Corporate housing supplier due diligence in Spain: what procurement should check before signing

Why procurement should look past the photographs

When a company places an employee in Spain for several months, the housing supplier becomes part of three things at once: the relocation, the monthly finance workflow and the employee's daily life. A furnished apartment can look right in photographs and sit within budget and still fail on any of them. Corporate housing supplier due diligence in Spain is about finding that out before the contract is signed, not in the second week of the assignment.

The checks below are the ones that tend to matter. None of them needs a long questionnaire, but each needs a clear answer in writing.

1. Who you are actually contracting with

Ask for the registered company name, its tax identification number (NIF) and confirmation of which entity will sign the contract and which will issue the invoice. They should be the same, or the supplier should be able to explain why not.

If the operator does not own the building, ask what gives it the right to let or manage the property. A flat found online can be owned by one company, managed by a second and contracted through a third. That is not necessarily a problem, but procurement should understand the chain before approving a placement, because it determines who is answerable when something goes wrong.

2. Which legal framework the stay falls under

This check changed on 8 October 2026. Royal Decree-law 29/2026 ended the old arrendamiento por temporada for housing. A temporary stay is now an arrendamiento de vivienda temporal, governed by Title II, the housing rules of the Ley de Arrendamientos Urbanos. The contract has to state the real reason the tenant is temporarily away from their usual home, the landlord has to be able to prove it, and the lease must run for more than 31 days and, as a general rule, no more than twelve months, extensions included. A contract without a properly stated reason is treated as an ordinary residential lease from the day it was signed, with the multi-year term that comes with it.

So ask the supplier to set out in writing what type of agreement will be signed, who the contractual tenant is, who the occupant is, what reason for the stay the contract will record, and how an extension or an early end will be handled. Two further points are worth raising. First, the new definition is written around a tenant who has left their own home, so where your company is the tenant and an employee is the occupant, have a Spanish lawyer confirm how your structure fits. Second, more than two consecutive temporary contracts between the same parties for the same residence turn the arrangement into an ordinary lease, which matters if you expect to rotate people through one property.

The decree-law still has to be validated by Congress, and its predecessor was voted down on 2 October, so confirm the position at the time you sign. Contracts signed before 8 October keep their old rules until their agreed end date and then expire without extension.

3. Whether the company can be the customer

There is a real difference between an employee renting a flat personally and a company contracting with a housing provider. In the first case the employee carries the lease, the deposit and the utility accounts. In the second, the company holds the commercial relationship and the employee simply lives there.

Ask whether the company can be the contracting party with the employee named as occupant, whether another employee can take over the residence if the assignment changes, and whether several residences can sit under one agreement. If you expect more than one placement, ask about a framework agreement as well.

4. What finance will receive each month

Ask for a sample invoice with confidential details removed. Check that it is issued by the entity you are contracting with, carries your company's billing details, identifies the rent and any included services, and states the VAT treatment applied. Ask whether residences can be split by cost centre or consolidated, and whether you can pay from a corporate account outside Spain.

VAT deserves a specific question. From 1 December 2026, furnished lettings of 30 nights or fewer, or with hotel-type services such as cleaning and laundry, are taxed at 10 per cent rather than exempt. The supplier should tell you which treatment it applies and why, and your tax adviser should confirm it.

At Palacete 10 the model is one supplier, one contract and one monthly invoice issued with the applicable VAT treatment, and a Spanish bank account is not required.

5. What "included" means, line by line

"All inclusive" is not a specification. Ask for a written list before signing, and check at least:

• Utilities: active on arrival, who manages them, and any allowance or fair-use condition
• Internet: working from day one, and whether each residence has its own network
• Parking: whether there is a space, and whether it is secure and allocated
• Furniture and equipment: beds, sofa, kitchen equipment, washer and dryer
• Cleaning and linen: what is in the price and what is charged separately
• Access: key handover or keyless entry
• Maintenance: who the employee calls when something stops working

6. The building, not just the interior

Someone may live and work in this residence for months, so the building's performance matters more than the styling. Ask about insulation, sound between residences, heating and cooling, the internet infrastructure, access control and laundry.

At Palacete 10 the 1908 villa has been restored rather than replaced. The façade, the monumental staircase and the encaustic floors are original; the floors, water and electrical systems, insulation and hot water system are new. Residences have sound-insulating floating floors between them, their own heating and cooling, and their own Wi-Fi network off fibre installed throughout the building.

7. The location against the employee's real week

"Well located" is not a procurement criterion. Ask for travel times to the office or project site, the airport, the train station and everyday shops, and consider what the immediate neighbourhood is like to live in for months rather than visit for days.

For reference, Palacete 10 publishes its own figures: Málaga Airport 16 minutes, María Zambrano station 10 minutes, Málaga TechPark 19 minutes, the historic centre a 15-minute walk, and public transport and everyday shops a minute's walk away. See the location page for the full picture.

8. How problems get handled

The supplier's response when something breaks matters more than the sofa. Ask who the employee's contact is, whether the company has a single point of contact, how maintenance is reported and coordinated, what happens outside office hours, and how quickly urgent issues are dealt with. A good supplier reduces the number of people HR has to chase.

9. Who stands behind the operation

Ask how long the operator has been active, whether it manages the property directly and who holds the relationship with the occupant. At Palacete 10 you contract directly with the owner, Vamoz Marbella SL, which has operated on the Costa del Sol since 2013, with one point of contact throughout.

Put it all in one written proposal

Before approving a placement, you should hold a written proposal covering the residence, dates, price and VAT treatment, deposit or guarantee, utilities and any allowance, cleaning, parking, internet, payment terms, extension and early-departure conditions, maintenance responsibility and the contracting entity. That avoids the classic relocation dispute over something that was included in the sales conversation but cannot be found in the contract.

If you are assessing suppliers for a Málaga assignment, we are happy to answer every question above in writing. Send us the dates, the number of occupants and the work location, and we will reply within 24 hours. Request a corporate proposal.