Youth Rental Grant: what is it, and who is it for?

The Youth Rental Grant and the Youth Rental Bonus are two programmes available to help young people aged 18 to 35 to have a decent home. They are two separate but compatible grants.

What are the 2022 youth rental grants?

There are two programmes available to help young people to pay their rent: the Youth Rental Bonus and the rental grant, which is part of the State Housing Plan. Both programmes were created by the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda but they are managed by the Autonomous Regions. 

Young leaseholders aged between 18 and 35 may apply to receive these grants. The Youth Rental Bonus is compatible with the State Housing Plan, which may entitle you to another rental grant. In other words, they are two separate but compatible grants.

In the case of the bonus, you may receive up to 250 euros per month for two years. Are the requirements the same for both programmes?

Requirements to apply for help with your rent

To be entitled to the rental grant, you must meet the following requirements:

• Be up to 35 years old.
• Be permanently or habitually resident in Spain. In the case of foreigners, you must be legally resident (which can be checked through the INE).
• The income of the cohabitation unit must be less than three IPREM (Public Multiple Effects Income Indicator) in general; four IPREM in the case of large families and people with disabilities; less than five IPREM in the case of special large families and people with a certain degree of disability.
• Regardless of the rent, the maximum benefit is 600 euros (900 euros in certain cases). 

Requirements for applying for the Youth Rental Bonus

• Be between 18 and 35 years old.
• Have a rental agreement for your habitual and permanent residence. It can be a new contract, in other words, you can sign it and immediately apply for the Youth Rental Bonus, or an existing lease, in which case you can apply for retroactive rent.
• The rent shall be up to 600 euros per month when the lease is for the entire residence. If you rent a room in a home and not the whole property, the maximum is 300 euros per month. The maximum can be increased to 900 euros per month or 450 euros for a room provided there is an agreement with the Monitoring Committee.
• Provide proof of income, in other words, a work contract.
• Your income must be lower than three times the IPREM, as a general rule. 

Increase in amounts

As you have seen, these are two different grants, which are perfectly compatible. The difference is that the Youth Rental Bonus is a maximum grant of up to 250 euros for two years (a total of 6,000 euros). You may be entitled to up to 40% more if your Autonomous Region sees fit, and if you fulfil certain conditions:

• The number of persons in the cohabitation unit.
• Income of the cohabitation unit.
• People with disabilities.
• Characteristics of the rental market in the municipality. In other words, if you live in Madrid or Barcelona where rent is higher, you are more likely to receive a greater amount. 

Proof of entitlement

You must be particularly careful with your Youth Rental Bonus application, which is more demanding when it comes to accrediting your entitlement. For example, it is important to prove whether or not you share a flat with other people who may or may not form a cohabitation unit. Cohabitation units are common law spouses or married couples. For legal purposes, friends do not constitute a cohabitation unit. It is important to prove that the members of the household are not blood relatives. 

You will have to provide proof of address by presenting a recent registry of residence (census) certificate. If you live with other people, you will need to provide a group certificate. What’s more, everyone who lives in the property can request the same grant for the same property. 

Home buyer’s grant 2022

If you are looking for help to buy a home, you can apply for a grant under the State Housing Plan, which will be valid until 31 December 2022. Like the rental grants, this aid is managed by the Autonomous Regions. In the same way as rent, the requirements are general, but the autonomous region where you live may ask you to fulfil different conditions. To find out the specific requirements, visit your Autonomous Region’s website. 

Among the home buyer’s grants available in 2022 there are Grants for First-Time Property Buyers, which can be worth as much as 10,800 euros. What are the requirements?

Requirements to be able to request the grant

• Be between 18 and 35 years old.
• The property in question must be your habitual and permanent residence. In other words, it must not be a second residence to rent to another person.
• You must prove you have been living in the home for at least three years when it is not your first home. If you apply for help buying your first home, you will have to live there for at least twelve months after you buy it.
• The income of the cohabitation unit can be no more than three times the IPREM, that is 20,336.04 euros per annum. 
• If you have a large family or there are people with recognised disability, the limit will be four or five IPREM.
• The home must cost no more than 100,000 euros. This figure does not include the cost of buying and selling the property (taxes and notary fees).
• The home must be in a municipality with fewer than 5,000 inhabitants.