MPs have voted to extend support for the rental sector, both private and commercial, until September 1.
The intention is to give families and businesses barred from reopening their doors more ‘breathing space’.
The moratorium on cuts to essential services (gas, electricity, water and electronic communications) has also been extended to September 30.
Said Housing minister Ana Pinho, the government sees rental support as ‘essential’ to avoid an increase in new situations of habitational precarity.
In the case of commercial premises, the draft law – approved by PS Socialists, Bloco de Esquerda, PAN and lone MP Joacine Katar Moreira- proposes that once these finally get the green-light to return to business, they will only have to start paying rent after the first month of activity.
Support for landlords who can show they have lost over 35% of their habitual rental income is also to continue for the same time period.
Says Rádio Renascença, “in the preamble to the draft law, PS MPs stressed that in spite of the return to activity started with the deconfinement plan many measures taken by the government to mitigate the impact of Covid-19 in the economy are still necessary as they are directed at groups with income reductions over recent months”.
