Knowledge

Lodging the deposit in Spain: which body, which deadline, which penalty — by region

How much deposit you take is set by national law and is mandatory. Whether you must lodge it, with whom and within what period, differs by autonomous community — and that is the question the fine attaches to.

Two questions get confused in practice all the time. The first is how much deposit you may take; that is in the national rental act and is the same for everyone. The second is whether you must place that deposit with a public body; that differs by autonomous community, changes regularly, and is the question a fine attaches to.

The amount: national and mandatory

Article 36.1 LAU requires one month of rent for a residential tenancy and two months for a letting for use other than as a dwelling — the category seasonal lets fall into. The parties may not go below that. An additional guarantee on top is permitted; it stands apart from the statutory fianza and does not follow its rules.

The lodging: regional, and it moves

Whether the deposit must go to a regional body is not a national matter. Andalucía let the duty to lodge with the AVRA lapse for contracts from 24 January 2026; Murcia abolished it in May 2021. Elsewhere it does exist, with its own body, its own deadline and its own penalty. For an office with properties in three regions, that is three separate diaries.

Statutory deposit: 1 month of rent (art. 36.1 LAU). This table is not maintained by hand: it is pulled at every build from the same register that fills the contracts. If your contract says something different from this page, one of the two is out of date — and that cannot happen, because it is the same source. Verified on 2026-07-30.

When the clock starts

The deadline in the table does not run from the same moment everywhere. Some regions count from signature, others from the start of the tenancy. In practice that is a difference of days to weeks, and it is exactly the kind of difference a template cannot carry: it is not in the contract but in the regional rules.

What we do not claim

Not every line in the register has been verified against the statutory text itself. Where that was not possible, our contract keeps a neutral wording and the reading version says expressly that we could not establish it. That is deliberate: the contract carries only what we can carry, and the explanation may be helpful as long as it is honest about its certainty. Where the stakes are high, always check with the competent body itself.