Social Mortgage Assistance Application Spain (Solicitud de Hipoteca Social)

A Social Mortgage Assistance Application (Solicitud de Hipoteca Social or Solicitud de Acogimiento al Código de Buenas Prácticas Bancario) in Spain is a formal written request submitted by a mortgage debtor to their lending institution asking to be admitted to the statutory protection regime established by the Real Decreto-Ley 6/2012, de 9 de marzo, de medidas urgentes de protección de deudores hipotecarios sin recursos. The regime was subsequently strengthened by Ley 1/2013, de 14 de mayo, de medidas para reforzar la protección a los deudores hipotecarios, reestructuración de deuda y alquiler social, further refined by the Ley 25/2015 de segunda oportunidad, y de reducción de la carga financiera y otras medidas de orden social, and substantially updated by the Ley 12/2023 por el derecho a la vivienda, which extended protections for families at risk of social exclusion.

The Código de Buenas Prácticas Bancario (CBP), annexed to RDL 6/2012, is a voluntary code to which all major Spanish mortgage lenders have adhered, supervised by the Banco de España through its Comisión de Control del Código de Buenas Prácticas. The Banco de España maintains a public register of adhering entities on its official website at bde.es, which the debtor should consult before submitting the application. Once a debtor meets the vulnerability thresholds defined in Article 3 RDL 6/2012, the lending institution is legally obliged to apply a three-phase sequential process: Phase 1 — reestructuración de la deuda hipotecaria — restructuring the mortgage through a grace period (carencia de capital) of up to five years, reduction of the interest rate to Euribor plus 0.25 percentage points during the carencia period, and extension of the loan term up to 40 total years; Phase 2 — medidas complementarias — complementary measures including a partial capital write-down (quita del capital) if restructuring under Phase 1 still leaves the monthly payment above 50 percent of household net income after applying the new terms; Phase 3 — dación en pago — transfer of the mortgaged property to the lender in full and final settlement of all mortgage debt, including principal, interest, fees, and enforcement costs, allowing the debtor to remain as a social tenant for an extended period.

Vulnerability thresholds under Article 3 RDL 6/2012, as updated by Ley 1/2013 and Ley 12/2023, apply when: the family unit (unidad familiar) has no income other than the mortgaged property; total net household income does not exceed three times the IPREM (Indicador Público de Renta de Efectos Múltiples — set at €600/month for 2024, making the three-IPREM threshold €1,800/month); the monthly mortgage payment exceeds 50 percent of total net household income; the mortgage was contracted for the acquisition of the habitual residence (vivienda habitual), not as an investment property or second home; and the property value has not increased significantly since the mortgage was granted. Ley 12/2023 introduced additional higher income thresholds — up to five times the IPREM — for households with minor children, disabled members, large families (familias numerosas under Ley 40/2003), or single-parent households.

The Comisión de Control del Código de Buenas Prácticas meets quarterly, includes representatives of the Ministerio de Economía, Comercio y Empresa, the Banco de España, the Consejo General del Poder Judicial, and consumer associations, and reports annually to the Cortes Generales on implementation. The Banco de España's Departamento de Conducta de Entidades (formerly Servicio de Reclamaciones) supervises individual complaint proceedings against lenders who fail to apply the CBP correctly.

Forms-legal.com provides this template to enable mortgage debtors in Spain to formally invoke their rights under RDL 6/2012, Ley 1/2013, and Ley 12/2023, address the application to the relevant lending institution or servicer, and attach the required documentation evidencing financial vulnerability.

A Social Mortgage Assistance Application in Spain becomes necessary when a mortgage debtor faces genuine risk of losing their habitual residence due to default or imminent default on mortgage payments. The most urgent scenario arises when the lender has issued a formal payment demand (requerimiento de pago) under Article 693 of the Ley de Enjuiciamiento Civil (LEC), triggering the 20-day response period before the lender can initiate formal foreclosure (ejecución hipotecaria) proceedings at the competent Juzgado de Primera Instancia.

Beyond acute foreclosure risk, the application is appropriate when a borrower has experienced a significant and verifiable income reduction. Common triggering circumstances under the CBP framework include: unemployment (desempleo) certified by the Servicio Público de Empleo Estatal (SEPE) with a certificate showing exhaustion of prestación por desempleo or proximity to exhaustion; temporary work suspension (ERTE) under Estatuto de los Trabajadores Article 47 with an ERTE notification from the Tesorería General de la Seguridad Social (TGSS); serious illness certified by the INSS or a Mutua Colaboradora affecting the debtor or a dependent family member; divorce or legal separation resulting in a single-income household, with a Convenio Regulador or court order as evidence; or the death of a co-debtor or co-guarantor (avalista) reducing household income below the Article 3 thresholds.

