Spanish Mortgage Law
By Katrina Beltran, Ana Guzman, Adaly Perez and David Treto
In recent decades, the Mortgage Law (Decreto de 8 de febrero de 1946) has strengthened the alliance between the neoliberal state and the financial sector, prioritizing the protection of banks over citizens’ right to housing. Its application has created an unequal system that has resulted in lifelong debts and mass evictions. In the words of Diego Sanz Paratcha, this legislation “is fundamentally designed to protect the lender — the bank, in the case of Spain,” meaning that after losing their home, the person is still required to pay the debt for life, which deepens the vulnerability of working-class and immigrant families (PAH 11:35-11:52).
After the 2008 crisis, the Mortgage Law reinforced a structural imbalance between banks and debtors. The Spanish mortgage system does not recognize dación en pago (surrendering the home to cancel the debt) as an automatic practice. As a result, housing in Spain has become an inaccessible commodity for much of the population, reinforcing class exclusion and contributing to mortgage debt and the lack of stable housing access. In response to this unjust model, movements such as the Platform for People Affected by Mortgages (PAH) emerged. Through direct action, they make visible the human impact of evictions and denounce social control. This resistance makes it clear that it is time to imagine other ways of living that are not tied to debt.
Given this context, co-housing appears as a practical and transformative response to the problems generated by the Mortgage Law. While the traditional mortgage system promotes isolation, debt, the privatization of daily life, and an individualistic model of private property, co-housing proposes an alternative model grounded in sustainability, cooperation, and social justice, offering a way of living that prioritizes collective well-being over material accumulation.
Communities such as Entrepatios propose living in community under a right-to-use model—which is to say, without private ownership, but with stability, control, and security over one’s home (Entrepatios 9:23-9:49). This approach seeks to rebuild community and restore social trust among neighbors while avoiding the logic of indebtedness that has harmed so many families under the Mortgage Law. Co-housing does not consist of individual privately-owned homes but rather collective property, where residents can stay for an indefinite period—unlike renting—without any single person holding exclusive ownership. As the group explains, “it is a project through which we try to make life easier for ourselves because we share things in the building; we rely on this idea of mutual support, which is like the social pillar” (Entrepatios 0:43-1:25). Likewise, co-housing incorporates an environmental dimension as an essential part of its social proposal, understanding sustainability as an ethic of collective care. They integrate this principle into their architectural design, as their building is “designed to have low energy consumption” (Entrepatios 10:51-11:11).
Unlike PAH—which resists through direct action against evictions and the injustices of the mortgage system—co-housing acts through the practical construction of a self-managed community. This model not only responds to the harms produced by the Mortgage Law, but also represents a path toward a more just, accessible, and humane way of living, where housing ceases to be a commodity and becomes a fundamental right.
Works Cited
PAH. Interview by Palmar Álvarez-Blanco. Constelación de los Comunes, 24 June 2017, https://constelaciondeloscomunes.org/plataforma-de-afectados-por-la-hipoteca/. Accessed 1 Nov 2025.
Entrepatios. Interview by Palmar Álvarez-Blanco. Constelación de los Comunes, 6 Mar. 2018, https://constelaciondeloscomunes.org/entrepatios-2/. Accessed 1 Nov 2025.
Spain. Ministry of the Presidency. Decreto de 8 de febrero de 1946 por el que se aprueba la nueva redacción oficial de la Ley Hipotecaria. Madrid: Boletín Oficial del Estado, 1946. https://www.boe.es/eli/es/d/1946/02/08/(1). Accessed 1 Nov 2025.
