The coordinator of Bloco de Esquerda (BE) said today that she will propose that the rent increase limit applies not only to existing contracts, but also to new contracts because rents cannot increase “any further”.
“BE, of the various proposals it will make on inflation and housing in this state budget, will propose that the rent increase limit applies not only to current contracts, but also to new contracts,” said Catarina Martins during a visit to the renovated and recently opened Mercado do Bolhao, in Porto.
As she browsed the stalls, listening to complaints from sellers about rising food and energy prices, the blockista said rents can’t go up and housing shouldn’t be a luxury in Portugal.
“It is already [habitação] at an exorbitant price,” he said.
Catarina Martins stressed that the measure announced by the government of António Costa in its anti-inflation package regarding the ‘brake’ on rents, which will have an increase limited to 2% in 2023, “has not been done well” and now “perverse results”.
“The government has determined that rents on leases should not increase by more than 2%, but has not established anything about new contracts, which means that housing contracts are very short these days and there are landlords who prefer to terminate contracts and get a new one for each price they want, which means rents keep going up,” he said.
Therefore, according to the BE coordinator, it is necessary to “correct the error” of the government in this state budget, by establishing that the limit for the rent increase should be in the current contracts as well as in new contracts.
Because if not, the 2% ceiling created is “useless” because it is enough for a landlord to terminate a contract and draft a new one, he insisted.
The law that sets a 2% limit for updating rents before 2023 and creates extraordinary rent support, as part of measures to mitigate the impact of rising prices, was published in Diário da República on October 21.
Under the provisions of Law No. February”, where the coefficient in force in the different types of urban and rural leases covered is 1.02, “without prejudice to the various provisions between the parties”.
Nevertheless, the updated income coefficient (1.02) defined for 2023 is the highest in the past nine years. A coefficient of 1.0043 was applied in 2022 and 0.9997 in 2021.
Source: DN
