners themselves. Moncloa wants to urgently validate them this Friday in Congress without waiting for the month of margin it has.

Government sources explain that the approved measures include protection against evictions extended until 2030 - initially the PSOE proposed until 2028 -; the regulation of seasonal rentals and rooms - the latter was not foreseen and Sumar requested it -; the prohibition on the purchase of vulture funds until 2028 and the two-year extension of current contracts that end before December 31, 2028, among other issues.

Likewise, an agreement has been reached for the automatic renewal of rents, which will be included in the second royal decree that has been agreed.

Both formations have been negotiating in extremis. Among the points of friction was precisely the duration of the extension of the rental contracts, which in the PSOE proposal was set at two years, while Sumar intended it to be indefinite, as required by the Tenants' Union. Another issue up for debate has been the regulation of room rentals.

The automatic extension of rents was required by the Tenants' Union, which states that if a tenant complies with the installments of his contract, it will be extended indefinitely in time and for the same price without the landlord being able to evict him unless there is a justified and real cause. It would be the way - its promoters defend - to give guarantees and stability to tenants and ensure that renovations are not an open door to being expelled or suffering a wild increase in price.

"Seasonal rentals must be regulated, since it is going beyond the rules of the game. We are not going to endorse a royal decree that is left halfway. We are creating an insurmountable failure. People cannot save, they cannot buy. And it is time to take a step also from the right, which has been supporting the vulture funds," Mónica García (Sumar), Minister of Health, pointed out this morning in different interviews.

"What we propose is to push this Government so that the progressive surname is not only a surname, but a reality in the main problem of the country, that of housing," said the Minister of Sumar.