Mid-Term Rentals Under Scrutiny: Documenting the Temporary Reason

Óscar Raynaud· Head of Living, UrbanPay9 Oct 20264 min

Mid-term rentals, stays of one to twelve months, have grown fast because they fill a real gap between tourist lets and long leases. That growth has drawn attention. In several markets, regulators believe temporary contracts have been used to avoid the rent caps and protections that come with a standard residential lease. The response is consistent across countries: if you call a let temporary, be ready to prove it.

For operators running legitimate flex living, this is manageable. It does mean the contract and the evidence behind it now matter as much as the unit.

Temporary must mean temporary

Catalonia shows where the rules are heading. Since 2024, a seasonal lease there must state its temporary purpose in the contract and prove it, for example work, study or medical treatment. The supporting documents are deposited together with the security deposit. If that evidence is missing, the law presumes the lease is a permanent home, with everything that implies for rent and term. Those rules were reinforced by Law 11/2025, in force since 1 January 2026.

At national level in Spain, short stays marketed on online platforms must be registered in a single rental register. A bill to bring seasonal and room lets under rent containment has also been debated.

Some countries built a dedicated contract

France took a different route. The bail mobilité is a furnished lease of one to ten months, non-renewable, reserved for people in temporary situations such as students, trainees and professionals on assignment. It prohibits a security deposit. The contract must state the eligible reason, and a lease that does not meet the conditions risks being reclassified as a standard furnished lease.

The lesson is the same in both systems. The resident's real situation decides which rules apply, and the operator has to evidence it.

Short stays now leave a data trail

At EU level, Regulation 2024/1028 on short-term rental data has applied since 20 May 2026. Where a registration scheme exists, platforms must collect and display a valid registration number for each listing, suspend listings without one, and share activity data with authorities. Mid-term operators who also sell short stays should check which of their units fall in scope.

What to document for every temporary stay

A practical checklist for operators:

The reason for the stay, written into the contract in plain words.
Evidence of that reason: an employment letter, an enrolment certificate, an assignment letter, kept with the tenancy.
The legal basis chosen for the contract, and why it fits.
A term that matches the reason, with extensions handled as dated amendments.
Registration numbers where short-stay registration applies.
Rent and services shown separately, so any cap can be checked.

If an inspector, court or buyer asked for this file on any resident, you should be able to produce it in minutes.

Where UrbanPay fits

UrbanPay keeps the evidence with the stay. Identity verification runs remotely before arrival, and supporting documents sit in the same resident record. Contracts are generated with the reason, term and legal basis written in, then signed through eIDAS-compliant e-signatures. Extensions are signed as amendments. Rent is collected by account-to-account transfer and reconciled to the unit. For the wider picture, see coliving and regulation and the flex living solution page.

FAQ

What is a mid-term rental?

A furnished stay of roughly one to twelve months, between a tourist let and a standard residential lease. The exact legal category depends on the country.

Do temporary leases need a reason?

In many markets, yes. Catalonia requires the temporary purpose to be stated and proven, and France's bail mobilité is limited to specific temporary situations.

What happens if a temporary lease cannot be justified?

It may be treated as a standard residential lease, with that regime's rules on rent, term and protection.

Talk to Óscar

If you run a coliving, flex living or student housing operation and want to see how collection, verification and contract signing fit together on your volumes, book 20 minutes with me or write directly.

Book 20 minutes with Óscar · [email protected] · Contact UrbanPay