When a claim for a rental deposit reaches the court of first instance, the court orders the landlord to pay or to answer within a short period and, if he does neither, it gives judgment in his absence or issues enforcement directly against his accounts and assets for the deposit, the legal interest under article 36 of the Urban Leases Act and the costs. Claiming a rental deposit consists of fixing by burofax, the Spanish registered letter with certified content, the date on which the keys were returned and the sum owed and, if the statutory month passes without repayment, going to court through the payment order procedure (article 812 of the Civil Procedure Act) or verbal proceedings (article 250.2). Up to 2,000 euros you can file without a lawyer or court agent, and I explain below when that suits you and when it does not.
From which day interest runs and at what rate
Article 36 of Act 29/1994 on Urban Leases requires a cash deposit on signing of one month’s rent if the contract is for a dwelling and two months if it is for any other use, which includes seasonal lets. That deposit is not updated during the first five years of the contract, or seven if the landlord is a legal person, and when the tenancy ends the landlord must return whatever is left of it once he has deducted what he may legitimately withhold.
The time limit is in paragraph 4 of that article. Once a month has passed since the tenant handed back the keys without the balance being repaid, that balance earns the legal interest rate. The day that counts is the day the keys were returned, not the end date in the contract nor the last conversation, which is why that handover should be documented.
The legal interest rate is set each year in the General State Budget Act and in 2025 it has been 3.25 per cent a year. On a deposit of 900 euros that is about 29 euros a year, a little over two euros a month, so interest is not what puts pressure on the landlord. What does is a judgment with costs and enforcement. Even so, that interest accrues by operation of law, without you having to ask for it in the burofax, and it is claimed in the suit from the day after the month following the return of the keys until payment. Once there is a judgment it is replaced by the procedural interest of article 576 of the Civil Procedure Act, which is the legal rate plus two points.
Paragraph 5 of article 36 allows additional guarantees beyond the deposit, such as a bank guarantee or an extra deposit. In residential contracts signed since 6 March 2019, the date Royal Decree-law 7/2019 came into force, that additional guarantee may not exceed two months’ rent in contracts of up to five years, or seven if the landlord is a legal person. If your contract postdates that date and you were asked for more, the excess can be claimed, and an additional cash deposit is returned at the end under the same rules of proof as the deposit.
Paint, cleaning, holes and invoices, what survives in court
The Civil Code sets the basic rule. Article 1561 requires the tenant to return the property as received, except for what has perished or deteriorated through time or unavoidable cause, and article 1563 makes him liable for deterioration unless he proves it occurred without his fault. The Urban Leases Act completes the rule in article 21, which places the works of conservation of the dwelling on the landlord and, during the contract, the small repairs required by ordinary wear and tear on the tenant. Article 1101 of the Civil Code is what allows the landlord to demand compensation for damage that is indeed attributable to the tenant.
From there comes the distinction that decides most of these disputes. Walls that need painting after three years of living in the flat, parquet scratched by foot traffic or appliances that have aged are wear through time and are not deducted from the deposit. A hole in a door, a broken window, a burnt worktop or a torn-off blind are. Between the two there is a grey band, cleaning or painting when the flat is returned in a worse state than is reasonable, and there what counts is the evidence.
On who proves what, it pays to be precise. Article 1562 of the Civil Code presumes that the tenant received the dwelling in good condition if nothing to the contrary was recorded on moving in, which works against the tenant who signed no inventory. But whoever deducts from the deposit must prove that the damage exists, that it goes beyond ordinary use and what it costs to repair, because he is the one asserting the fact that benefits him (article 217 of the Civil Procedure Act). A partial refund without an invoice, an estimate or a photograph of the damage does not hold up if the matter reaches court, and the figure deducted must correspond to a real repair, not to a full replacement of what was already used.
That evidence is built by you today, before anyone argues about anything. Photograph and film every room on the day you leave, with the flat already empty, including cupboards, the inside of appliances and meter readings. Do the same if you have just moved into a flat. Hand over the keys against a document signed by the landlord recording the date, or at least with a message sent that day which he answers. Keep the contract, the proof of the deposit transfer, the deposit registration receipt if you were given one and all conversations, deleting none. Do not sign any move-out document stating that you have nothing to claim, and do not leave the keys in a letterbox without a written acknowledgment. None of this replaces the claim, but without it the claim comes down to your word against the landlord’s.
The deposit lodged with the IGVS and the one that never got there
In Galicia the landlord is obliged to lodge the deposit with the Instituto Galego da Vivenda e Solo, under Act 8/2012 on housing in Galicia and the decree regulating the lodging of urban lease deposits. He does not keep the money himself, the administration holds it for the duration of the contract and he recovers it when he proves the tenancy has ended, in order to return it to the tenant. The landlord must give you the lodging receipt with its number, and if you do not have it, you can check with the IGVS whether that lodging is on record.
His failure to lodge it takes away none of your rights. The obligation to return the deposit is the landlord’s regardless of where he kept the money, and the claim is the same. What changes is his position. Failing to lodge the deposit is an administrative infringement punishable by a fine under the Galician act, and that fact is recorded in the claim. Bear in mind that the administration will not return to you anything the landlord never paid in, so the route is still the court.
