The Audiencia Provincial de Balears upheld the eviction of a tenant in Palma . The appeal court rejected the tenant’s objections and upheld the first-instance ruling, which declared the tenancy agreement terminated and ordered the tenant to leave. The tenant was ordered to pay the costs of the appeal proceedings.
At the heart of the dispute was whether the owner should be classified as a gran tenedora — a large landlord under the state Ley 12/2023 . The tenant argued that the woman had inherited a “ten” of flats from her grandmother and should therefore meet the additional procedural requirements for large landlords. However, according to the deed of partition (escritura de partición) considered by the court, the owner received ten flats. She therefore remained below the statutory threshold: under Ley 12/2023, a gran tenedor or gran tenedora is someone who owns more than ten residential properties or has an equivalent area of built residential property. In practice, the threshold is therefore reached only at eleven units.
In its decision, the Audiencia Provincial de Balears reaffirmed that documentary evidence is decisive in eviction proceedings when a landlord’s large-landlord status is disputed. Reliable land registry extracts and certified deeds are key; mere assertions are not enough. The judges agreed with the first instance that the tenancy agreement had been validly terminated and the conditions for eviction were met.
The background is Ley 12/2023, which came into force in 2023 and clarifies nationwide procedural rules on tenancy and eviction, imposing additional obligations on large landlords, such as expanded information and communication steps before an eviction claim is filed. These special rules did not apply in the Palma case because the claimant did not meet the statutory threshold. The Audiencia’s ruling confirms this interpretation and provides clarity for similar cases in the Balearic Islands.
The case concerns a flat in Palma that was originally let by the current owner’s grandmother. The tenancy obligations generally remained in force after the transfer of ownership; the only issue in dispute was whether the additional requirements for large landlords applied. The appeal court has now answered that question in the negative and upheld the eviction order.
Editor: Mira Cadena (Article created with AI assistance).