A specific category of applications arises for debtors who were victims of abusive mortgage clauses subsequently declared null by the Tribunal Supremo or the Court of Justice of the European Union. The Tribunal Supremo Sentencia de 25 de marzo de 2015 on cláusulas suelo (mortgage floor clauses) and the CJEU Judgment in Cases C-154/15, C-307/15, and C-308/15 (Gutiérrez Naranjo, 21 December 2016) established that floor clauses are unfair terms under Directiva 93/13/CEE and must be voided with full retroactive restitution. Debtors with outstanding excess payments from abusive floor clauses may combine the assistance application with a reclamation of overcharged amounts as a compensación de deuda through the lender's Servicio de Atención al Cliente (SAC) or the Banco de España's complaint channel.

The application is also required when debtors seek access to the social rent option (alquiler social) following dación en pago under Article 3.d RDL 6/2012 and the extended provisions of Ley 12/2023 Article 20, which give qualifying families the right to remain in their former home as tenants for up to seven years at a rent capped at a percentage of household income. The Ministerio de Transportes, Movilidad y Agenda Urbana publishes the Índice de Referencia de Precios de Alquiler used to benchmark the social rent cap under the new framework. Failure to formally submit the assistance application in writing prevents the debtor from accessing these statutory protections, as lenders are required to document each case under their obligations to the Banco de España.

All applications should be submitted by burofax (Correos' certified communication service with delivery confirmation and content certification) or by certified post (correo certificado con acuse de recibo) to the lender's official registered address and — where the mortgage has been securitised or sold — to the servicer's registered address. Creating an evidential record of the submission date is critical, as Article 5 RDL 6/2012 provides that the lender cannot initiate or continue foreclosure proceedings during the one-month evaluation period from receipt of the complete application.

A complete Social Mortgage Assistance Application for Spain under RDL 6/2012 and Ley 1/2013 requires the following essential components to satisfy the Banco de España's supervisory framework and the CBP's documentation requirements.

**Debtor Identification.** Full name and DNI/NIE of all mortgage debtors (deudores hipotecarios) and guarantors (avalistas or fiadores), the full address of the mortgaged property (vivienda habitual subject to the mortgage), the mortgage loan reference number (referencia del préstamo hipotecario) as it appears in the most recent lender statement, the lending institution's name and CIF or, if the mortgage has been securitised, the servicer's name (e.g. Altamira Asset Management, Haya Real Estate, Anticipa, Lindorff/Intrum), and the current outstanding debt balance (capital pendiente de amortización) with accrued interest.

**Family Unit Composition (Unidad Familiar).** Documentation of all household members establishing the family unit for Article 3 RDL 6/2012 assessment. Required attachments include: certificado de empadronamiento municipal (Padrón Municipal de Habitantes) from the Ayuntamiento confirming all household residents and their registration dates; libro de familia or civil registration certificates (certificados del Registro Civil) for children and marriage; disability certificates (certificados de discapacidad o dependencia) from the IMSERSO or the autonomous community social services (Consejería competente) where applicable; and any court orders establishing dependency obligations (pensiones alimenticias, convenios reguladores de divorcio).

**Income and Asset Documentation.** Demonstrating compliance with Article 3 RDL 6/2012 income thresholds requires: the three most recent nóminas or payslips for employed debtors, or the SEPE certificate (Modelo RE-1 or prestación de desempleo certificate) for unemployed debtors confirming the current benefit amount; the most recently filed IRPF declaration (Modelo 100) as submitted to the AEAT; a certificación negativa de bienes inmuebles from the Registro de la Propiedad confirming no other real estate assets are owned by any household member (obtainable through the Colegio de Registradores); and bank statements from all accounts held by household members for the preceding three months.

**Mortgage Payment Burden Calculation.** A calculation demonstrating that the current monthly mortgage payment (cuota hipotecaria mensual) exceeds 50 percent of total net monthly household income — the central eligibility threshold under Article 3.c RDL 6/2012. The Banco de España's Guía de Acceso al Préstamo Hipotecario recommends presenting a detailed monthly expense schedule (presupuesto familiar mensual) alongside the calculation to provide context for the vulnerability assessment.

**Relief Requested.** A precise statement of the phase of CBP relief sought: (a) Phase 1 reestructuración — specifying the requested carencia de capital duration and interest rate reduction under the CBP schedule; (b) Phase 2 medidas complementarias — requesting a partial capital write-down (quita) if restructuring would still leave the payment above the 50 percent threshold; or (c) Phase 3 dación en pago with social rent continuation under Articles 3.d and 3.e RDL 6/2012 and Ley 12/2023 Article 20, specifying the social rent duration requested (up to seven years for qualifying vulnerable families).

**Data Protection Notice.** Under RGPD (Reglamento (UE) 2016/679) Article 6.1(c) and Ley Orgánica 3/2018 (LOPDGDD), the lending institution processes the debtor's personal and financial data as data controller for CBP compliance purposes. Data subject rights — access, rectification, deletion, restriction, portability — are exercisable before the entity's Data Protection Officer (DPO) and ultimately before the Agencia Española de Protección de Datos (AEPD). The forms-legal.com template includes the required RGPD Article 13 data protection notice and also incorporates the SEPA authorisation for any modified direct debit arrangements under a restructured payment plan.