In other regions the body is different and the rules change, so if the flat is outside Galicia the reference is the regional legislation of the place where the property is, never that of either party’s home address.
Burofax, conciliation, payment order and verbal proceedings, what each route does
The first step is the burofax with acknowledgment of receipt and certified content. It fixes the date the keys were returned, the amount and the deadline, and since 3 April 2025 it serves another purpose. Organic Act 1/2025 requires proof of an attempt at negotiation before a civil suit is filed, and a demand drafted for that purpose, with the requirements that act lays down, serves as that proof. A burofax written any old way fixes the date, but may not count as an attempt at negotiation, and then the suit is not admitted until the defect is cured. Drafting it so that it does both jobs is the lawyer’s work.
If the landlord does not answer, there are three routes before the court, and the choice depends on the amount and on whether you expect him to allege damage.
| Route | Amount | Lawyer and court agent | What the court does if the landlord does not respond |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conciliation hearing (Act 15/2015, articles 139 et seq.) | No limit | Not compulsory | If there is agreement, it is enforced like a judgment; if he fails to attend, the attempt is recorded as made without effect and the negotiation attempt is proven |
| Payment order procedure (article 812 LEC) | No limit | Not compulsory for the initial petition | Orders him to pay within twenty days and, if he neither pays nor opposes, issues enforcement |
| Verbal proceedings (article 250.2 LEC) | Up to 15,000 euros | Not compulsory up to 2,000 euros | Declares him in default and gives judgment with interest and costs |
The payment order is the natural route when the debt is clear, because article 812 admits it for any monetary debt that is liquid, determined, due and payable, with no limit on amount. It is filed with the court of first instance of the landlord’s domicile (article 813). If he opposes, the matter turns into verbal proceedings and the damage is argued there. Direct verbal proceedings are filed with the court of the place where the flat is (article 52.1.7 of the Civil Procedure Act) and are the option when you already know the landlord will allege damage, because then the evidence has to be ready from the suit itself. The ceiling for verbal proceedings has been 15,000 euros since Royal Decree-law 6/2023, in force on 20 March 2024, so any deposit falls within it.
On cost. Natural persons have paid no court fees since 2015. Up to 2,000 euros a lawyer and court agent are not compulsory (articles 23 and 31 of the Civil Procedure Act), and if you hire one below that figure his fees are not included in the costs the landlord pays even if you win, unless the court finds he litigated recklessly or your domicile is outside the place of trial (article 32.5). Above 2,000 euros, the loser pays the winner’s costs under the loser-pays rule of article 394, with a cap, as regards the lawyer, of one third of the amount in dispute. Those two rules are what decide whether going with a lawyer pays, and I come back to that at the end.
On time, there is no general figure that would be honest. A payment order without opposition ends shortly after the twenty-day period of the demand, with the enforcement order. Verbal proceedings with opposition, a hearing and a judgment are measured in months and depend on the workload of the court you are assigned. What is certain is that the court’s demand changes the conversation, because from then on the next step is the attachment of the landlord’s bank account.
At the firm we draft the demand so that it complies with Organic Act 1/2025 and we file the petition or the suit that fits the amount and the evidence, as part of the civil law work we do for tenants and landlords.
Withholding the last month’s rent, why it leaves you worse off
The temptation is understandable and the law does not back it. The deposit secures performance of the contract and only becomes payable at the end, when the keys are handed back, while the last month’s rent falls due on its date. As there are not two debts due and payable at the same time, they cannot be set off through the mechanism of articles 1195 and 1196 of the Civil Code. If you stop paying, what the landlord has is unpaid rent. With the contract still in force he can file an eviction suit for non-payment, and even if you leave on the agreed date, he keeps the deposit to cover that rent and will claim separately any damage he proves. You have turned a debt he owed you into a debt you owe him, and you have lost the position of the party making the claim. If you fear he will not return the deposit, what works is documenting the state of the flat and the return of the keys.
Four cases the guides avoid, sale, inheritance, a room and a seasonal let
If the flat was sold during the contract, the buyer as a rule steps into the landlord’s rights and obligations under article 14 of the Urban Leases Act, and the deposit is claimed from whoever owns the property when you return the keys. Whatever seller and buyer agreed between themselves about that money does not affect you, and in Galicia the lodging with the IGVS remains tied to the contract. The same goes for a property handed over in life under a Galician apartación or pacto de mejora. If the landlord has died, the debt passes to his heirs, who succeed the deceased in his obligations (article 661 of the Civil Code), and the demand is addressed to the estate or to those who have accepted it.
An insolvent landlord is a different problem. A judgment or an enforcement order is worth whatever his assets are worth, and collecting from someone who claims to have nothing requires tracing accounts, salaries or property through the court. With an owner who has at least the flat he let to you in his name, the risk of not collecting is low. A buyer, by the way, should have checked the tenancy and its deposit before signing, which is one of the points we cover in the article on what to check before paying a deposit on a property in Galicia.
