Rental Eviction Laws

Hi phaser,

While I don't know anything about rental contracts or laws in Spain, it certainly sounds ridiculous that a landlord could evict anyone for having a visitor for one week. Do you actually have a rental contract, and is there a specific clause that either prohibits short-term visitors or specifies that you are supposed to be living alone? In most countries this is certainly not grounds for eviction and it sounds like your landlord is trying to take advantage of your lack of knowledge of local laws. I'd bet you can resolve your problem with a thirty minute visit to a lawyer very cheaply, at least you can find out if your landlord has the right or not. If he doesn't then you just tell him to take a hike and if he wants to go to court you're prepared to put up a solid defense and if successful seek compensation for court costs, legal fees and if possible punitive damages. That should take the wind out of his sails. If he does have the right, you really won't stand to lose much by forcing him to take the matter to court and it might even buy you some time to look around for other accommodations. You need to find out the local laws in any kind of contract situation, be it a written or verbal contract.

  Cheers, 
  William James Woodward – Brazil Animator, Expat-blog Team

After re-reading your original posting I notice you used the word "partner", can I take it from that you're in same sex relationship or are you referring to a business partner?

I'd suggest that if it's the former and not the latter your eviction is based more on your landlord's homophobic attitudes rather than anything else. You may want to check out Spanish human rights laws while you're at it. You may also have grounds for some kind of civil action against the landlord for discrimination. Just like all of the Latin-American nations many EU nations have very "macho" oriented attitudes and there is a lot of discrimination against the GLBT community.

  Cheers, 
  William James Woodward – Brazil Animator, Expat-blog Team