Buying an apartment with a tenant: what passes to the new owner

Neutral editorial AI illustration of two closed folders and an open blank notebook on a living-room table; not a photograph of a real property, a tenancy agreement or evidence that an apartment has been vacated.

An apartment in Alicante is being sold with a tenant. The buyer hears two appealing explanations: “the tenant will keep paying” and “you can move in yourself if needed”. These promises describe different scenarios. Before committing to buy, establish which tenancy relationship exists and whether it fits your objective. Having a buyer does not turn an occupied home into a vacant one, and a payment received by the seller does not guarantee future income.

This article concerns buying a home with an ongoing tenancy for permanent residence, not tourist accommodation, eviction or acquisition of a usufruct. It helps prepare questions for an independent lawyer and agree transaction terms. The regime applicable to a particular contract, the validity of notices and the date vacant possession might be obtained require individual assessment. The source review is dated 31 October 2026.

Choose your scenario before discussing price

First record why you need the apartment: to live in it yourself by a particular date, or to retain the existing tenancy. If you are willing to consider both, set out separate conditions for each. You cannot value the property on tenant income while planning your move as though nobody lives there.

In the first scenario, the key question is confirmed lawful delivery of vacant accommodation when needed. In the second, it is the obligations accompanying the acquisition. “The contract ends soon” resolves neither question without the contract, its performance history and a check of extensions. If your moving schedule is inflexible, an uncertain vacancy date is a reason to reconsider the choice, not demand the occupant’s immediate departure.

What a purchase changes—and what it does not reset

Article 14 of the LAU provides for the buyer to take over the landlord’s rights and obligations under its stated conditions. Sale alone does not mean the tenancy ends. Nor can an unregistered tenancy universally be disregarded. The duration of protection, agreed term, acquisition circumstances and applicable version of the law must be analysed together.

For a buyer, this means examining the existing contractual position as well as the apartment. Do not assume that after signing before the notary you can simply propose a new rent, replace the agreement with your own template or use the seller’s key. Possible changes must be considered separately under applicable law. This article offers no way to circumvent occupants’ rights.

Request the tenancy package, not a photograph of its last page

Through the seller and authorised professional, request the complete agreement with annexes, later agreements and notices. Establish who signed as landlord and tenant, which property and accessories were provided, when use began and what changed afterwards. If the seller was not the original landlord, ask for the history of how that position passed to them.

Compare advertising with documents. “Seasonal rental” must not replace the actual regime without checking, and mentioning one occupant must not exclude other contractual parties. If use does not fit the stated permanent-residence scenario, stop applying this approach and refer it to a lawyer. Do not use temporary-letting rules as a ready-made answer for an ordinary residential tenancy.

Arrange access to information proportionately to transaction review. Do not circulate tenant documents in a general chat or demand passwords, online banking access or medical information. The seller and professional should establish what material may be shared and through which channel. Mark a missing document as missing; do not reconstruct its contents from an intermediary’s account.

Build a chronology from which a conclusion can be drawn

Prepare the sequence for the lawyer: contract conclusion, start of occupation, agreed term, addenda, continuation periods, notices sent and received, and extension requests. Separate a letter’s drafting date from its dispatch and confirmed receipt. If a date is unknown, do not substitute the file date or the day it was forwarded to you.

Article 10 of the LAU regulates extensions, so the printed end date does not always equal the date of vacancy. The transitional provision of Real Decreto-ley 7/2019 preserves the previous regime for earlier agreements, allowing agreed adaptation under stated conditions. The contract date cannot be ignored merely because the latest law is open online today.

The 2026 changes require an additional check. Real Decreto-ley 29/2026 provides a conditional extraordinary extension at the tenant’s request and transitional rules for certain earlier requests. Its Article 4.Dos separately amends the housing law’s transitional provision, preserving the previous regime for covered contracts in other matters. This means neither that every tenancy automatically extends nor that all old documents follow a single rule.

Real Decreto-ley 28/2026 has separately been published with an entry date of 15 November 2026. On this article’s date, 31 October, its future regime must not be presented as already effective. Transitional provisions distinguish, among other things, future expiries, previously sent notices and extensions already running. If the transaction or intended occupation falls after that date, ask the lawyer to recheck the rule’s status and applicable calendar before you commit. No universal departure date is calculated here from the future rule.

Check preferential acquisition before agreeing the final transaction

Article 25 of the LAU governs the tenant’s preferential acquisition rights and notices of sale terms. In the current version read, paragraph 8 prohibits an agreed waiver of that right. However, assessing an older waiver clause requires checking the applicable regime; this article neither declares all previously signed waivers invalid nor confirms any particular one as valid.

