Spain: snap election after tenant-protection decrees fail

The measures set out in the Sánchez decrees were not the solution, La Stampa argues:

“Caps on rent increases, compulsory and very long-term lease extensions, compensation and hurdles to landlords reclaiming the use of their property [for their own use]. The predictable response would have been stricter screening of potential tenants, higher deposits, the reclassification of properties for sale or other purposes and reduced investments. Those most penalised would have been young people, mobile workers, immigrants and families without solid references: precisely the groups that politicians claimed they wanted to help. Sánchez has been in government for eight years without having solved the problem, while the logical response to excess demand is to increase supply by building and renovating more homes.”