The seventh edition of the “Owner Confidence” barometer by the Lisbon Owners Association also concluded that 12.7% of home owners want the repeal of all measures in the More Housing package.
More than two in ten (20.2%) owners in Portugal want the new Government’s first measure to be to end the rent freeze and liberalize the rental market. The XXIV Constitutional Government takes office this Tuesday and property owners left some messages to Luís Montenegro’s Executive in the seventh “Confiança dos Proprietários” barometer of the Lisbon Owners Association (ALP).
When asked what the new Government’s first measure should be, 15.8% of owners ask to be seen as private partners and not as “enemies”. This is followed by a request for a tax shock on rentals (13.5%), with a reduction in taxation on real estate assets, and the repeal of all measures from the More Housing package (12.7%).
The overwhelming majority (96%) of homeowners went to the polls, with 66% voting for right-wing parties. Perhaps for this reason, 44% of property owners defend a coalition between the three right-wing parties (AD, Chega and Liberal Initiative). However, opinions are divided: 43% are satisfied with the election results and 39.5% are not.
“The first weeks and months of the new legislature will be decisive in delivering unequivocal signals to property owners that the State is once again a good person. The end of the rent freeze must be the priority measure, due to its symbolism, to restore the confidence of property owners. An organization independent of the State has quantified how much harm private landlords annually, who have no obligation to ensure a social function that only the State is responsible for”, warns the president of the ALP.
For Luís Menezes Leitão, “this barometer shows that landlords just want justice, balance and to be part of a solution that allows more housing for everyone, supporting the viability and longevity of this new political cycle that is now beginning”.
If 45% do not believe that this legislature will come to an end, another 46% give the benefit of the doubt to the Government led by Luís Montenegro, responding with a “maybe” to its longevity, according to the association’s analysis.
According to the sample, which included more than 500 responses, 21.4% of respondents decided not to increase their income in 2024 by the 6.94% coefficient allowed by law. Around a third of the respondents did not do so because they had mutually agreed another annual coefficient in the lease contract, but 14% preferred another percentage increase because they thought that the coefficient determined by INE for 2024 could put their tenants in default.
In fact, the value of non-compliance has remained high in the seven editions of the ALP barometer: almost a quarter of landlords (23.6%) deal with late payment of rent by their tenants and around half (48.7%) %) is even considering moving forward with eviction, according to this sample survey, whose interviews were carried out between the 14th and 22nd of March.
