The Prime Minister, António Costa, stated today that the Government is thinking about establishing a legal limit on increases for the monthly rents of long-term rental contracts in 2024, as has been expected for some time.

We have already reported on this blog that the official rate of increase established by INE is 6.94%, which is the rate that long-term rental contracts could be legally increased if there is no Government intervention.

By law (Artigo 1077.º of the Civil Code), the monthly rent for a renewable contract may be increased by the percentage coefficient published in the Autumn by the National Statistics Institute, INE, based in official inflation rates from August to August.

However, it seems clear that the Government’s intention is to limit that increase, possibly to around 2-4%, which is what was done in 2022 (limit of 2%) for contracts being renewed in 2023.

“Last year we imposed a limit on rent increases and currently the Government is evaluating the situation, to look for a value (%) that will be as close as possible to what is set out in the law. We will calculate the value as close as possible to the families’ possibilities, but knowing that in the future this value will converge with the real value”, stated the Prime Minister.