Martín López is an Argentine landlord, but in recent years he felt more like a nervous fugitive. Now based in Madrid, he spent much of 2022 and 2023 mired in anxiety and paperwork—not because he did anything immoral, but because Argentina's rental laws made being a landlord a liability.
"Martín López" is an alias. Until late 2023, he rented out his two-bedroom apartment in Buenos Aires' upscale Belgrano neighborhood through a tangle of short-term contracts, never fully sure whether his actions were legal. Argentina's 2020 rent control law, repealed by President Javier Milei in December 2023, had loaded aboveground landlords with unbearable risks.
Many like Martín fled the formal rental market into legal limbo. Empty apartments, housing shortages, and backroom deals defined the sector in Buenos Aires. Tenants scrambled for scarce formal leases, while landlords twisted themselves into knots trying to extract value from their properties without breaking the law.
