Andorra Housing Union Demands Rent Law Amendments to Prevent Evictions

The Sindicat d’Habitatge d’Andorra (SHA) has sent a detailed working document to the parliamentary groups of Demòcrates per Andorra (DA) and Ciutadans Compromesos (CC), outlining key demands and non-negotiable positions ahead of the final debate on the rent decontrol law, which the group calls the “programmed expulsion law.”

A planned meeting with the majority parties remains unscheduled due to agenda conflicts, but the SHA has already shared its proposals. These focus on amending the legislation before its enactment and securing public commitments with timelines before 2027 to prevent tenants from losing their homes without a dignified, affordable, and stable alternative in the country.

Among the core requests, the SHA urges extending protections to rental contracts for habitual residences signed after 2021 that expire between 2027 and 2030. Excluding these, the group argues, would create unfair disparities among tenants and benefit owners who renewed at higher market rates in recent years.

On rent increases, the SHA calls for a thorough overhaul, rejecting simple percentage cuts. It advocates tying adjustments to objective criteria based on actual property values and population purchasing power, via a reference price index. The group demands ending automatic hikes, ensuring public housing prices serve only as an upper limit with transparent, verifiable methodology, and avoiding unjustified mechanisms.

The document targets potential indirect evictions, including the “child trap”—where owners reclaim homes claiming family use. Proposals include stricter controls, automatic investigations on suspicion or complaint before contract end, adequate compensation for proven fraud, and tenants’ right to reclaim the property or have it reoffered at prior rent levels adjusted only by IPC.

Further, the SHA seeks to eliminate or revise loopholes such as reclaiming homes for workers tied to the owner’s business, sales to buyers intending primary residence, or terminations linked to public safety sanctions. It also questions exemptions for high-rent units over €2,500, single-family homes, or pre-2019 notices.

Beyond immediate changes, the SHA pushes for structural reforms to the Urban Lease Law (LAFU), making indefinite contracts the norm for permanent housing, limiting temporary ones to justified cases, regulating room rentals and shared flats, and bolstering mediation and arbitration.

For market oversight, it proposes linking the property registry to a comprehensive housing census tracking usage, vacancies, and ownership concentration, plus better coordination among the government, National Housing Institute (INH), and National Housing Board.

The SHA praises DA’s recent bill on the property registry as a positive step but stresses it must go beyond legal security. It notes partial support from opposition groups like PS and Concòrdia via amendments and expresses willingness to negotiate, provided talks yield concrete, verifiable outcomes. Without these, the group warns of rising social conflict from 2027 onward.