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Lusa - Business News - Portugal: Main points of the 'More Housing' programme
Lisbon,March.24,2023(Lusa)-The public consultation of the second part of the More Housing programme ends on Friday, and the approval of the respective proposals is foreseen for the 30 March cabinet meeting. Here are some of the measures in the proposal that the government has set out for in public consultation and which will be sent to the parliament. +++ Limitations to the increase of the rent of the new contracts The value of the initial rent of the new contracts of houses which have been on the rental market in the last five years cannot exceed 2% in relation to the previous one. Over and above this amount, the automatic update coefficients of the three previous years can be added (in case they have not been applied), with 5,43% accepted in relation to 2023. +++ Older rents updated by inflation +++ The old rental contracts (before 1990), which have not been transferred to the New Urban Rental Regime (NRAU), will be updated in line with inflation and will benefit from an income tax and council rates exemption. A compensation payment to landlords is also foreseen. +++ State rents houses to sublet them +++ To increase the number of houses in the rental market, the state proposes to rent vacant houses to private individuals and then sublease them, with a maximum effort rate of 35% for the tenant. The rent between the state and the landlord will be freely established if the value is not 30% higher than the general limits of the rent price applicable in the Affordable Rental Support Programme (PAA). If a rent price superior to the PAA's limits (and up to the 30% referred) is agreed upon, the landlord will have no tax benefits. The lease contracts will have a minimum duration of five years, renewable for an equal period if neither of the parties opposes. +++ Single Window for Renting +++ The government wants to create a one-stop shop that aggregates the Injunction Services in Lease Matters (SIMA) and the National Lease Collection Centre (BNA) to simplify procedures and harmonise the functioning of these mechanisms. +++ State will pay rents in arrears after three months of non-compliance +++ The state will replace the tenant and will pay rent after three months of default to strengthen the rental market. This way, the state will evaluate the tenant's situation. It will be able to proceed to the collection of the defaulted values using the means currently existing for the collection of other debts. If the default is due to a lack of funds, the case will be handed over to Social Security and removed from the BNA. +++ Capital gains from houses sold to the state and municipalities exempt from income tax +++ Capital gains resulting from the sale of properties to the state or municipalities are now exempt from Personal Income Tax (IRS), with only those earned by residents on the list of territories and countries that Portugal classifies as tax havens remaining outside this measure. Currently, 50% of the capital gain generated has to be included with the remaining income and is subject to the progressive IRS rates. +++ Incentives to move houses from short-term lets to rented accommodation +++ The houses currently used as short-term lets, which are transferred to the rental market, will have income tax exemption on the rents until 31 December 2030. For this, the lease contract must be entered into until 31 December 2024, and only properties with an accommodation registration until 31 December 2022 are eligible. +++ Suspension of new short-term let licences and expiry of registrations +++ The issuance of new short-term let licenses will be suspended until 31 December 2030, except zones for rural accommodation. In addition, the government's draft law provides that registrations issued on the date the new rules come into force will expire on 31 December 2030 but will be renewable for five years after that. This expiry does not apply when the short-term let establishments "constitute a real guarantee for loan agreements entered into on a date before the law entered into force" if the loan is not fully paid off by 31 December 2030. +++ Condominium owners may oppose short-term lets +++ The condominium owners may fight the short-term lets in the units of buildings or parts of urban buildings if this is the decision of more than half of the building's per mileage. Such non-opposition cannot occur if the building title provides for such use (short-term let). +++ Extraordinary Contribution to Property Investment +++ Short-term lets will now pay an extraordinary contribution whose taxable base is made up by applying an economic coefficient (which considers the area of the property and the income) and urban pressure. The rate applicable to this taxable base is 35%. The taxable patrimonial value (VPT) for IMI purposes of houses in local accommodation is always equal to 1, no longer benefiting from the reduction of the coefficient accompanying the property’s age. +++ Forced rental of vacant houses +++ This is one of the measures which has generated the most criticism and consists of the possibility for the state, for reasons of public interest, to lease vacant houses and pay rent to the owner. Holiday homes, homes which are vacant because the respective owner is in a home or providing permanent care as an informal carer, and those of emigrants, as well as those of people displaced for professional, health or training reasons, are not considered vacant for this purpose. The owner will have a period (equivalent to 100 days) to put the house to use before it is placed on a forced lease. The law that defines a vacant house already foresees that water, electricity, gas and telecommunications companies send the local councils a list with consumption information. The government's proposal adds that this list will now obligatorily include the identification of the land register of each building. +++ Tax benefits for works on affordable rental housing +++ The government wants to increase the number of houses available in the accessible lease programme (PAA), so a VAT rate of 6% is foreseen in the construction or rehabilitation works of houses which are mainly allocated to this programme (at least 70%), as well as IMI exemption for three years (extendable for another five years) and IMT exemption in the acquisition for rehabilitation. +++ Tenants may communicate lease contracts to the tax authorities +++ Tenants will be able to tell the tax authorities about the lease contracts, sub-lease contracts, promises and respective alterations or termination if the landlord does not do it. +++ Exemption of capital gains on the sale of the property to pay loans +++ The programme provides for the exemption of capital gains in the sale of family properties provided that the value is destined to pay off the loan of the owner's own and permanent home or his descendants. This exemption covers properties whose sale occurs between 1 January 2023 and 31 December 2024. +++ Reduction from 28% to 25% of the special IRS rate on rents +++ The income from rent (when the taxpayer does not opt for its aggregation) will now pay an income tax rate of 25% instead of the current 28%. In addition, the reduction in the tax rate that already exists for longer-term contracts is also reduced, and for the longer term (over 20 years), it drops from the current 10% to 5% but will cease for those that last between two and five years. +++ End of 'golden' visas +++ Golden visas will no longer be granted for the acquisition of real estate, with the government's proposal making some adjustments to the renewal (every two years) of those already given, foreseeing, namely, that this will only happen if the real estate is used as the owner's or descendant's own and permanent residence or if it is placed on the rental market for own and permanent residence for a period of no less than five years. +++ Conversion of commercial and service properties into housing+++ The possibility is foreseen of automatically changing the use of commercial or service properties into residential properties, dispensing with the need to review land use plans or the housing permit, provided that it is at controlled costs. +++ Land or buildings made available to housing cooperatives +++ The government also foresees the availability of land or public buildings to housing cooperatives for construction or reconversion into houses for accessible rent. +++ Simplification of licensing +++ The architecture projects shall be licensed only based on the designers' terms of responsibility, and the public entities shall be penalised in case of delays in issuing opinions. +++ €250 M for housing at controlled costs +++ The programme foresees the approval of a credit line, with mutual guarantee and interest rate subsidy, for affordable housing projects, namely construction or rehabilitation and for the acquisition of the property, which must be placed on the rental market. The houses developed with recourse to this support are allocated to affordable rentals for at least 25 years, with the possibility of a longer term being established in the rental contract, after which the municipalities and the IHRU have the right of preference in their acquisition. The entities that may apply for this measure are cooperatives, commercial, civil construction companies, municipalities, misericórdias or other social solidarity institutions. +++ €150 M line for municipalities to carry out coercive works +++ The creation of a €150 million financing line through Banco Português de Fomento is foreseen so that municipalities may carry out coercive works, reinforcing the fulfilment of the prerogatives of the local authorities within the scope of the Legal Regime of Urbanisation and Construction. LT/ADB // ADB. Lusa Agency : LUSA Date : 2023-03-25 11:41:00
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