Government reforms rental laws and corrects property tax errors
The government approved changes to the New Urban Lease Regime (Novo Regime do Arrendamento Urbano or NRAU), allowing landlords to initiate eviction proceedings after two months of rent arrears instead of three. Additionally, the Tax Authority (Autoridade Tributária or AT) admitted to incorrectly charging the Municipal Property Tax (Imposto Municipal sobre Imóveis or IMI) on properties with pre-1990 rental contracts and committed to issuing refunds.
The NRAU is the Novo Regime do Arrendamento Urbano (New Urban Lease Regime), the legal regime that reformed Portugal's urban rental law and governs most residential leases. A ten‑year moratorium on applying some of its rules to older contracts has expired, which has allowed landlords to pursue repossession cases such as the order for Casa Pereira da Conceição to vacate.
Housing fiscal measures are government tax changes or incentives aimed at the property market — examples include changes to property tax (IMI Imposto Municipal sobre Imóveis), stamp or transfer taxes (IMT Imposto Municipal sobre Transmissões Onerosas de Imóveis) and income‑tax (IRS Imposto sobre o Rendimento das Pessoas Singulares) deductions for renovations or rental incentives. The estimated €200–300 million budgetary cost shows the measures have a meaningful impact on public finances and signals whether the government is prioritising tax relief for homeowners, landlords or construction, which can affect property prices and rental markets that matter to expats.
