Every winter someone in a Barcelona rental decides the kitchen is unbearable and calls a builder. Half of those projects end with a happy landlord and a nicer flat. The other half end with a demand to put everything back, at the tenant's cost, plus a very awkward conversation about the deposit. The difference is one paragraph of written permission.
Article 23 of the Ley de Arrendamientos Urbanos is short and unusually clear. A tenant cannot carry out works that change the layout or configuration of the dwelling, or its fittings, without the landlord's consent given in writing. No exceptions for "it will increase the value". And under no circumstances can you do anything that reduces the stability or safety of the building.
If you do it anyway, the owner has a choice at the end of the lease: demand the flat back in its previous state at your expense, or keep the improvement and pay you nothing for it. Both options are bad, and both are legal. That is why a verbal "go ahead, paint it whatever colour you like" is worth approximately nothing three years later.
Small repairs that come from ordinary use, and only those. A dripping tap, a broken hinge, a shower head that has given up, silicone in the bathroom, a light fitting. These are yours to fix, and no landlord is going to thank you for calling them about a washer.
Painting sits on the line. Most contracts allow it with consent, many name a colour range, and a few quietly require you to repaint in white before you leave. Read that clause before you buy the paint, not after.
Not a WhatsApp message with a thumbs-up. A short annex to the lease, or a signed letter, that says five things: what exactly is being done, who is doing it, who pays, how long it will take, and what happens to it when the lease ends. Attach the builder's quote and, if you have one, the sketch. If the answer to the last question is "it stays", say so in the same document — otherwise you are donating a kitchen.
The sixth thing, which people forget: who is legally responsible. If the works need a municipal licence, the licence holder is normally the owner, because it is their property and their catastral reference. A tenant cannot usually pull a permit in their own name for someone else's flat. Which means the owner has to be involved whether they like it or not — so involve them early, while the idea is still cheap.
Sometimes, on a long lease and a flat you intend to keep for years. A €15,000 kitchen spread over a five-year contract is €250 a month — less than moving to a flat that already has one, once you count agency fees, moving costs and the loss of a good address. On a two-year temporary contract it is a donation.
The other route is a rent offset: the owner agrees to two or three months rent-free while you reform, or a lower rent for the whole term in exchange for the works. It happens more often than listings suggest, especially with older flats that have been empty for a year. Put the numbers in the contract and photograph everything on day one — the state you received it in is the state you will be asked to return it to.
And the obvious alternative, which is not laziness: rent a flat that already has the kitchen. In a city where a good reform adds 15–20% to the asking rent, someone else has usually paid for it already. Spending three weekends viewing flats is cheaper than spending three months living in dust.
Send us the address and what you want to change. We will tell you what needs the owner, what needs the town hall and what is not worth the money on your lease length.
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