The Lisbon Owners Association (ALP) will contact the competent authorities to request an inspection of the constitutionality of the More Housing legislative package so that the Constitutional Court can assess the diploma, as “it should have already been done”, goes to DN/Dinheiro Vivo President Luís Menezes Leitão.
The official repeats Cavaco Silva’s speech, pointing out that “the state cannot be transformed into a real estate agent, which intends to broker leases, acquire properties, much less destroy private leases”. For example, compulsory renting and setting rent ceilings, including in new contracts, are two of the program’s measures that landlords consider “very violent.”
“The president of the republic should have sent the diploma to the Constitutional Court, because the political veto can easily be overridden by parliament, as long as it reconfirms the document,” notes the president of the ALP, who regrets that the president from now on The head of state is obliged to implement this.
It should be recalled that, hours after Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa vetoed the diploma, the parliamentary leader of the Socialist Party (PS), Eurico Brilhante Dias, informed the country on Monday that, despite the president’s disagreement, the decree approving measures in the field of housing, which was approved on July 19 only with a positive vote of the PS, will be reaffirmed.
In the words of the representative of Lisbon’s owners: “This government’s policy does not serve the country and only exacerbates the massive housing crisis”. And the mere announcement of the measures, he says, has already sparked an upheaval in activity, with landlords becoming less and less confident about putting their homes on the rental market – many “ended the contracts they had and didn’t go back to signing new ones because they are afraid of getting caught in a trap of frozen lace”.
The prediction of the ALP is that the current situation – of “fewer houses and more expensive rents” – will worsen once the diploma comes into effect and that on the other hand “huge lawsuits will arise in this area, including due to the measures of forced leasing, which some chambers are willing to apply”.
In this sense, and to defend that the alternative involves greater liberalization of the rental market, Luís Menezes Leitão proposes to “give the way back” and bet again on the private sector, which currently operates in about 98% of homes in Portugal, allowing it to work on its own and not bother it.
In addition to the effort it will make with the competent authorities, with a view to an assessment by the Constitutional Court, the ALP also puts into perspective the actions of the European Commission, especially with regard to local housing measures – “which seem to contradict with the provisions of Articles 49 and 56 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, as well as the Directive on Services in the Internal Market” – and even admits to having brought the issue of rent before the European Court, which “ appears to be contrary to European law”. Convention on Human Rights”.
“Devastating” consequences for the AL
Considering that the measures envisaged in the Mais Habitação legislative package violate the “important law” of local accommodation (AL), as well as European rules regarding the right to economic activity, the Associação do Alojamento defends Local Porto e Norte (ALPN) also that the diploma must be brought to the Constitutional Court.
This position corresponds to that already expressed by the Associação do Alojamento Local in Portugal (ALEP), which on Monday threatened to appeal to national and European courts if the PS confirmed the decree in parliament. In a statement, the sector representative strongly criticized and drew attention to “a government and a parliamentary group that abuses an absolute majority and does not respect the will of society.”
“In our perspective, this diploma violates Directive 2006/123/EC of the European Union, namely by not allowing the provider of local accommodation to develop its service activities in the internal market,” emphasizes the ALPN, with which the expectation is reconfirmed that ultimately, for example, the European Commission does not pass the diploma.
Failing this, the adoption of the housing package — which, among other things, allows condominiums to terminate or not accept their AL — provides an extraordinary contribution to activity and imposes a five-year expiration date for permits from 2030. – will have “devastating” consequences not only for the sector, but also for the rest of the economy, the North association warns.
Immediately the “extinction of much of the local accommodation on horizontal terrain”, which “represents about 70% of the total supply”. Then the economic and social consequences that these closures will have for the “60,000 families dependent on the activity”. Finally, the knock-on effect on the local economy (such as hospitality, small businesses, tourist guides, and cleaning companies), “whose success or failure is directly related to the LA industry,” and the “drop in productivity in the tourism industry.”
Source: DN
