FRACCIONANDO EL DOMINIO: LAS TENENCIAS INTERMEDIAS PARA FACILITAR EL ACCESO A LA VIVIENDA.

Abstract

This paper looks at alternative ways of dealing with the problems posed these days by the dichotomy between owning and renting a home. Both paths have certainly turned out to fall short of ensuring citizens' access to decent housing. New forms of householding need to be found so that a real third housing market can be created. We are talking about shared ownership and temporary ownership, which are based on English law's shared ownership and leaseholds, all of which can be traced to the need to break up ownership over time and over progressive stages of acquisition. This hybrid halfway between owning and renting could therefore pose problems, in view of the dogmatic way traditional property ownership is set up in our system (the primary stumbling blocks being the perpetuity and unity of property under article 348 of the Spanish Civil Code). The constitutionality of such changes pursuant to article 33 of the Spanish Constitution needs to be looked at also. In short, this paper proposes alternative formulae that range over a continuum between rental and full ownership. They combine flexibility, stability and affordability, thus facilitating access to housing. Their compatibility with both civil and constitutional law is demonstrated.