Getting empty homes onto the residential market, whether for sale or for rent, is one of the major objectives of the regional governments, which are responsible for housing policies in Spain.
He Department of Housing of the Government of the Basque Country has published the updated report on empty homes in the autonomous community in 2022. Three years after the last study, the number of houses that were uninhabited for at least two years without just cause, to be considered empty, has been reduced by 25% . Of the 15,100 empty homes in 2019, there are now 11,434 current units. The study also highlights that 92% of the housing stock in the Basque Country is used as the main residence.
“The slowdown registered in the construction of new housing in the Basque Country, the Bizigune public program that encourages the social rental of empty flats and the dissuasive effect that the tax on uninhabited housing has had are the main factors that have contributed to reducing this phenomenon” , according to Pedro Jauregui, Basque Deputy Minister of Housingin statements collected by El País.
And it is that since mid-2021, the Basque Executive approved a Canon to ‘sanction’ those houses that are empty for long periods of time. The owners of these empty houses can be penalized with 10 euros/m2 of useful area, which can be increased by 10% if it remains unoccupied, up to a maximum of three times the initial amount, that is, a fine of 30 euros/m2. However, this measure has not yet been implemented, because it is the municipalities that have to certify that a home is unoccupied and they have not been able to apply it.
The regulations, under the Basque Housing Law of 2015 forced rental and even expropriation of empty flats is contemplatedif it is located in an area of high residential demand.
According to the regional spokesman, the municipalities of San Sebastián and Vitoria have committed to applying it from 2024. The Bilbao City Council is further along and is already finalizing a municipal census of uninhabited housing, and plans to launch an information campaign “If you have a flat empty, we help you turn it into a home”.
On the other hand, the program Vizigune it serves to offer empty flats on the market through affordable rents. According to data from the Basque Housing Department, in 2022 there were more than 7,000 units within the program, 3,000 more than five years ago. Even so, the rental rate in the Basque Country stands at 13%, below the national average.
