How to report damp to your landlord in Spain so that it counts

Send something in writing today

Report it in writing as soon as you notice it — a WhatsApp message or email with photographs attached is a practical first record. Say which room, which wall or ceiling, when it appeared, and ask expressly for the repair. Article 21.3 of the Ley de Arrendamientos Urbanos requires the tenant to notify the landlord en el plazo más breve posible. It gives no fixed number of days, so an early clear message is more useful than waiting to assemble a perfect letter.

In the same message, offer access. The same article entitles your landlord, or a technician they appoint, to inspect — an obligation on you, not a favour, and tenants who stall on it lose ground fast.

This is general information about Spanish and Catalan law. It is not legal, financial or insurance advice, and NoMoho provides none of those — we treat surfaces; we are not lawyers or loss adjusters. Damp cases are fact-dependent; if yours is live, the Oficines de l’Habitatge de Barcelona give free legal advice.

What to photograph, and how the date really gets fixed

Photograph before you clean, wipe or repaint anything. A repainted wall is a wall with no evidence on it — the most common way a tenant loses an argument they would otherwise have won.

• A wide shot showing which room it is and where the mark sits — include a window or door frame so the location is unarguable.
• A close-up of the affected area.
• The same two shots from the same position every few weeks: spread persuades more than one dramatic photo.
• Where you can, the outside of the wall: the façade below a terrace, the ceiling under a neighbour’s bathroom, a stain following a bajante.
• A one-line log of when it appeared, when it worsened, and whether it tracks heavy rain or cold spells.

File metadata can be questioned, and a photo sitting on your phone proves less than people assume. What fixes a date is that the photograph was attached to a message the other side received — the date comes from the transmission, not the file. Send photos early and repeatedly rather than assembling a dossier at the end.

What the written notice has to contain

By email or by burofax, the content is the same:

• Your full name and DNI/NIE, the landlord’s, and the full address including floor and door — piso y puerta. Without them a Barcelona address identifies a building, not a home.
• The date the contract was signed, and a precise description: which room, which surface, when it appeared, how it has changed.
• An express request to carry out the repair, under Article 21.1 LAU, and an offer of access.
• A period you consider reasonable for a reply.

Spanish sentences you can copy

What you need to say	Spanish to send
First notice	”Le comunico que en [habitación] de la vivienda sita en [calle, número, piso y puerta] han aparecido manchas de humedad y moho. Adjunto fotografías. Le solicito que realice las reparaciones necesarias para conservar la vivienda en condiciones de habitabilidad, conforme al artículo 21.1 de la LAU.”
Offering access	”Quedo a su disposición para facilitar el acceso a la vivienda a usted o al técnico que designe, en el horario que le convenga.”
Chasing silence	”Me remito a mi comunicación de fecha [dd/mm/aaaa], que sigue sin respuesta. Le reitero la solicitud de reparación y le ruego que me indique una fecha prevista de inicio de los trabajos.”
Formal requirement	”Mediante el presente burofax le requiero formalmente para que adopte las medidas necesarias para reparar la causa de las humedades descritas, conforme al artículo 21.1 de la Ley 29/1994, de Arrendamientos Urbanos.”
Writing to the administrador	”Me dirijo a ustedes como administrador de la finca. La humedad parece proceder de un elemento común (fachada / cubierta / bajante). Solicito que la incidencia se traslade a la comunidad y que se valore técnicamente el origen.”
Before urgent works	”Ante el riesgo de daño inminente, le comunico previamente que, de no recibir respuesta, realizaré las reparaciones urgentes imprescindibles y le reclamaré su importe.”

If the reply comes back full of words you cannot place, the Spanish vocabulary for damp and mould covers them.

Which channel proves what

Channel	What it actually proves
WhatsApp or email	That you wrote something on a date, if nobody disputes it. Weak once relations sour.
Carta certificada	That an envelope reached the address. Not what was inside it.
Burofax with acuse de recibo and certificación de texto	Content, delivery and date together — what Spanish practice treats as fehaciente.

Without content certification a burofax proves only that something was sent. Both options must be selected when you lodge it, at any Correos office or online, and the text cannot be edited afterwards.

When a burofax becomes worth sending

Not at the first sign of damp. It earns its trouble once informal messages have been ignored, the damage is spreading, or you approach a step that depends on proving the landlord failed to repair.

One Catalan reason for it rarely appears in English content. Under Article 124.1.c) of Llei 18/2007, failing the duty of conservation is a grave infraction where it seriously affects a building’s habitability conditions — and the wording includes previa notificación, prior notice. Documented notice is not only ammunition in a private dispute; it is an element of the administrative route.

If nothing happens

Four routes exist, all narrower than most advice online suggests.

A proportional rent reduction. Article 21.2 LAU says that if the works themselves run beyond twenty days, the rent is reduced in proportion to the part of the home the tenant is deprived of. The twenty days refer to the duration of the works, not a deadline for the landlord to begin them.

Termination appears in Article 27.3.a LAU for failure to carry out Article 21 repairs. The statute sets no timescale here; whether the remedy applies is fact-dependent and should be taken to a housing adviser or lawyer.

Urgent works are addressed in Article 21.3 LAU, after prior notice and where they are needed to avoid imminent damage or serious discomfort. Taking on works or deducting money can create a dispute, so get advice on the specific facts first.

Local housing support. Barcelona’s Oficines de l’Habitatge can explain the available municipal and legal routes for the actual address and facts. Bring the contract, messages and photographs. This page does not prescribe a filing procedure or decide whether the landlord, a neighbour or the comunidad is responsible.

What not to do

• Do not stop paying rent unilaterally. It feels proportionate and it exposes you to a claim; the remedies above run through a court.
• Do not repaint or scrub the area clean before it is documented. You are removing your own evidence.
• Do not quote the “20 days” rule at your landlord. If they take advice, you will have been shown wrong about the one thing you asserted confidently.
• Do not let it go quiet for months. Silence after a single message reads as a problem that resolved itself.

Where NoMoho fits, and where we do not

We treat what is visible: cleaning and treating mould, preparing damaged damp surfaces, and anti-mould paint as a finish. We do not do waterproofing, building works, leak repair, injection against rising damp or ventilation installation, we do not write expert reports and we do not act in disputes. From photographs we can usually say whether a case is surface work or whether the cause sits elsewhere — which usually tells you whether establishing the cause needs an arquitecto técnico. That is an informal opinion, not an expert report, and it proves nothing in a dispute.

For the allocation question behind all of this, read who pays for mould in a rented Barcelona flat. If the wall or ceiling is already damaged, damp wall repair covers that side. Or send photos and a line of context on WhatsApp, in English, and someone will read it and reply.