Tenants Association Fights Back Against Government Plan to Fast-Track Evictions

Portugal's Tenants Association of Lisbon (AIL) has sharply criticised the government's newly approved plan to accelerate eviction proceedings for unpaid rent, calling the measure disproportionate and warning it could push more families into homelessness at a time when the country's housing crisis shows no sign of easing.

What the Government Proposed

The Council of Ministers approved a package of housing measures last Thursday that includes streamlining the legal process for evicting tenants who fall behind on rent. The government argues that faster court proceedings will give landlords greater confidence to place properties on the rental market, ultimately increasing the supply of available housing.

The package also addresses the long-standing problem of undivided inheritances -- properties stuck in legal limbo because heirs cannot agree on what to do with them. Under the new proposals, a single heir would be able to trigger an arbitration process to unlock the sale or rental of such properties, bypassing the need for unanimous consent among all parties.

The government has said the proposals will be shared with parliamentary parties this week, with the goal of submitting legislation to the Assembly by the end of March.

The Tenants' Objection

AIL vice-president Luis Mendes told the Lusa news agency that the association was caught off guard by the scope of the eviction measures. "We are very critical of this measure and never imagined it would have this amplitude," he said.

Mendes pointed to Ministry of Justice data showing that actual evictions for non-payment remain relatively small in number when set against the more than one million active rental contracts across Portugal. Between January and June 2025, courts processed an average of 130 evictions per month -- up from averages of 89 and 83 per month in 2023 and 2024, respectively. Non-payment of rent is the leading cause.

For the AIL, speeding up evictions does not address the structural causes of the housing crisis. "Simplifying and accelerating evictions is not a structural measure," Mendes said. He warned that without adequate support for evicted families, the policy "will only harm people further," noting that the number of homeless people in Portugal has tripled since 2017. "There are people who work but live in tents or caravans because they cannot afford to pay for a home or even a room."

Housing Protests Planned

The AIL is one of the organisations backing a series of demonstrations organised by the Casa para Viver platform, scheduled for Saturday 21 March in 14 cities across Portugal. The protests aim to draw attention to what organisers describe as an escalating affordability crisis driven by speculative investment, short-term rental proliferation, and insufficient public housing construction.

The association has also renewed its call for rent caps, a policy it argues would cool an overheated market. The government has so far resisted setting maximum rental prices, maintaining that increasing supply rather than regulating prices is the more effective long-term solution.

What It Means for Renters

For the roughly one million households renting in Portugal -- including a significant number of foreign residents -- the debate carries real stakes. Tenants struggling with rising rents in Lisbon, Porto, and the Algarve already face one of the tightest rental markets in the country's recent history. Average asking rents in Lisbon surpassed 1,800 euros per month in early 2026, pricing out many working families.

The government insists that its emergency housing fund, announced alongside the eviction reforms, will provide a safety net for vulnerable tenants. How that fund is structured, funded, and administered will determine whether the promise translates into protection or remains an aspiration.

Parliament is expected to debate the proposals in April.