Renting a room, in most cases, is not treated by the courts as a residential lease under the Urban Leases Act but as a contract under the Civil Code, so the deposit is whatever was agreed, its return is demanded at the end under the general rules of articles 1561 and 1563 and interest is claimed from the demand, not from the month in article 36. The judicial route is the same. A seasonal let is a lease under the Urban Leases Act, for a use other than as a dwelling, with a statutory deposit of two months and the same one-month period and the same interest under paragraph 4 of article 36.
Five years to claim and the day they start
The action to claim the deposit is time-barred after five years, under article 1964.2 of the Civil Code as worded by Act 42/2015. The period runs from the moment the obligation becomes enforceable, which is when the month in article 36.4 following the return of the keys expires. Someone who returned the keys on 15 March 2022 has until 15 April 2027, counting from 15 April 2022. A burofax with acknowledgment of receipt interrupts the limitation period (article 1973 of the Civil Code) and the period starts again in full, so a demand sent in time buys another five years. If you left the flat more than five years ago without claiming in writing, the debt still exists, but the landlord can plead limitation and the court will uphold it. Deposits from contracts that ended before 7 October 2015 had a transitional regime that has already run out, so at this point there is nothing left to claim on them.
Royal Decree-law 28/2026 and the date your contract was signed
Royal Decree-law 28/2026 of 6 October, published in the Official State Gazette under reference BOE-A-2026-20822, comes into force on 15 November 2026. The general rule of the Urban Leases Act in all its reforms is that each contract is governed by the law in force on the date it was signed, and it is the transitional provisions of each reform that set the exceptions. For a contract signed before that date, which is the case of every contract ending now, the deposit is returned as I have explained here, unless a transitional provision of the new rule says otherwise, and that is checked in the published text, not in what circulates on social media. I am not going to summarise a text that has not yet been applied in any court. If you sign a new contract from 15 November onwards, the deposit and additional guarantee clause has to be read with the royal decree-law in hand, and that is one of the checks we make when asked to review a contract before signing.
The two earlier dates that do matter for current contracts are these. Since 6 March 2019, under Royal Decree-law 7/2019, the deposit is not updated during the first five or seven years and additional guarantees in residential lets are capped at two months’ rent. For contracts signed between 6 June 2013 and 5 March 2019, under Act 4/2013, the deposit was not updated during the first three years and there was no statutory cap on the additional guarantee, so a bank guarantee or an extra deposit of three or four months agreed then is valid, although it is returned under the same rules of proof. None of that has changed the one-month period or the legal interest of article 36.4, which have been in the act since 1994.
Frequently asked questions
How can I claim a rental deposit?
With a burofax fixing the date the keys were returned and the amount and, if the month in article 36 of the Urban Leases Act passes without repayment, with a payment order petition or a verbal proceedings suit in court. Up to 2,000 euros no lawyer or court agent is needed, and the judgment includes legal interest and, where applicable, costs.
How do I claim the deposit on a rented flat?
Gather the contract, proof of payment of the deposit, the move-in and move-out photographs and proof of the date you returned the keys, and send the landlord a written demand. The landlord may only withhold damage that goes beyond wear through use and that he proves with invoices; the rest is returned with interest from the month after the keys.
Where do I claim a rental deposit?
From the landlord, never from the body where it was lodged. In Galicia the IGVS holds the money, returns it to the landlord when the contract ends and it is he who answers to you. If he does not pay, the payment order petition is filed with the court of first instance of the landlord’s domicile and the verbal proceedings suit with the court of the place where the flat is.
How do I claim the return of a rental deposit?
In writing and with proof of the date, because from one month after returning the keys the balance of the deposit earns legal interest under article 36.4 of the Urban Leases Act. If the landlord deducts anything without an invoice or a photograph of the damage, the difference is claimed; if he does not answer, the court orders him to pay and, if he ignores it, his accounts are attached.
Can I deduct the deposit from the last month’s rent instead of paying it?
No. The deposit only becomes payable when the keys are returned and the rent falls due earlier, so they cannot be set off and the non-payment is a breach that lets the landlord sue you for eviction while the contract lasts and keep the deposit to cover that rent. You lose the position of the party making the claim and remain liable for any damage that is proven.
The question that decides whether claiming is worth it
The question is how much you are owed and whether the landlord is going to argue damage. If the deposit is one month’s rent, he alleges no damage and simply does not pay, the payment order without a lawyer is proportionate, and hiring one would eat up a good part of the claim, because below 2,000 euros the fees are not recovered in costs even if you win. If he deducts damage you do not accept, never lodged the deposit, is also holding an additional guarantee or the total exceeds 2,000 euros, the evidence and the drafting of the demand decide the outcome, the costs fall on the loser and there it does make sense for a lawyer to direct the matter from the first letter. What never pays is letting time pass, because every month without a demand is evidence lost and a limitation period running. If you want us to assess your case, the firm’s telephone number is +34 677 841 007 and the form is at contact.