A masoveria contract is a

Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...

institution dating back to the tenth century and still in wide practice. It is a form of

sharecropping Sharecropping is a legal arrangement with regard to agricultural land in which a landowner allows a tenant to use the land in return for a share of the crops produced on that land. Sharecropping has a long history and there are a wide range ...

by which the owner of a rural farm commissions a natural person (''masover'', or tenant farmer) to work in the farm in exchange for a percentage of the results of the crop or farm production. It usually involves also the right to live on the estate, often in a property different from the main building, properly known as ''masoveria''. Within the ''masoveria'' concept there are contracts that do not involve farming but refer to other services related with the running or the maintenance of a property, such as gardener, cook, driver, etc. In the twenty-first century the

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...

concept is getting expanded into what is called masoveria urbana, which is basically an interpretation of the rural ''masoveria'' institution applied to urban real estate. It consists in the right to live on someone else's property in exchange for repairs and improvements of the estate. Faced with the bursting of the housing bubble and the impact of its economic consequences since 2008, many social groups have been looking for alternative, more supportive and sustainable ways to guarantee their

right to housing The right to housing (occasionally right to shelter) is the economic, social and cultural right to adequate housing and shelter. It is recognized in some national constitutions and in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and International C ...

. The idea is that the owner of an unoccupied building or house assigns the right to live in the property to a person or group of people whom, in exchange for not paying rent, undertake to renovate and / or keep the house in good condition. In fact, it is a system that benefits both parties: on the one hand, it allows people without resources to find alternatives to housing beyond sheltered housing, which is also in short supply; on the other hand, it gives the owner the opportunity to ensure that his property receives maintenance while contributing to a social purpose. Many cities and towns in

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the north ...

have adhered to this idea and give advice and procure assistance to set up such contracts.

History

Established at the beginning of the

Catalan counties The Catalan counties ( ca, Comtats Catalans, ) were the administrative Christian divisions of the eastern Carolingian ''Hispanic Marches'' and the southernmost part of the Septimania, March of Gothia in the Pyrenees created after their rapid conqu ...

independence from

Frankish Frankish may refer to: * Franks, a Germanic tribe and their culture ** Frankish language or its modern descendants, Franconian languages * Francia, a post-Roman state in France and Germany * East Francia, the successor state to Francia in Germany ...

rule (tenth century), it drew from its

gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

predecessor, derived in its turn from the

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institution of the ''apartiarius'', or ''sharing parts''. Historically this figure has been primarily used in those territories where direct farming was less profitable. By means of the ''masoveria'', owners of large estates ensured the maximum possible yield of their possessions by means of the atomisation of the unit of exploitation, and especially by means of sharing risks with a direct exploiter absolutely dependent of the profitability of this exploitation.

References

* {{cite book , author= Sòria i Ràfols, Ramon , title= Diccionari Barcanova d'història de Catalunya , publisher= Barcanova , location=Barcelona , year=1989 , isbn= 978-8475334578 Agriculture Contract law Livestock