Assignment of lease – transferring rental contracts from one person to another

Lease assignment involves the transfer of names on a rental contract / Gtres

19 September 2018, 16:43

Do you know what assignment of lease is and in what situations it happens? In today's article for idealista/news by Alerta Deco, the Portuguese Consumer Protection Association, we will explain this topic.

"I have a transfer of rental contract that dates from 2005. Can you tell me what this type of rental is? Even if I'm over 65 years old, am I obliged to make a new contract?"

Assignment of lease means renting a property by transferring the current tenant's name to yours without drawing up a new contract, and it can occur in a variety of situations. If the tenant dies, the rented house is transferred to the spouse's name. When people separate or divorce, the fate of the rented property will be decided in court depending on whether it is the family’s main residence.

In both cases, it is vital that a communication be sent to the property owner, either by registered letter in the post or by e-mail. The communication must identify who sent it, the addressee and the date and clearly state the facts. In the case of the death of the tenant, copies of the death certificate, the declaration of the municipality attesting to the spouse's residence in the property and his or her official identification must also be included.

It is also important to keep copies of all this documentation, because in the absence of communication, the person who is entitled to the transfer may be obliged to compensate the landlord for damages resulting from that omission.

In the particular question from this consumer, it is mentioned that the contract dates back to 2005. However, with the modification of the Urban Leasing Law (Lei do Arrendamento Urbano), rental transfers have become even more restrictive for contracts prior to 2006, as it can only be done once.

The exception is assignment by death between ascendants. In this case, the contract can be transferred twice, for example, from son to father and from father to mother.

The new change in the law has also limited the duration of contracts after their reassignment. We do not know more details about the present case, but in general if this consumer has become a tenant by transfer in the event of the death of an ascendant, and at that time they were under 65 years of age, they can only continue to live in the house for a maximum of two more years.