SPAIN'S Senate has passed a bill to bolster protection for homeowners who are behind on their mortgage payments and face possible foreclosure.

The governing conservative Popular Party on Wednesday pushed the bill through the Senate - just as it did in the lower house - despite a lack of support from the opposition, who wanted to insert a clause to erase the mortgage debt of people who lose their homes.

Under current Spanish legislation, a person who is evicted after defaulting on a mortgage remains liable for the unpaid balance.

Some 20 people affected by home foreclosures protested from the gallery during the Senate vote, holding up signs such as "Stop evictions. No more deaths".

Spain has witnessed a number of eviction-related suicides in recent years.

The activists, who had followed the six hours of debate from the gallery, were removed from the chamber when they began insulting the PP senators.

The bill freezes home evictions for two years in the case of the most vulnerable members of the population, modifies rules governing auctions of foreclosed homes and limits late-payment interest rates.

Debt write-offs for evicted homeowners were part of a popular legislative initiative, or ILP, that reached parliament in February, backed by 1.4 million signatures.

Recession and record 27 per cent unemployment have left many families unable to make mortgage payments on their homes, which in many cases were acquired during a decades-long real-estate boom.