The Government will make it compulsory to rent vacant houses, will stop the increase of rents in new contracts, will change landlords’ taxes and will alter the rules of credit and local accommodation: what changes in housing

António Costa went to Portugal on Thursday to present a new plan to attack the housing crisis in the country. There are changes in local housing, rental, housing itself, in gold visas, taxes, rules for banks and state support for families. Program has a cost of 900 million euros

The government announced this Thursday a package of measures to help families access housing. Divided into five points of intervention, this is what will change in the real estate market in Portugal.

1. Increase the supply of residential real estate

• Convert the use of real estate from commercial or service to residential use;

• Making state properties available under a Housing Development Contract regime
  _{António Costa: “In the next years we want to conclude 26 thousand new houses in public housing supply”}

2. Simplify licensing processes

• Licensing with a term of responsibility of the designers
  _{António Costa: “This measure of responsibility of the designers will be accompanied by a very hard sanctioning framework”.}
• Default interest for failure to meet licensing deadlines

3. Increase the number of houses on the rental market

• State rents to sublease
  _{António Costa: “The State will pay the rent for five years and pay it in advance”}
• State guarantees payment after 3 months of default (either collect or support or evict)
• Exemption of capital gains on property sales to the State
• Financing for municipalities to carry out coercive works
• Incentive for the transfer of houses in local accommodation(learn here in detail what changes)
  _{António Costa: “What gives specificity and attractiveness to our cities is not to be Disneyland, it is an experience of its own”.}
• Mandatory lease of vacant houses
  _{António Costa: “It is not even about expropriating the property that is vacant, it is about making a compulsory lease and the State will pay the owner a legitimate rent”}
• Affordable rent tax exemption

4. Combat speculation

• End of new gold visas (existing ones may be renewed under certain conditions)
  _{António Costa: “This new regime is the regime that should be the rule, nothing justifies today the exceptionality of the gold visa regime”.}
• Fair rent guarantee in new contracts

5. Protect families

• Exemption of capital gains to amortize home loans for own and descendants
• On housing credit – obligation for banks to offer a fixed rate and protection in interest rate rises in the value of rents.
  _{António Costa: “We know there are banks that are not doing it”.}