Special urgency aid for the payment of rent debts
Description: 

Benefit to cover non-payment of rent, with the aim of making it possible for the applicant and his/her household unit to remain in the home.

The purpose of the special emergency economic benefits of special urgency is the permanence in the home of the applicant and his/her household and/or the access to a new home.

The benefits are provided as a result of social mediation and personal follow-up and are awarded on a non-refundable basis.

Requirements: 

- Registration in the municipal register: Yes, the applicant must be registered in Catalonia at the time of application. This aid considers all the people registered in the dwelling even if they are not family.

- Legal residence: Yes, the applicant must be a legal resident in the State of Spain

- Necessary documentation: Spanish national identity document (DNI), valid certificate of registration as an EU national, identity number for foreign nationals (NIE), valid identity card for foreign nationals (TIE), document stating where a registered individual lives and with whom, family book. The applicant must be a legal resident in Catalonia. 

- Income: The applicant’s household income must be no more than 2 times the weighted Catalonia Income Sufficiency Indicator (IRSC), in the case of people living alone, and no more than 2.5 times the weighted IRSC in the case of households with two or more members. In the case of Barcelona city, the household’s income in the last three months prior to the submission of the application may not exceed the following amounts*:

Household Maximum income* 
(monthly, 12 payments)
Maximum income*
(annual)
1 member 2,015.52 euros 24,186.21 euros
2 members 2,597.32 euros 31,167.80 euros
3 members 2,709.03 euros 32,508.35 euros
4 members or more 2,799.33 euros 33,591.96 euros

 
In the case of persons with disabilities or severe dependency, the income may not exceed 3 times the weighted IRSC, in the case of Barcelona city*:

Household Maximum income* 
(monthly, 12 payments)
Maximum income*
(annual)
1 member 3,023.28 euros 36,279.32 euros
2 members 3,166.78 euros 37,401.36 euros
3 members 3,250.84 euros 39,010.02 euros
4 members or more 3,359.20 euros 40,310.36 euros

 

In no case may the income of the household be less than the rent of the dwelling.

- Wealth: Neither the applicant nor any other member of the household may have a dwelling in ownership or usufruct, unless he/she does not have the use and enjoyment of it due to separation or divorce or for any reason beyond his/her control, or when the dwelling is inaccessible due to the disability of the owner or any member of the household. A person is not considered to be the owner or usufructuary of a dwelling if the right is only over an aliquot part of the dwelling and has been obtained by transmission mortis causa.

- Recognised disability/Dependency: In the case of people with disabilities or severe dependency, the income threshold is made more flexible in order to facilitate access to benefits for this group (see section “Income”).

- Housing situation: Use the dwelling for the applicant’s habitual and permanent residence.

- Other requirements:

- Proof of the emergency and special need of the applicant’s household by means of a socio-economic report from the primary or specialised social services, in which it is proposed that the benefit be awarded for these reasons and because the family unit is in one of the situations of risk of residential exclusion.

- The applicant must have a rental debt arising from unforeseen and unexpected circumstances.

- The applicant must have paid rent for a minimum period of three months from the signing of the contract until the submission of the application.

- At the time the resolution is to be issued, the lease must have a term of twelve months or more and, if this is not the case, the lessor must provide a documentary guarantee for the extension or renewal of the lease, in accordance with the regulations in force.

- With the amount of the benefit requested, it is necessary to guarantee the settlement of the existing debt.

- Be in a position to continue paying rent from the time the benefit claim is resolved.

- These benefits are not available to those:

  • Persons with a legal entitlement to housing owned or managed by the Catalan Housing Agency, as well as those of any public administration in general.

  • Persons who have received an offer to access housing from the public rental stock and have not accepted it, except for justified reasons, during a period of two years between the date of refusal and the date of the application for the subsidy.

  • Persons who are entitled to compulsory social rent from a large housing owner, as a suitable alternative to their situation, unless there is good cause.

  • The person having signed the rental contract or any other member having any of the following links:

    • Relationship by marriage or other similar stable relationship, by consanguinity, adoption or affinity, up to the second degree, with the lessors.

    • Partners or participants of the entities acting as lessors.

- The amount of rent to be paid by the person claiming the benefit may not exceed the following maximum monthly amounts:

 

Territory Maximum monthly rent  
Barcelona city 900 euros
Barcelona Metropolitan Area* 900 euros
Girona Province 650 euros
Tarragona Province 650 euros
Lleida Province 600 euros
Les Terres de l’Ebre 600 euros

(*) Baix Llobregat, Barcelonès, Maresme, Vallès Occidental, and Vallès Oriental

- For the purposes of these services, the following items are considered to be part of the rental amount: the rent, rent arrears, the amounts corresponding to the repercussion of improvement works, the property tax (IBI), the rubbish collection service charge and, where applicable, the garage and storage room charges included in the contract and paid by the lessee. 

- Where the amount of the benefit awarded has been less than the maximum benefit amount, a new benefit may be awarded up to this maximum amount, provided that proof is provided of payment of at least three monthly instalments between the last monthly benefit initially awarded and the date of the new application.

- Persons who have been in receipt of the benefit up to the maximum amount cannot apply again for another urgent and special financial benefit for the payment of rent until at least one year has elapsed between the date of the decision to award the benefit and the new application.

- If, during the processing of the application, debt continues to accumulate, at the request of the applicant,the social services may propose the extension of the amount requested, within the maximum limit established, by means of a new supporting social report.

- Beneficiaries of a special emergency benefit for the payment of rent arrears can obtain a complementary benefit in order to be able to continue paying the rent, provided that they are in one of the following situations: subject to a judicial eviction process or women in a situation of gender violence.