The new state budget (OE2023) includes changes to be made concerning the New Urban Lease Scheme (NRAU), which has been in force since 2006, having undergone changes in 2012. In the OE2023, the Government states that it will “evaluate” the NRAU in 2023. This means that old rents (prior to 1990) can be transferred to the current lease regime, that is, they will no longer frozen and will be updated, in the same way other rental agreements are.

According to Público, the current version of the NRAU, in force since 2012, defined that old lease contracts (entered into before 1990), whose tenants were over 65 years old, disabled or proved to have a gross annual income of less than five minimum wages, could only transition to the new regime at the end of a transition period then set at five years. This period was, however, extended to 10 years.

The publication also adds that the decision, by the Government, whether or not to keep old rents frozen will be taken after publication, in the Diário da República, of the report that will be prepared by the Housing and Urban Rehabilitation Observatory following the most recent census. This report must be presented to the Government within 120 days after the publication of the aforementioned data, which should take place in November. In other words, the report must be presented by May 2023, and until that month, at least, the suspension of updating old rents will be in effect.