Broken windows, damp walls and blocked drains are among the most common causes of disputes between landlords and tenants in Spanish rental properties. Under Spain’s Urban Leases Act, known as the LAU, responsibility for repairs depends on the type of fault and its cause rather than on a single fixed rule.
Article 21 of the LAU establishes that landlords must carry out whatever repairs are needed to keep the property in a habitable condition. That obligation covers faults arising from the passage of time, aging installations or structural problems within the building. Tenants, in turn, are responsible for minor repairs resulting from ordinary everyday use, as well as any damage they have caused through negligence or improper use.
Damp, stopcocks and drains
Property content creator NexEstates reviewed some of the faults that most often generate conflict in rental homes, noting that there is rarely an automatic answer about who should bear the cost. On damp, NexEstates said responsibility generally falls to the landlord when the problem originates in leaks, construction defects or faults inherent to the property itself. A similar principle applies to stopcocks that fail because of deterioration or the age of the installation.
Blocked drains, by contrast, typically fall to the tenant when the blockage results from everyday use or an accumulation of waste. However, if the blockage stems from a pipe fault or a defect in the installation, the landlord may be required to cover the repair.
The cause, not the component, is what matters
NexEstates used broken doors and windows to illustrate why the origin of damage is the decisive factor. If a window breaks from an impact or an accident during normal use, the cost normally falls to the tenant. If the problem is wear of the materials or deterioration over time, the situation can be different.
A window that breaks on impact is not treated the same as one that no longer closes properly because of age, just as a drain blocked by waste differs from one that fails because the pipes are in poor condition.
