There are few tenants who have not had to go through at some point in their lives the filter of an economic solvency study from a guaranteed rental company or the scrutiny of non-payment insurance. These two tools have become the best allies for owners who rent their homes. The debate on the balance between the protection of landlords and tenants has been reignited after the entry into force, on March 22, of the decree that freezes contracts about to expire and limits annual updates to 2%, although Congress could overthrow it within a month. Many owners say they feel unprotected both with the old social shield and with this new regulatory umbrella. For this reason, in recent years they have increasingly resorted to products that guarantee the collection of rents, their great concern. Ana González, deputy secretary of the Confederation of Urban Property Chambers and Associations of Urban Property Owners, affirms that they have been recommending the contracting of non-payment insurance for years. “They consider it a mattress that gives a certain security,” he explains. Along the same lines, its president, José María Font Spa, points out that there is «a high level of distrust in the efficiency of judicial eviction processes» and that these insurances have become a relevant tool, especially for the most professional owners. Juan Carlos Muñoz, commercial director of Arag – which has more than 120,000 insured owners -, confirms the expansion of these products: «Now it is strange that someone rents without insurance, especially because of what it means to go months without getting paid since A non-payment begins until the tenant leaves the home.” However, he recognizes that the limited rental supply is conditioning the market: «There are many more tenants than landlords, so finding a solvent profile is not complicated; the difficult thing is for tenants to find housing.» Despite the noise, the official data cools the debate. In 2025, 25,540 evictions (expulsions from housing) were carried out, of which 18,317 – almost seven out of every ten – were due to non-payment of rent, according to the General Council of the Judiciary. They are 10.9% less than the previous year. There are no official statistics on the real volume of defaults, only sectoral calculations. According to Arag, between 5% and 7% of contracts have significant defaults. Rental Insurance quantifies late payment at 8,490 euros in 2025, 16.5% more than a year before, a data obtained from its files. Non-payment insurance maintains strict solvency criteria, although it has become somewhat more flexible in recent years, both in coverage and in products and modalities (policies for temporary rentals are already marketed). Insurers cover debts for increasingly longer periods that reach up to 24 months and usually include legal defense, vandalism damage and, in some cases, compensation for non-payment of supplies, compensation for fire or replacement of locks after an eviction. “Keep in mind that just a locksmith for a launch already costs about 250 euros,” recalls González, who emphasizes that non-payment insurance is deductible in personal income tax. As for damage, most policies cover up to 3,000 euros in acts of vandalism, although González acknowledges that this amount is often not enough. Insurers do not qualify candidates through personal interviews or prepare lists of best and worst profiles, but instead classify them as valid or not. It is the landlords who send the already filtered files. «Even if we had data on which areas have the most accidents, the General Data Protection Regulation prevents us from preparing lists. We wouldn’t want to do it either,» Muñoz points out. To carry out the solvency study, the company requires the tenant to provide payroll, tax returns, work history or bank statements. From there, the weight of the rent is calculated with respect to your disposable income. “These studies make late payment practically non-existent and are the best guarantee for the owner to trust the tenants who have overcome it,” says Mercedes Robes, general director of the insurance brokerage Arrenta Sabseg. International organizations and the Bank of Spain consider it sustainable not to exceed 30% of the household income and an extra effort of 40% or more. However, the reality of the market – with price increases of 40% since 2020 according to Idealista – has moved these thresholds and both insurers and guarantee companies accept ratios of 40% to 45%. “The risk assumed by an insurer is different and lower than that of a bank when granting a mortgage, which is why the accepted percentages are not the same,” Muñoz clarifies. Pedro Bretón, CEO of the company Sociedad Española de Rent Garantizado (SEAG), adds that in the purchase there are additional costs – taxes, community, insurance or spills – that do not fall on the tenant, which lowers the recommended effort threshold. If a candidate exceeds the effort limits and their solvency is insufficient, companies can ask for personal and solidarity guarantors and overcome that barrier. Even so, Arrenta Sabseg affirms that the effort rate when carrying out one of these policies is lower than the market average. “The situation is totally different in rentals with non-payment insurance where the effort rate is 29%, nine percentage points lower and solvency studies are one of the reasons for the decline,” says Robes.
Job stability
If the tenant continues in the race for the house, they will also analyze their job stability: an indefinite contract is required with the trial period completed or more than one year of seniority in other types of contract. Appearing in delinquency files can prevent hiring. «Many debts are directly related to non-payment of rent. A clear example is supplies: whoever stops paying for electricity, water or gas usually comes, in most cases, from a previous situation of non-payment of rent,» says the director of SEAG, a firm that does not sell insurance, but rather collection guarantees until the home is recovered and that covers 70,000 properties. There are companies that have developed their own solvency study model. Grupo Mutua Propietarios requests only three pieces of information from the tenant: ID, date of birth and address of the home to be rented. “Unlike traditional models, our solvency study also incorporates information of a social, economic, attitudinal and purchasing behavior, among others, which helps determine the capacity and willingness to pay of tenants,” indicates José Luis Marín, deputy general director of Operations of the group, with a portfolio of more than 111,000 rented homes. The price is calculated based on the requested rent. For example, for a rental of 800 euros per month and a 12-month policy without excess, the cost ranges from 430 to 450 euros per year. The owner will only begin to collect when he has started the judicial procedure.
