Portugal's Tax-Free Affordable-Rent Scheme Draws About 1,000 Applications, but Only About 200 Are New Leases
The housing secretary of state gave the first take-up figures for the RSAA, which exempts rent under a local ceiling from income tax. Older leases can join, with the benefit only from 1 September. Landlords have until 15 January 2027 to register 2026 leases.
About 1,000 applications have been made to Portugal's new tax-free affordable-rent scheme since it opened on 1 September, and only about 200 of them are new contracts. The Secretary of State for Housing, Patrícia Gonçalves Costa, gave the first take-up figures in the "Conversa Capital" interview with Antena 1 and Jornal de Negócios, reported by RTP on 7 November.
The scheme is the Regime Simplificado de Arrendamento Acessível (Simplified Affordable Rental Regime, RSAA). It replaced the old Programa de Apoio ao Arrendamento (Rental Support Programme), and landlords who let below a municipal rent ceiling pay no income tax on that rent.
Older leases can join, with a catch
Gonçalves Costa said contracts signed before the scheme took effect can also qualify if they meet the requirements, but the tax benefit then runs only from 1 September 2026. Of the roughly 1,000 applications, she said about 200 cover contracts signed from September 2026; the other 800 or so cover older leases.
Leases already registered under the old programme do not need to reapply. Decreto-Lei n.º 97/2026 (Decree-Law 97/2026), which created the RSAA, says they keep the tax treatment they had, under the new scheme's rules on breaches.
How the scheme works
The rules are in Annex III of the decree:
- The rent cap. Monthly rent must be at or below a ceiling for the home's size, based on 80 percent of the median rent the national statistics office (INE) publishes for the municipality. October's ceilings run from 392 euros for a two-bedroom flat to 1,309 euros in Lisbon, as we reported. Service charges are not counted in the cap.
- The term. A lease for a permanent home must run for at least three years. A temporary lease, for a tenant whose tax residence is in another municipality, must run for at least three months.
- The benefit. Rent from a qualifying lease is exempt from personal and corporate income tax (IRS and IRC). It covers renewals and survives a sale of the home while the lease runs. Landlords who opt to aggregate rental income with other income must still include the exempt rent when the tax rate is worked out.
- Who checks. The housing institute (IHRU) verifies compliance. A breach ends the exemption from that point, with back tax plus interest.
The annex sets no income test for tenants of private landlords.
What it means for you
Landlords act after signing. Register the lease on the Portal das Finanças (the tax portal), then, by 15 January of the year after the lease is signed, upload a copy of the contract and proof of that registration to the IHRU's electronic platform. For a lease signed in 2026, that means by 15 January 2027. The IHRU then notifies the tax authority by the end of February, and the exemption applies from the signing date (from 1 September 2026 for older leases, according to the secretary of state).
The tax benefit goes to the landlord, but for tenants a lease under the scheme means a rent at or below the local ceiling and a term of at least three years. The same decree also raises tenants' IRS deduction for rent to 900 euros for 2026 and 1,000 euros from 2027.
The figures come with the wider rental law still unresolved after no deal was reached at São Bento on 5 November. In the same interview, Gonçalves Costa said keeping the cap on rent increases in new contracts made no sense because it was "a dead letter". She also called a Socialist proposal for a rent moratorium to the end of 2027 unviable.