The buyer’s practical task is to obtain a documentary chain for professional review: which agreement applies, what messages were sent, to whom, when and with which sale terms. If correspondence only says “the tenant is not interested”, ask which document supports that statement and which legal conclusion it supports. Do not replace legal review with a phone call asking the occupant to agree quickly.

Before final agreement, compare the terms the lawyer checked with the current draft: price, property included and other material provisions. If they changed, return the package for another review of notices and consequences. Do not assume an old message works for any new transaction or start your own deadline countdown without verifying document contents and receipt.

Separate the seller’s promise from the right to vacant possession

“The apartment will be delivered vacant” in a purchase draft describes a promised result between transaction parties, but does not itself terminate someone else’s agreement. If the seller reports an arrangement with the tenant, ask the lawyer to check its content, participants, conditions and performance. An intention to move out should not be recorded as an already completed handover.

A viewing does not prove vacancy either: people may be absent during the visit while their use and belongings remain. Arrange visits through the proper parties, not by using a spare key. Do not plan repairs, lock changes or service disconnection to accelerate departure. A dispute about occupation needs a legal route, not the buyer’s unilateral intervention.

If vacant possession is essential, the lawyer should connect the verifiable result with the purchase commitment’s terms and the consequences if it is not achieved. Adding a date to advertising correspondence is insufficient. The buyer needs to understand what happens if the promised result is not confirmed at the agreed stage; no universal refund clause is supplied here.

If retaining the tenancy, check more than the monthly amount

Reconcile current payments and obligations: contractual rent, confirmed receipts, possible advance payments, disputed or overdue sums, agreed expenses and outstanding repair claims. Separate the seller’s entries from supporting documents. One transfer does not show the entire performance history, and a debt asserted by one party is not yet an agreed settlement figure.

List fianza, additional security and documents for their handover or lodging separately. Ask the professional to determine what must be settled between seller and buyer and which obligations remain towards the tenant. Do not confuse security with income or the next rent payment. This article does not establish the regional deposit procedure or promise automatic reassignment upon sale.

Clarify which housing-condition obligations have already been raised, who handles correspondence and whether disputes remain open. Buying with an ongoing tenancy is not only receiving the next payment. If the financial calculation assumes a rent increase, quick tenant replacement or no future expenditure, mark those assumptions separately and do not treat them as confirmed terms of the existing agreement.

Plan transfer of the relationship if that scenario is accepted

After legal agreement on the transaction structure, establish who will tell the tenant the necessary information about the new landlord, contacts and payments, and by what confirmable method. Agree the notice’s content and timing with the professional. Do not demand a transfer to a new account solely on the basis of an unexpected email: participants need a clear way to independently verify the details and reason for the change.

The buyer’s working package should retain current tenancy documents, the checked chronology, financial reconciliation and list of unresolved questions. Handing over this package does not require a new agreement with the tenant “for convenience” unless that step has separately been assessed and agreed. Do not erase the relationship’s history by replacing it with your own brief note.

Three possible review outcomes

First: the buyer consciously accepts an acquisition with an ongoing tenancy, understands the checked obligations and agreed transfer terms. Second: the buyer needs vacant accommodation and the decision depends on a separately confirmed lawful result; it is not settled before verification. Third: documentation is insufficient or timing does not match the buyer’s objective. Then postponing the commitment or finding another property is sensible, rather than filling gaps with promises.

A discount can alter the offer’s economics but cannot replace understanding of continuing rights. The main outcome is a clear answer about the use position being acquired: housing with continuing relationships, or housing for which vacant delivery still requires confirmation. This is a separate decision within the purchase, not a repeat of the entire general legal checklist.

Sources and scope of verification

On 31 October 2026, the current Articles 10, 14 and 25 of the Ley de Arrendamientos Urbanos (Urban Leases Act), transitional provision 1 of Real Decreto-ley 7/2019, Article 4.Dos, transitional provision 1 and final provision 5 of Real Decreto-ley 29/2026, and the transitional provision and entry-into-force date of Real Decreto-ley 28/2026were read. BOE consolidated texts are informative. When using this material later, the rules’ status and applicable version must be checked again.

Collecting documents, reconciling the history and choosing a scenario are Laverna editorial recommendations. No actual agreement, notices, settlements or possession of a particular apartment were checked when preparing the article. It does not determine an individual tenant’s or buyer’s rights, provide eviction instructions or guarantee a moving-in date, return on investment or refund under a future purchase agreement.