Lease

The Government has approved a set of rental reforms aimed at tackling Portugal’s housing crisis. It touches on a particularly sensitive issue: speeding up evictions in cases of unpaid rent.

The Porto City Council will cancel 1,413 Local Accommodation (AL) establishments because they are "in breach of regulations," and according to the president of the Local Accommodation Association in Portugal (ALEP), most of the cancellations are concentrated in the historic center.

The housing crisis is pushing lower-wage workers out of the centers of major European capitals, and Lisbon is among the most extreme cases. An analysis by the European Trade Union Confederation concludes that, in almost all capitals of the European Union (EU), the average rent for an apartment with up to two bedrooms exceeds the national minimum wage, forcing those who earn less to move away from the cities. Lisbon is at the top: it is the second capital where rent weighs most heavily on the minimum wage and one of those that has seen the most significant price increases in the last decade.

House rents in Portugal continue to rise, at a faster pace than in other European markets. This makes residential rentals an attractive business for investment in our country.

The National Association of Property Owners (ANP) considered that the 30 measures announced by the Government for housing do not cover “truly important issues”, highlighting that regarding urban leasing “it gives the idea that there is a lack of knowledge of the matter”.

12 people were arrested in Greater Porto on suspicion of scamming hundreds of foreigners in a fictitious rental scheme, in which, posing as property owners, they requested a deposit that could reach 2,400 euros.