Old lease contracts will, as expected, be permanently excluded from the New Urban Lease Regime (NRAU), thus remaining permanently frozen. However, rents relating to these contracts will now be updated annually, in accordance with inflation, contrary to what happens today, where updates can only be made according to the tenants’ gross annual income.
Since the entry into force of the NRAU, in 2012, the transition from leases prior to 1990 to the current legal regime has remained suspended, provided that tenants meet one of three requirements: be 65 years of age or older; have a proven degree of disability equal to or greater than 60%; or have a corrected gross annual income (RABC) less than five times the annual national minimum wage (RMNA, which, in 2023, corresponds to 53,200 euros).
Now, as reported by PÚBLICO, the Government has decided that, in the cases described above, the suspension of the transition of these contracts to the NRAU will no longer be transitory and will be definitive.
This is made explicit in the proposed law now placed in public consultation, within the scope of the legislative package created to respond to the housing crisis. “Lease contracts do not transfer to the NRAU, (…), if the tenant invokes and proves that: he is aged 65 years or older or is disabled with a proven degree of disability equal to or greater than 60%; or that he resides for more than five years in the leased spouse, de facto partner or relative of the tenant in the first degree of the straight line, who meets one of the conditions set out in the previous paragraph, with the household’s RABC being less than five RMNA”, can be read on the diploma.
But, on the other hand, the rents of these old contracts – which, currently, can be updated according to maximum limits defined according to the annual income of the families – will now be able to be updated according to the annual updating coefficients foreseen by law for most lease agreements. These coefficients are defined according to the inflation rate.
At the same time, landlords on these old leases will be compensated for their freeze. On the one hand, they will be exempt from IRS taxation on property income, as well as IMI. On the other hand, they will benefit from monetary compensation “for rents not charged to tenants”, the amount and method of calculation of which have not yet been defined.