SPAIN Law and Practice Contributed by: Alfonso López-Ibor, Pablo Henriquez de Luna, Virginia Jover and Carmen Serrano, López-Ibor DPM
14.2 Growth Areas Recently, there has been a rapid increase in cases relating to electronics payments, crypto-assets claims and disputes, and, broadly speaking, digital fraud. Consumer litigation against local banks is also likely to increase with a new wave of claims for the reim- bursement of notarial costs and charges for mort- gages granted to consumers, including non-Spanish consumers. In addition, the recovery of the real estate market is also leading to an increase in construction claims between lessors and lessees. Recent changes in rental law have made eviction more difficult in certain areas of Spain, while the persistent problem of illegal squatters continues to challenge courts, which strug- gle to efficiently enforce their decisions.
• the arbitrators have decided on matters that may not be subject to arbitration; and/or • the award is contrary to public order. 13.4 Procedure for Enforcing Domestic and Foreign Arbitration For details on the enforcement of arbitral awards, both foreign and domestic, please see 13.1 Laws Regard- ing the Conduct of Arbitration . 14. Outlook 14.1 Proposals for Dispute Resolution Reform Given the recent entry into force of the Organic Law at the time of writing this article (October 2025), the main short-term challenges arise from this circumstance. These challenges may be summarised in the following two principal issues. • The adaptation of Spanish courts to the new struc- ture established by OL 1/2025: although this reform is aimed at bringing the courts closer to citizens, it is not without difficulties. The administration of justice suffers from a shortage of human resources, many of them temporary, which are insufficient to meet the demands imposed by the legislator. • The lack of uniform criteria regarding the admis- sibility requirement under Article 5: given its recent incorporation into the Spanish judicial system, there are still no uniform criteria as to what must be evidenced to fulfil the requirement of attempting to reach an amicable settlement through an ADR mechanism prior to filing a claim. There are judicial districts where courts – such as those in Madrid – have recently published guiding criteria, although this practice remains very limited. The Supreme Court, as the highest judicial authority, has neither issued such guidance nor established case law capable of unifying the practices across the courts of different districts.
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