The legal debate over housing activists’ proposed rent strike

"Either the prices go down, or there's a rent strike." This is the slogan that housing activism organizations have launched in recent months, with the November 23 protest hanging on this proposition of a rent strike. 

But what would a rent strike look like? How would it work? Is there any legal basis for it? 

How do housing activists, property owners, and legal experts view the idea of a rent strike? 

How would a rent strike work?

The Tenants' Union has not specified how the proposed rent strike would work, instead calling for a big turnout at the protest on November 23, and from there, the details of the idea will be worked out.

Questions are still in the air such as when the proposed strike could be held, if it would be a partial or full strike, or who would be called to participate, if it’s a general rent strike or targeted against specific property owners. “Everything should be on the table,” says the spokesperson of the Tenants’ Union, Carme Arcarazo. 

“From November 23, we’re going to have to start organizing how we move forward with the rent strike.” 

“This protest is not an end, it’s a start. And from November 23, we’re going to have to start organizing how we move forward with the rent strike,” Arcarazo adds. “It’s not something we’ve already decided, it will be a case of deciding among everyone who joins the process in the coming months.”

She also points out that for it to work, strike participation must be "massive." "We’re not talking about something small, it has to be followed by thousands and thousands," she says.

The Gràcia Housing Union are also ready to support a rent strike. Judit Esposa, a member of the organization, told the Catalan News Agency (ACN) that she thinks the idea of a strike is feasible. “I view it as the future, and I think it will be real.” A rent strike “would create social change,” she says. “It would shine a light on the horrible drama that so many of us are living every day.”

Esposa also points the finger at wider structures that coalesce to leave tenants in a more vulnerable position. She affirms that the laws "protect property above all else," and not the right to housing. 

"The judicial system and the legal system is not there to protect neighbors, it’s not there to protect people who are not landlords, and there are politicians profiting from housing. The housing minister is making money from housing, they have more than one property,” Esposa criticizes. 

Useful as a "political exercise"

Criminologist and professor at the Faculty of Law at Barcelona’s Pompeu Fabra University, Jordi Bonshoms, who has authored several studies related to rent strikes, tells ACN that he believes “all the ingredients” for a rent strike to take off are in place in Barcelona and Spain right now, due to widespread difficulty in finding housing and affordable housing. 

He believes that such an action could be useful as a “political exercise” to bring attention to the topic, rather than as a "general strike" in which the entire population could join.

“In the beginning, it would be in an apartment block against a specific owner, against an investment fund that is increasing the rent, or putting in abusive clauses, or harassing the tenants,” he posits. Bonshoms believes that this idea could be "the most effective first step" of neighborhood cooperation. "If the tenants say enough and consider doing something, this can be a rent strike," he adds.

Assuming that the property owner decides to file a lawsuit for non-payment, Bonshoms assures that the tenants "could defend themselves," despite the fact that the rent strike is not currently a recognized right. "If there is a sustained grievance over time, a rent strike has ways, under specific conditions, to defend itself," he argues.

The professor points out that there have been rent strikes as a peaceful protest since the end of the 19th century, or in Barcelona in 1931, or during the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Meanwhile, Maridalia Rodríguez, an expert in real estate law and professor of the Housing Chair at Pompeu Fabra University, points out that stopping paying rent as a protest measure "is not a right." Instead, she views such an idea as a mass call to breach contracts, which may ultimately lead to eviction. 

"A labor strike is a right, but in relation to rents, it does not exist," she says.

She also considers it "important" for those calling for a rent strike to point out what joining it could entail. "While there is no regulation of the rent strike, there is a regulation on eviction for lack of payments," she says. "The eviction is protected, regulated, and specified by law."

The case of New York

Both experts agree that the right to a rent strike is not part of any law, but they note that there are cases where the tenant is protected in paying less if there is a breach of contract by the owner, which is considered a strike of partial rents. 

One such case is New York. There, "if there is serious damage to the home and the owner does not take care of it, the tenant can reduce the rent," Bonshoms explains. That could be considered a form of rent strike, he points out.

In Spain, it is not legal to do this. "If you stop paying 10% or 1% of the monthly rent to your landlord, he has the right to sue you for non-payment, and this can lead to eviction," the professor says, who gives the opinion that legalizing this option "should be on the horizon." 

“A landlord can legally increase the rent if they make significant investments in the property. Well, the reversal should also be the case,” Bonshoms says.

“If an owner does not invest to solve serious issues that could potentially affect the health of the tenants, the tenant should have the right to fix these issues through their own investment and have the rent price reduced for a certain time.”

Property owners warn of consequences

Landlords and property owners are under no illusions about how they feel about the idea of a rent strike. 

"The right not to pay the rent does not exist," says the manager of the Chamber of Urban Property in Barcelona, Òscar Gorgues, who questions the "real impact" that the proposal may have. "Someone who refuses to pay the rent will then have to face the consequences," he warns.

He dismisses the idea of the Tenants' Union and criticizes that policy has become “worse” ever since the group became active in politics, and called on their leaders to step aside. "I’ve seen from experience that you shouldn’t give any importance to what the Tenants’ Union says. Since they’ve appeared and gotten involved in politics, we’ve gotten to a worse situation.”

"I would ask them for some consistency. If we applied and did everything you wanted and it didn't work out, then back off. Accept defeat and let someone else do and propose solutions, but don't continue on the same line," Gorgues said.

The president of the Association of Building Construction Promoters, Xavier Vilajoana, expresses himself in a similar vein. "I think it's absurd that they put a confrontation between landlords and tenants at the center of the debate," he says. 

"Whether it is legal or not will have to be decided by a judge, but it seems to me to be an absolutely adolescent attitude, with all due respect to adolescents," he says.