Property associations call for tax stability

The Portuguese Association of Real Estate Developers and Investors (APPII) and the Portuguese Association of Estate Agencies and Professionals (APEMIP) has called on the government to stabilise the legal and tax regimes for renting by creating a definitive solution to end rent freezes.

The two entities are concerned that the State Budget for 2022 could include a fresh postponement of a policy to unfreeze fixed rents on pre-1990 contracts.
They say it is “urgent” to stabilise the legal regime for the rental segment of the housing market with the “creation of a definitive solution to end rent freezes”.
“The solution should respect tenants and landlords and bring legal security,” said the president of APEMIP, Paulo Caiado, pointing out that the deadline to free up fixed rents
has already been extended twice over the past two years.
APPII President, Hugo Santos Ferreira stresses the need for an agreement to stabilise the applicable tax regime for the rental market for the long and medium terms via measures which “create investment confidence and dissuade the current model that protects irresponsible tenants who fail to pay their rents.”
On the tax side the associations argue for the end of supplementary property tax (AIMI) which the APPII president slams as one of the “greatest inconsistencies of public housing policy”, i.e., the application of AIMI on properties and land for housing.
Hugo Santos Ferrera also considers that the next budget should include measures to lower the VAT tax rate on new build housing or at least enable it to be tax deductible since this would help stimulate developers to provide more housing in the market and counter rising prices.