Apartment rentals for companies are something Travel Managers and Global Mobility teams need to manage whenever a company relocates employees for several months or even years. However, many organisations are unsure about the best way to handle these arrangements today. On the one hand, housing regulations in Spain have changed in recent years and may vary depending on the autonomous community and municipality. On the other, the property market has also evolved, and finding the right apartment under the required conditions can sometimes feel like an impossible task.
Choosing the right approach to sourcing and contracting accommodation can make the process much easier for the company and have a significant impact on the experience of the relocated employee. Choosing incorrectly, however, may create legal issues if the type of contract does not reflect the actual purpose and nature of the stay.
In this article, we review the main options and their advantages and disadvantages: renting apartments for companies as a primary residence, temporary rentals and serviced apartments.
Apartment rentals for companies: legal framework Spain’s Urban Leasing Act (Ley de Arrendamientos Urbanos , or LAU) distinguishes between two legal regimes with very different implications:
Title II — Primary residence: protects tenants through mandatory extensions and restrictions on rent increases. It is intended to meet a permanent housing need .Title III — Use other than as a primary residence: the terms are freely agreed between the parties and there are no compulsory extensions. Temporary or seasonal rentals generally fall under this category.When it comes to corporate rentals, it is important to understand that the prevailing interpretation in Spanish case law is that contracts where the tenant is a company fall under Title III , since a legal entity cannot itself have a “housing need”. However, this interpretation does not apply in every case:
Since 1 January 2026, Catalonia’s Law 11/2025 of 29 December, on housing and urban planning measures, establishes that temporary rentals for professional, employment, educational or medical reasons — regardless of who signs the contract — are subject to the rules governing rent, deposits and guarantees applicable to residential leases, particularly in designated high-demand housing areas. Outside Catalonia, the national LAU has not yet incorporated this approach, and there is still legal debate over whether a lease signed by a company to house an employee may fall under Title II. Although the prevailing interpretation is that an apartment rented by a company should be governed by Title III, a court may determine otherwise. For this reason, before assuming which legal regime applies to a contract, it is advisable to assess both the location of the property and the genuine, documented purpose of the tenancy.
1. Renting apartments for companies as a primary residence A company can sign a rental agreement for a property to serve as an employee’s primary residence. However, this type of arrangement is extremely uncommon in the current context due to the varying interpretations of the applicable regulations.
When the company itself signs the agreement, the prevailing interpretation in case law is that the contract falls under Title III — use other than as a primary residence — rather than Title II. In principle, this provides greater flexibility, as the terms agreed between the parties take precedence.
However, as we have already seen, the regulatory framework in Catalonia is different, and there is also case law supporting the opposite interpretation. In this scenario, because the property is being used as the employee’s primary residence, it is harder to argue that the agreement is genuinely temporary. As a result, a court may be more likely to determine that the lease should be governed by Title II, which is more restrictive and provides stronger tenant protections.
This is why, in practice, very few companies sign open-ended primary residence rental agreements for their employees. They are generally limited to a very specific profile: senior executives or expatriates on permanent contracts whose employers cover the cost of the family home indefinitely as part of their compensation and benefits package while they are based in that city.
For most other situations, companies tend to use the alternative employee accommodation models described in this article.
2. Temporary rentals Unlike renting apartments for companies as a primary residence, a temporary rental agreement is specifically designed for non-permanent but justified stays, such as a work assignment, an engineering project, a period of study or a temporary posting. The duration can be freely agreed between the parties.
How it works A temporary rental agreement is signed. The duration is freely agreed, without the compulsory extensions that apply to primary residence leases, and the reason justifying the temporary nature of the stay must be clearly stated in writing.
Legal framework and conditions for companies Regulations: temporary rentals fall under Title III of the LAU due to the temporary nature of the agreement. Companies must also take into account Law 11/2025 of 29 December on housing and urban planning measures, as well as Royal Decree 1312/2024 of 23 December, which regulates the Single Rental Register procedure and establishes the Digital One-Stop Shop for Rentals for the collection and exchange of data relating to short-term accommodation rental services.Justification: since the 2026 housing regulations came into force, the genuine reason for the temporary stay must be documented in writing, for example through a letter from the employer or an employment contract confirming the temporary assignment.Legal risk: if the reason for the temporary arrangement is not properly documented, a court may retrospectively reclassify the agreement as a primary residence lease, granting the tenant all the protections provided under Title II.Deposit: landlords often request guarantees or deposits higher than those required for a traditional rental, precisely because of the perceived legal risk associated with this type of agreement.It is important to understand that the length of the contract is not what makes it a "temporary rental". The deciding factor is the reason behind the stay. An agreement lasting several months or even several years can legitimately qualify as temporary if there is a genuine underlying reason and this is properly documented in writing. However, a poorly drafted temporary rental agreement may ultimately be reclassified by a court as a primary residence lease, with retrospective effect, if successive renewals are not linked to a specific project or if, in practice, the property becomes the employee's permanent residence.
For companies, this means ensuring that every agreement is properly adapted to the specific circumstances of each case. You can find further information, as well as a contract template , in our article on corporate rental regulations in Spain .
