The law does not count months — it asks about the purpose
The LAU distinguishes residential tenancy (art. 2: the property meets the tenant's permanent housing need) from a seasonal let (art. 3.2: letting por temporada, “sea ésta de verano o cualquier otra”). Nowhere does it set a limit in months. What makes a temporada contract valid is the causa objetiva y transitoria: an objective, temporary reason why this tenant needs the property for precisely this period — overwintering with a principal residence elsewhere, a secondment, an academic year, a renovation at home.
If that reason is missing, “11 months” is simply a residential tenancy with a short term. The tenant can invoke reclassification — and is then entitled to the mandatory extension of five years (seven if the landlord is a company), whatever the paperwork says.
Catalonia formally closed the myth down in 2026 as well
In Catalonia's stressed rental zones (zonas tensionadas), Llei 11/2025 has, since 1 January 2026, brought seasonal letting under the same rent cap as ordinary residential tenancy, and the temporary purpose must be lodged with the INCASÒL, substantiated with documents, together with the deposit (fianza). If that evidence is missing, the contract is presumed to be a permanent residential tenancy. A simulated temporary reason has been a serious infringement there ever since.
What does hold up
- A genuine seasonal let, properly documented. Spell out the causa word for word in the contract and attach the evidence of the principal residence elsewhere as an annex. Then even a ten-month stay is defensible — and without a causa, four months is not.
- Or a deliberate residential tenancy. Steady rent all year round, no changeover stress, no licence and no reclassification risk. With the art. 9.3 LAU reservation — included at signing — you can, as a private landlord, reclaim the property after the first year for yourself or for first-degree family. Less frightening than the stories suggest, provided the contract is right from day one.