Where Portugal's Rental Law Rewrite Stands: Through Its First Vote, Waiting in Committee, and Dependent on a Written Deal With Chega

The Government's rewrite of Portugal's rental law has cleared its first vote in parliament, but it is not law and nothing has changed yet for tenants or landlords. On Saturday the Socialist leader, José Luís Carneiro, said the only course was to "put the law in the drawer", calling it a "rastilho social" (a social fuse) lit by the governing AD coalition, Chega and the Liberal Initiative (IL), Lusa reported. He spoke as housing and cost-of-living protests took place across the country.

Where the bill is

Proposta de Lei n.º 103/XVII (Government Bill 103) asks parliament for a 180-day authorisation to amend the Novo Regime do Arrendamento Urbano (New Urban Lease Regime, NRAU), the Civil Code and related laws. Parliament's record shows it passed its general vote on 30 September: PSD, IL and CDS-PP for, Chega abstaining, PS, Livre, PCP, BE, PAN and JPP against. It then went to the Comissão de Infraestruturas, Mobilidade e Habitação (Infrastructure, Mobility and Housing Committee) for detailed scrutiny. The committee's agendas for 20 to 22 October carry no item on the bill; on 20 October it votes its report on the 2027 State Budget.

The deal that let it through

Chega abstained after its leader, André Ventura, and the PSD's parliamentary leader, Hugo Soares, signed a written agreement on the day of the vote, according to Lusa. The PSD commits to four changes: limiting the advance rent and deposits the Government would allow; protecting older tenants on pre-1990 contracts, "especially the poorest", with compensation for landlords; strengthening the emergency housing fund; and separating deliberate, repeated non-payment, where eviction should be "quick and effective", from tenants who cannot pay after steep rent rises.

On 14 October Expresso reported that Chega threatened to block the law if the final version did not satisfy it. Carneiro said the PS had put forward an alternative of its own, and ruled out changing its abstention on the 2027 budget over the dispute.

What the authorisation would allow

The bill's "sense and extent" article reaches further than the headline measures we described in September (two months of arrears to end a lease, up to three months of rent in advance, no cap on deposits). It would also let the Government:

• give appeals in cases on the validity or ending of a lease only devolutive effect, so a ruling would take effect even while it is under appeal;
• give landlords six months to act on arrears before losing that ground for ending the lease;
• allow an extraordinary rent rise on pre-1990 contracts held by tenants aged 65 or over, or with a disability of at least 60 percent, capped at one fifteenth of the home's taxable value a year, but only where household income is above five times the annual minimum wage; below that, only the standard yearly update would apply;
• let landlords end an open-ended lease for demolition or major works, by agreement, by paying two years' rent, dropping the minimum tied to the property's value, or by rehousing the tenant on similar terms.

What has to happen before anything changes

Under Article 165 of the Constitution, only parliament can legislate on rental law unless it authorises the Government. The committee must vote the amendments and return a final text for a final overall vote in plenary. The President, António José Seguro, then has 20 days to sign or veto it. Only then can the Government approve the decree-law itself, within 180 days and inside the limits set; the President then has 40 days to sign or veto that. Once it is published, ten MPs can ask parliament within 30 days to amend or revoke it, under Article 169, and parliament may suspend it while it does so.