INCOMING LEGISLATION is set to hand increased powers to landlords.
The new urban rent law, approved last week in the Council of Ministers, stipulates guidelines for updating rents agreed before 1990. Landlords will not have direct access to tenants’ tax declarations, but they will now be able to request information from the Finanças (tax offices) about their income. In particular, landlords will be able to check if tenants have income above or below that of 15 monthly instalments of the national minimum salary (SMN-Salário Mínimo Nacional). The new law determines that if the tenant has income above 15 SMN’s, the rent can be increased within two years. If their income is below this level, then the increased rent can only be phased in over a five-year period. Tenants over the age of 65 or with a total annual income below five SMN’s will have their rents increased over a 10-year period.
