Portugal's president Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa announced on 30 October the promulgation of the More Housing package, paving the way for new golden visa rules to take effect within days.
According to the Portugal News he said that he "prefers something rather than nothing". and "I promulgated it because the Assembly [of the Republic] confirmed it and I had eight days to promulgate it."
"I hope it goes well. Regulate the laws quickly and move forward with what constitutes an important goal for the end of the legislature".
He further said there is little time left until the end of the legislature and that "putting in place" a housing policy and implementing it on several fronts takes time.
"It involves local authorities, it includes the preparation of projects, it involves administrative contracting, it involves a series of realities, some of which are already underway and others will have to advance quickly.".
The law will go through to Portugal's parliament for the formal signatures and an expected window of between 4-8 days according to experts before it becomes law.
If Mais Habitação goes well, it is "good news for everyone", he stressed.
If the Government can, based on this law, satisfy the "wants of thousands and thousands of Portuguese people, it is good" and a democratic way of solving problems, he considered.
On the 22nd, parliament approved the Mais Habitação program without changes, with only the PS's favourable vote, in a review after the veto of the President of the Republic.
The confirmation of the decree, which approves measures in the area of housing, making several legislative changes, was made possible by the absolute majority of the PS, with votes against from the PSD, Chega, Liberal Initiative, PCP and Bloco de Esquerda (BE), and abstention from the Livre and People-Animals-Nature (PAN), repeating the program's final global vote in July.
The decree of the Assembly of the Republic involves legislative changes in terms of leasing, local accommodation, vacant properties and taxes.
Contested measures
The most contested measures are the suspension of the registration of new local accommodation outside low-density territories and an extraordinary contribution on this business, the forced rental of houses that have been vacant for more than two years and the imposition of a limit on the value of new rental contracts for houses that are already on the market.
The package also provides for exemption from capital gains taxation for owners who sell houses to the State, the end of new golden visas, an increase in the deduction for dependents under the Family IMI, changes to the autonomous rate of property income and exemptions from taxes for owners who remove their houses from local accommodation by the end of 2024.
