Landlords in limbo as rent reduction platform stalls despite law taking effect
A new system meant to make cheaper rental properties available across Portugal remains blocked more than two weeks after it became law. The Regime Simplificado do Arrendamento Acessível (RSAA) entered force on 1 September 2026, but landlords cannot yet join because the government has not published the decree that sets maximum rent limits, and the online platform to register properties is not operational.
Patrícia Gonçalves Costa, the Secretary of State for Housing, told journalists in Lisboa that the necessary decree would be published in the coming days. She was speaking after the public presentation of the Association for Housing and Development for Portugal (Associação Habitação e Desenvolvimento Por Portugal).
Once the decree is published, the Portal da Habitação platform, managed by the Institute for Housing and Urban Rehabilitation (IHRU), will be ready, she said.
A platform designed but still shut
The RSAA replaces the earlier Programme for Rental Support (PAA), which was widely considered a failure. The previous scheme produced only just over a thousand contracts. The new regime aims to cut bureaucracy and increase the supply of homes at reduced rents.
The law requires landlords to set rent at no more than 80% of the median rental value per square metre, as published by the National Statistics Institute (INE) for each municipality. However, the decree still pending will set the specific maximum rent for each contract based on factors including property type, energy certification, and whether there is parking or an annex.
Without these published limits, landlords cannot calculate the maximum rent for their property and therefore cannot decide whether to join the scheme.
Costa acknowledged the delay but said the platform had been designed and only awaited the regulations. The law changed after the original platform design, which required adjustments, and the IHRU is upgrades to its technology and digital systems, she said.
The decree-law that created the RSAA, published on 20 May 2026, stated that the electronic platform adaptations needed to apply the regime would be available by 1 September 2026.
No tax without the platform
The scheme offers a powerful incentive for landlords: exemption from personal income tax (IRS) or corporate income tax (IRC) on rental income, provided the rent stays below the limits to be set by the decree.
Once a contract is deemed eligible, the landlord only has to submit it on the IHRU platform, which will then pass the information to the Tax Authority (Autoridade Tributária) to apply the tax exemption.
Contract terms have also been relaxed. Minimum contract duration is now three years for permanent residence, down from five. For temporary residence, the minimum is three months, renewable. Compulsory insurance requirements from the old scheme have also been dropped.
Owners' association: platform only simplifies when it exists
The Lisbon Association of Property Owners (Associação Lisbonense de Proprietários) criticised the lack of regulation essential for landlords to join. In a note to members, it said an electronic platform only simplifies a procedure when it exists and is prepared to execute it.
The association warned that without the decree establishing the maximum rent values tied to property characteristics, landlords cannot evaluate whether to participate. The law ultimately answers a money question for anyone with a property to rent: how to get a tax exemption, and at what rent level. The answer remains on hold.
