Among the 120 vacant properties, there are nine ready to live in. The remaining 111 need work that should take place this year and in 2024 and 2025.
The State, through the Housing and Urban Rehabilitation Institute (IHRU), will lease 120 vacant Social Security properties at affordable prices, the Ministry of Housing (MH) tells Pp.
And among the 120 vacant properties – located in municipalities from north to south of the country but mainly in the municipalities of Lisbon, Porto and Gaia – there are “nine” that “are practically ready to be inhabited”, the ministry led by Marina Gonçalves also informs Pp.
The remaining 111 properties, says the MH, will undergo rehabilitation “with work taking place in 2023, 2024, and 2025.”
This measure is included in the resolution, approved in a Council of Ministers meeting on May 18, to include in the Mais Habitação program “the vacant housing properties under the free income regime of Social Security that are under the management of the Institute of Financial Management of Social Security.
The investment in the construction work is the responsibility of the IHRU but the properties remain the property of the Institute of Financial Management of Social Security. And the rental of these houses, says the MH, will follow the rules of the future program Rent to Sublease.
According to the rules presented by the Government, the “Rent to Sublet” program – one of the measures included in the “More Housing” package – is aimed at middle-class households, with priority given to situations where there is a drop in income of more than 20% in relation to the previous month or to the same period in the previous year, to single-parent families, and to young people up to the age of 35.
Through this program, the State will propose the voluntary rental of properties to private individuals, especially vacant houses that are ready to live in, to subsequently sublet them at a rent that translates into a maximum effort rate of 35% of the household’s income. In this case the 120 Social Security properties belong to the State.
Households of one person whose maximum gross annual income is equal to or less than the 6th bracket of the IRS, i.e. up to 38,632 euros per year or 2,759 euros per month, are eligible for this program. Households of two persons whose maximum gross annual income is equal to or less than the 6th income bracket of the IRS, plus 10 thousand euros, or households of more than two persons whose maximum gross annual income is equal to or less than the 6th income bracket of the IRS, plus 10 thousand euros, and 5 thousand euros for each additional person, may also apply for the “Arrendar para Subarendar” program.
The dwellings will be assigned to the tenants by a lottery drawn by the IHRU, which will always be the tenant, and the lease will never be for less than three years.
To the owner of the property, the IHRU pays a monthly rent that, at most, exceeds up to 30% of the average values fixed per type and per municipality where the property is located.
