While Spain blocks evictions, Portugal forges on with bill to hasten them

Portugal's Housing Crisis and Stakeholder Reactions

Background: Housing Affordability and Market Challenges

       Portugal faces one of Europe's worst housing crises, with rents for new leases nearly doubling since 2017 and becoming unaffordable for many households.

      The government says more than 250,000 homes remain empty because legal uncertainty discourages owners from renting them out, but tenants' groups argue the reform would only deepen the crisis.

Tenants' Associations' Criticism

      "This reform proposal is sheer savagery," Antonio Machado, head of  the Lisbon Tenants' Association, told Reuters, saying that it would "further skew the rental market in favour of landlords" and only lead to higher rents rather than alleviate the housing affordability crisis.

     He also dismissed the government's plans to speed up evictions as "pure opportunism", arguing that cases involving tenants defaulting on rent are negligible. 

Chega Party's Position and Proposed Modifications

      Chega has said it wants to modify some provisions before the final vote that it said would create uncertainty for both tenants and landlords and called for "a more balanced solution".

Key Statistics and Reform Details

      The country of about 11 million people has around a million rented homes, with more than 23% of leases over 20 years old.

      The reform would speed up evictions by cutting the rent arrears threshold from three months to two months and allowing landlords to evict tenants who repeatedly pay their rent more than eight days late. It would also end a 2% cap on rent increases this year for properties rented out within the previous five years.