This Monday, the President of the Republic promulgated the government decree amending legal regimes in the field of housing, albeit criticizing its content and believing that it should have been submitted to parliament.
The entry into force of this Decree-Law, approved by the Council of Ministers on March 30, was announced through a message on the official website of the Presidency of the Republic on the Internet.
According to Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, “the current diploma should have been submitted to the Assembly of the Republic for political reasons, since it is not only organic or procedural, but rather creates a new sublet leasing regime and is combined in part, with a bill that has just been passed by Parliament”.
On the other hand, it does not take the opportunity to elaborate on the restoration of essential institutions for its application, nor is it waiting for two studies ordered by the government that have already started and that could benefit by its contents,” it criticized the head of state.
According to him, “strictly speaking, this diploma, which has not been awarded in the Assembly of the Republic, should at least await the end of the legislative process that is still in progress”.
“However, given the very short timeframe to implement the ambitious housing program approved by the government, in which more or less six months make a huge difference, and not to put up any obstacles in a degree in which there is no reason in principle or clear unenforceability, the President of the Republic has promulgated the diploma that changes several legal regimes in the field of housing,” justifies Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.
This regulation is part of the legislative package implementing measures of the Mais Habitação program, presented on 16 February and submitted for public consultation.
With regard to the content of this decree, the communiqué of the Council of Ministers of March 30 only mentions that “it amends various legal regimes in the field of housing, which will allow strengthening the conditions for achieving the objectives outlined from the outset , at the implementation of the recovery plan and resilience (PRR)”.
The President of the Republic publicly expressed reservations about the government’s housing package, in particular challenging the intention to legislate on the mandatory rental of vacant housing.
Later, on RTP, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa regretted starting “a little at the end” and said that this decree “could have gone like a package” [com o programa Mais Habitação] because he had the dignity” but justified the determination with the duration of the legislature: “When in doubt, I thought that there is very little time to implement an ambitious program proposed by the government. Three years is too short. I’ve decided not to create obstacles and that’s why I’ve enacted it”.
Source: DN