Beyond the legal risk, there is another practical challenge. Temporary rental properties are often sourced through general property portals, and the available supply can vary significantly. Some apartments are fully furnished while others are unfurnished, equipment standards differ, utilities may or may not be included, and in many cases there are no consistent quality standards.
Searching for, comparing and verifying individual properties in every city where a company has relocated employees can require a considerable amount of work from a Travel Manager or Global Mobility professional. It also creates the risk of booking accommodation that falls below the minimum standards required to provide employees with a consistently positive experience.
3. Serviced apartments (corporate accommodation) Compared with traditional apartment rentals for companies and temporary rentals, serviced apartments are a more hospitality-oriented category. They are fully furnished apartments with hotel-style services, such as reception, cleaning and, in some cases, a gym or concierge, operated by specialist providers or directly by the building.
How they work The company contracts directly with the operator, usually one with accommodation available in a specific city or country, through a booking or service agreement rather than a conventional residential lease. Check-in can be immediate, and everything is ready from day one.
These apartments are managed by providers specialising in accommodation for relocated professionals. They are fully furnished, with utilities, cleaning and maintenance included, and offer a consistent quality standard that does not depend on finding the right individual landlord.
Legal framework and conditions for companies As this is an accommodation service rather than a residential lease strictly governed by the LAU, the Title II and Title III distinctions do not apply. It is a commercial hospitality agreement. Under certain conditions, the operator may apply the reduced VAT rate applicable to hospitality services. No specific bank guarantee is usually required beyond a payment guarantee or credit card, as would be the case with a hotel. Although some temporary rentals may be cheaper, particularly lower-quality apartments without services or furniture, prices are often similar to those of serviced apartments. Serviced apartments also offer many additional advantages, from consistent quality standards to greater flexibility when dates need to be adjusted because a project changes.
This saves the company time by removing the need to inspect and verify each apartment individually, while giving the relocated employee the assurance of arriving at accommodation that is fully ready to live in from day one, without unexpected issues regarding quality.
The evolution of the model: aggregation and simplification In many cases, serviced apartment operators focus on specific destinations. When a Travel Manager or Global Mobility team needs to accommodate entire teams across several locations, the process becomes much more complex. As each serviced apartment provider manages its own portfolio within a particular area, working with several of them means multiplying the number of contacts, contract formats and invoices. This is precisely the type of operational burden Travel Managers and Global Mobility professionals want to avoid.
Apartool represents the natural evolution of this model. Instead of contracting provider by provider and city by city, it brings together the portfolios of multiple accommodation providers.
This simplifies both the search process, as there is no need to compare individual providers in every city, and the overall management. All bookings are handled through a single point of contact, with one contract and one invoice, regardless of how many cities or countries the company has employees or teams based in.
Advantages
Key benefits
Immediate check-in, with everything included from day one and no need to manage utilities or furniture.
Guaranteed quality standards, with every apartment meeting a minimum professional benchmark.
Significant time savings compared with sourcing and verifying each property individually.
With a platform such as Apartool , companies have a single point of contact, one contract and one invoice, even when employees are based in multiple cities or countries.
An aggregated portfolio and terms designed specifically for corporate clients from the outset.
Apartment rental for companies: conclusions Traditional apartment rental for companies is a suitable solution for very specific cases. For most situations, when assignments are temporary, temporary rental agreements tend to offer greater flexibility. However, the reason for the temporary stay must be clearly documented, and companies must also take on a considerable sourcing and verification workload in a highly fragmented market.
Serviced apartments remove much of this risk and address the issue of inconsistent quality. With Apartool, the process becomes even simpler: companies gain access to a much larger portfolio of apartments, with more than 300,000 properties worldwide, while accommodation management is centralised through a single provider, regardless of how many cities or countries their employees or teams are based in.
For Travel Managers and Global Mobility professionals who need to scale accommodation management, this model offers a strong balance between cost, quality and legal certainty.
Would you like to see how it could work for your company? Contact the Apartool team and we will prepare a tailored proposal.
This article is for information purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Rental regulations in Spain are complex, change frequently and may vary between autonomous communities and even between cities. Before signing any accommodation agreement for a relocated employee, we recommend obtaining legal advice tailored to the specific circumstances of each case.
Frequently asked questions about apartment rentals for companies Can a company sign a temporary rental agreement directly for an employee? Yes, this is both common and legal. The key is for the agreement to clearly and formally document the reason for the temporary stay, such as the employee's project or assignment, and for the agreed duration to be consistent with that reason. This helps reduce the risk of the agreement being reclassified as a primary residence lease.
What happens if the employee's assignment lasts longer than expected? It is advisable to review the agreement before extending it automatically without any link to a specific project. This is precisely the type of pattern that courts have used to reclassify temporary rental agreements as primary residence leases. Documenting the new reason or revised duration is the safest way to extend the stay while minimising this risk.
What is the difference between booking a serviced apartment directly and using a platform such as Apartool? A serviced apartment provider manages its own portfolio in a specific city or area. A platform such as Apartool brings together accommodation from multiple providers across different cities and countries, while centralising management, standardising contracts and consolidating invoicing.
Everything is handled through a single point of contact, making day-to-day accommodation management easier for Travel Managers and Global Mobility teams.
