More than a third of requests came from Lisbon district
In an electoral campaign marked by social failings in Portugal – particularly when it comes to access to affordable housing – the national rental entity has revealed that last year saw landlords file 2,672 ‘eviction requests’, of which less than half were granted.
BNA (Balcão Nacional de Arrendamento – the national rental entity) only recently replaced BAS (Balcão do Arrendatário e Senhorio – the tenant and landlord entity). But the data is the same: last year saw a 17% increase in the number of landlords seeking to rid their properties of tenants, for a myriad of reasons.
Most of these requests “are due to non-payment of rent”, explains SIC Notícias – and more than a third came from the Lisbon district. Porto, Sintra, Amadora and Vila Nova de Gaia were other areas – “highly sought after” in terms of rental accommodation – where landlords sought permission to evict their tenants.
As the data shows, only 1,072 requests were successful. SIC admits “many were for non-payment of rent” but others were due to the “revocation of the lease, or its termination by the landlord, or tenant, or for other reasons”.
The story doesn’t explain whether landlords whose tenants were successfully evicted went on to re-rent their properties, nor whether subsequent rentals were higher than the previous ones.
This is the issue that has inflamed public opinion, and for which citizens are looking to political parties for solutions. ND
Source material: SIC Notícias
