Ordinance fixing the limit of accessible rents “late” and maintains barriers

A ALP – Lisbon Association of Owners considers that the publication of the ordinance setting the income limits of the Simplified Accessible Renting Scheme (SAR) is the “late compliance” of an obligation and warned for the persistence of obstacles.

In a note sent to Lusa, the association said that this publication, which took place today, constitutes “the late fulfilment of a legal obligation of the Government, almost four months after the deadline for the regulation”, pointing out that “it takes place on the day following the sending of a formal communication from the ALP to the Government in which the Association demanded clarifications on the missing regulation, the operationalization of the regime and the safeguarding of the rights of owners”.

Despite the publication, he warned, “there are still obstacles to membership, with the platform still not available to the owners”, arguing that the “Government has to ensure that they manage to submit contracts and know safely the conditions of access to tax benefits”.

“ Administrative simplification and tax advantage do not eliminate the risk of contractual default,” he said.

For the association, the “withdrawal of safeguards concerning the financial capacity of tenants can even increase this risk — precisely the concern that weighs the most on the decisions of landlords”.

An internal ALP survey, conducted this week, points out that “the fear of contractual default is the most pointed factor in the decision to place or keep a property in the rental market, bringing together 41% of the answers”.

Another 27% point out, in turn, “the need for a fair solution to rents that remain frozen”.

The association argues that these results show that “tax incentives need to be accompanied by answers to problems that condition trust and housing supply”, expressing “concern with the elimination of the tenants’ effort rate criterion”.

According to the association, the previous program provided, as a rule, that “income was between 15% and 35% of the average monthly income of the aggregate”, an “important safeguard for the sustainability of the contract and the prevention of default”.

According to ALP, “the absence of a criterion that relates income to income can increase the risk of default, harming tenants and owners.”.

On the other hand, the association requires “transparency over the calculation of published values”, and the law establishes as reference “80% of the median of the incomes disclosed by the INE for each municipality, but the ordinance does not have a calculation memory that allows reproducing the values of the table”.

In addition, the diploma refers to the “use of reference areas by typology and the limits of the previous program, without explaining the contribution of each element to the final result,” he said, considering that “it is indispensable to disclose the data and the reference period used, the areas considered and the formula applied”.

The ALP points out that “the setting of a single limit per municipality and typology disregards important differences in location and dimension”, pointing out that the parishes of the same municipality do not all have the same real estate value.

At the same time, he warned, properties classified as T0, T1, T2, T3, T4 or higher “can present very different areas within the same typology”, without this directly reflecting on the applicable limit.

“The Association also questions the absence of an increase for furnished and equipped housing, which represent investment and additional costs for owners,” he said.

Although the announcement of the RSAA has aroused the interest of landlords, it continues to “miss a clear answer as to whether contracts already in force, with rents significantly below the new limits, can move immediately” to the scheme and benefit from the tax exemption without having to conclude a new contract.