More than 69,000 rental contracts in the Balearic Islands were identified as potentially eligible for an extraordinary extension until the end of 2028 under a housing decree approved by the Spanish Government.

However, the measure is no longer in force.

The Congress of Deputies rejected Real Decreto-ley 26/2026 on October 2, just one day after it entered into force. The subsequent resolution published in the Official State Gazette confirms the decree's derogation.

This means the original estimate of 69,154 potentially affected contracts remains relevant as a measure of the scope of the proposal, but those contracts cannot currently be described as having a new legal right to the two-year extension.

69,154 contracts identified in the Balearic Islands

Before its rejection, the decree was estimated to affect 69,154 rental contracts in the Balearic Islands.

The estimate came from the Ministry of Consumer Affairs and was based on its household panel.

Across Spain, the measure was estimated to cover 1,895,676 contracts whose relevant expiry dates fell within the period covered by the legislation.

The national estimate included:

• 751,166 contracts due to expire in 2026

• 809,899 contracts due to expire in 2027

• 334,611 contracts due to expire in 2028

Using an average household size of 2.5 people, the Government estimated that almost five million people could potentially have benefited from the measure.

What the rejected measure would have done

The extraordinary extension was included in the first of two housing-related royal decree-laws approved by the Council of Ministers on September 29.

Under its provisions, certain existing habitual-home rental contracts could have been extended for annual periods for a maximum of two additional years, provided the legal requirements were met.

The extension would have allowed eligible tenants to remain under the existing contractual terms until no later than December 31, 2028.

The measure applied to contracts subject to Spain's Urban Rental Act whose mandatory or subsequent applicable extension periods were due to end before that date.

Tenants had to meet conditions

The proposed extension was not an automatic extension of every rental contract.

The legislation required the tenant to request the extraordinary extension and to be up to date with rent payments, including having paid the monthly rent during the preceding eight months.

The landlord would generally have been required to accept the request, subject to the exceptions established in the decree.

These included situations where the parties agreed to renew the contract on different terms, signed a new contract, or where the landlord had properly communicated a genuine and documented need to recover the property for their own use or that of certain family members.

The measure lasted only briefly

The timing is central to the story.

Real Decreto-ley 26/2026 was published in the BOE on September 30 and entered into force on October 1.

The following day, October 2, Congress voted against its convalidation.

The vote was 172 in favour and 178 against.

The Congress resolution ordering publication of the derogation was subsequently published in the BOE on October 2.

The BOE's current record identifies Real Decreto-ley 26/2026 as a derogated provision and gives October 2 as its date of derogation.

A second housing decree was also rejected

The Government had divided its housing package into two separate royal decree-laws.

The second, Real Decreto-ley 27/2026, dealt principally with the stability and continuation of habitual-home rental contracts.

It proposed changes to the rules governing what happens when the minimum contractual period and subsequent extensions have expired.

That second decree was also rejected by Congress on October 2 and subsequently derogated.

As a result, the new long-term rental-renewal regime proposed in that legislation also did not remain in force.

What this means for renters in Ibiza

For tenants in Ibiza and the wider Balearic Islands, the key point is that the 69,154 figure should not be interpreted as 69,154 households that have now received protection until 2028.

The figure was an estimate of contracts that could have qualified under the extraordinary extension contained in the rejected decree.

Because Congress subsequently rejected the legislation, the measure no longer provides that extension.

The existing rules governing each rental contract therefore remain important, including the terms of the individual contract and the provisions of the Urban Rental Act currently in force.

The situation could change again

The rejection of the two royal decree-laws does not prevent the Government from proposing new legislation in the future.

However, no replacement measure should be presented as already in force unless and until it has been approved and published through the appropriate legal process.

For now, the verified position is straightforward: the Government proposed an extraordinary extension that could have affected an estimated 69,154 rental contracts in the Balearic Islands, but Congress rejected the decree on October 2.

The proposed two-year extension to the end of 2028 therefore cannot currently be reported as an active legal entitlement.