The Portuguese government is preparing legislation that would remove one of the steps landlords currently have to take when a tenant refuses to leave a property after a court has ordered their eviction – a change aimed at cutting the time it takes to recover a rented home.
The Problem with the Current System
Under the law as it stands today, a judge’s decision ordering an eviction is not, by itself, enough to get the property back. The landlord still must open a second legal process – called an “execution” of the sentence – purely to enforce the ruling that was already made. The Ministry of Infrastructure and Housing (MIH) has confirmed this shortfall, noting that a judge’s eviction ruling does not automatically translate into physical repossession of the property, which is why a separate enforcement action currently must be filed.
The ministry also pointed out an inconsistency in the current framework: when a judge does order an eviction, they can authorise entry into the home regardless of whether the landlord specifically requested it – meaning the mechanism to make the eviction effective already exists in the law, it just isn’t being triggered automatically.
What the Government Wants to Change
The reform’s central idea is to eliminate the separate execution process altogether and replace it with something closer to an automatic eviction mandate tied directly to the judge’s original ruling. In practice, this means landlords would no longer need to launch a second court procedure just to enforce a decision they’ve already won – cutting out a step that has been a major source of delay, sometimes stretching into years before a property is physically returned.
Tenants would still retain the right to ask a judge for a postponement of the move-out date on grounds such as family circumstances, health issues, or simply not having found alternative housing. That decision would remain at the judge’s discretion.
Part of a Broader Rental Reform
This measure sits within a wider package of rental reforms announced by the Minister of Infrastructure and Housing, Miguel Pinto Luz, following the Council of Ministers meeting on 9 July, as part of the government’s response to the housing crisis. The stated goals include eliminating unnecessary administrative steps and notifications, cutting out delaying tactics used by tenants in arrears, and consolidating rulings on eviction and unpaid rent into a single process to avoid duplicate court proceedings.
Other elements of the package include:
Next Steps
The government’s request for parliamentary authorisation to legislate on rental matters is expected to be submitted before the start of the parliamentary recess, which begins this week.
Why It Matters
The scale of the problem, at least in raw numbers, is relatively small: eviction titles issued last year totalled 1,447 – up 44% year-on-year – but non-payment evictions are still estimated at under 1% of all active rental contracts. Even so, the reform signals a clear policy direction: making it faster and less procedurally burdensome for landlords to recover possession of a property once a court has ruled in their favour, while preserving – in narrower form – the tenant’s right to request more time.
For landlords and property managers, the practical takeaway is that the gap between “winning in court” and “getting the keys back” could shrink significantly if this reform passes as proposed. It’s worth watching how the final text handles the appeal-suspension question, since that’s often where enforcement delays compound in practice.
This article is based on reporting by Lusa and statements from Portugal’s Ministry of Infrastructure and Housing (MIH). The measures described are proposals pending parliamentary authorisation and have not yet been enacted into law.