Renting Before You Buy on the Costa del Sol: Your Deposit After the 2026 Law Change

Renting for a year before you buy is one of the best ways to find out whether an area suits you. It also means handing a deposit to a stranger. Since January 2026 that deposit sits in a different place in Andalucía, and this post explains what changed and how to get your money back at the end.

The numbers

Why rent before you buy?

A year somewhere shows you what a viewing trip cannot. Whether the urbanisation is lively in August and empty in February. How long the school run really takes. Whether you use a garden or would rather have a big terrace. Whether you prefer Estepona or Marbella once the holiday feeling wears off.

It is also cheap compared with buying the wrong home. Buying costs in Andalucía come to about 8.5% of the price on a resale and about 12.7% on a new build, and selling again costs more on top. Our post on choosing an area and the find my area tool help narrow the coast down. A tenancy tests the answer.

What changed on 24 January 2026?

Under Ley 8/1997, every landlord in Andalucía had to lodge the tenant’s deposit (the fianza) with the regional government. The Junta held it until the tenancy ended. If a landlord tried to keep a deposit unfairly, at least the money was sitting somewhere outside the landlord’s account.

Andalucía’s Housing Law, Ley 5/2025, ended that from 24 January 2026. Its sixth additional provision says the Junta is no longer the depositary of rental deposits, and the law repeals the old rules that required them. On contracts signed from that date, the landlord keeps the deposit. Deposits lodged under the old system are returned by the Junta as those contracts end, when the parties ask for them.

So on a new contract, your deposit is as safe as your landlord and your paperwork.

What does the law still guarantee?

The national Urban Leases Act (the LAU) applies across Spain and did not change. Article 36 says:

• The deposit for a home is one month’s rent
• On contracts of up to five years, the landlord can ask for an additional guarantee of up to two more months
• The deposit must be returned within one month of handing back the keys
• After that month, legal interest runs on the amount owed

The landlord can only keep money for damage beyond normal wear, unpaid rent or unpaid bills, and has to be able to show it. If you are asked for more than three months in total on a home, or told the deposit comes back “when the next tenant moves in”, that is outside the law.

How to protect your deposit

Check who owns the home. Ask for the owner’s name and compare it with a nota simple from the Land Registry. It costs a few euros online and usually arrives the same day or the next. A deposit paid to someone who does not own the property is very hard to recover.

Get a written contract. It should give the deposit amount, say it is the fianza under article 36 of the LAU, and state the return deadline. If your Spanish is not good, get a translation or ask the landlord for a bilingual version.

Make an inventory on moving in. Photograph every room, every mark and every appliance, and email the photos to the landlord the same day so they are dated. Arguments about deposits are usually lost by whoever has no evidence.

Pay by bank transfer. Use the reference “fianza” and the address. Do not pay in cash.

Give notice properly. The contract will say how, usually in writing with 30 days’ notice. When you hand back the keys, get a signed note with the date. The one month deadline starts then.

If the money does not come back. After a month, send a burofax, a certified letter that proves what you sent and when. If that fails, claims under 2,000 euros can go to the local court without a lawyer, and the inventory is your evidence.

Renting through an agency

Many long term lets on the coast go through an agency. The agency is not your landlord. Since the 2023 national housing law, the agency’s fees for managing and drawing up a residential lease are paid by the landlord, not the tenant.

The agency may hold the deposit for the landlord. Ask who holds it, and get the answer in writing, so you know who to ask for it back.

Which contract will you be offered?

If the home is your main residence, it is a contrato de vivienda. That gives you a five year minimum term, seven years if the landlord is a company, and you can leave after six months with 30 days’ notice.

Some landlords on the coast prefer a seasonal contract (temporada) of eleven months, which avoids those rules. A national decree in force since 8 October 2026 says a seasonal let needs a real, provable reason why the tenant is away from their main home. Congress confirmed that decree on 12 November 2026, and our election post tracks where it stands. If you are coming to live here for a year while you decide where to buy, you are a residential tenant and the contract should say so.

Holiday lets are a separate system, with their own licences. Our holiday rental post covers them.

What renting first costs

Expect one month’s deposit, often one month in advance, and possibly up to two months of additional guarantee. Rents vary too much by street and season for a single number to be useful, so look at what is advertised in the urbanisations you are considering. Our area guides for Estepona and Marbella describe each one and the kind of home you find there.

When you are ready to buy, the buying process post picks up from here.

Sources: Ley 5/2025 de Vivienda de Andalucía, sixth additional provision and repeal provision (BOE-A-2026-423); Ley 29/1994 de Arrendamientos Urbanos, articles 9, 11, 20 and 36; Real Decreto-ley 29/2026 (BOE 7 October 2026); Santina Homes post on buying costs in Andalucía.

Frequently Asked Questions