More than 1,000 Portuguese families with tax and social security debts “have been saved from losing their homes” thanks to a new legal decree approved in parliament.
Signed by the PS, Left Bloc (BE) and Communists (PCP), the decree has yet to be rubber-stamped by president Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, but its existence prevents the sale of any family homes that have been ‘seized’ by the authorities.
The seizure stays in force, but the family is allowed to remain in the home while it pays off its debts.
National tabloid Correio da Manhã explains that between 2014 and 2015, the AT tax authority sold 5,891 homes in order to recoup money owed. At the beginning of this year, another 1,171 were in the pipeline. These now cannot be sold.
natasha.donn@algarveresident.com
