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Portugal just rewrote the rules for renting. Evictions get faster. Landlords can ask for more upfront, and the rent cap on new leases disappears. It's Monday, 13 July. Twenty-five degrees. Festival ao Largo under way in Belém. Here's what you need to know.
🌬️ AIR QUALITY: 24 (Good).
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PORTUGAL JUST REWROTE THE RULES FOR RENTING, AND THE BALANCE TIPPED TOWARDS LANDLORDS.
The Council of Ministers approved a full rewrite of the rental law, the Novo Regime do Arrendamento Urbano (NRAU), on Thursday. It is not law yet. It still has to pass parliament, probably in September, and the parties will fight over it. But the direction is clear, and if you rent in Lisbon it is worth reading now rather than in autumn.
The government's stated goal is to coax landlords into putting more homes on the market by making renting out feel safer. So the biggest changes are on their side. A landlord will be able to start eviction after two months of unpaid rent instead of three, and the process is being stripped of steps that used to drag it out. Repeated lateness counts too: eight days late three times in a year, or four times in eighteen months, is enough. Evictions already rose more than 40% in 2025.
New contracts change more. The 2% ceiling on rent increases for new leases is being scrapped three years early, so rents on new contracts can be set freely. Landlords will be able to ask for three months' rent in advance rather than two, and the cap on the security deposit disappears entirely, where it was limited to two months. They will also be able to refuse to renew a contract from the very first cycle, with notice, rather than waiting three years.
Then there are the old frozen rents, the pre-1990 contracts that have barely moved in decades. These start unfreezing on a sliding scale of age and income. A tenant under 65 with household income below €64,400 keeps the frozen rent for five more years. Above that income, the rent can climb towards one fifteenth of the property's rateable value, the Valor Patrimonial Tributário (VPT). Tenants over 65, or with a disability of 60% or more, stay protected unless household income tops €64,400.
There is a cushion and a catch. The cushion is a new Housing Emergency Fund, run by the housing institute (IHRU), paying up to one Indexante dos Apoios Sociais (IAS), €537.13 this year, towards housing costs of up to €2,300 a month for six months, for households on less than three times the minimum wage. The catch, if you are buying rather than renting, sits in the wider housing package: non-residents now pay a 7.5% purchase tax, the Imposto Municipal sobre as Transmissões Onerosas de Imóveis (IMT), on a home here.
For most readers, who rent, this means budgeting for a bigger cheque on the way in, a thinner safety net if you fall behind, and new leases that are no longer shielded from steep rises. The Socialists say it is designed to make evictions easier and worry about older tenants in Lisbon and Porto. Landlord groups say it does not go nearly far enough. Both being unhappy is roughly what the government was aiming for.
Bottom line: nothing changes tomorrow, but the rental market is being rebuilt around the landlord's confidence rather than the tenant's security, and the version that clears parliament in the autumn is the one to watch.
⚡ QUICK HITS
Portugal is out of the World Cup, and it already has a new coach. Spain knocked Portugal out in the Round of 16 with a 1-0 win, and Roberto Martínez left the job on the spot. The Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) has handed the vacancy to Jorge Jesus, 71, on a four-year deal to 2030. Four decades into his club career, it is the first time he has ever managed a national side.
A satellite maker just planted a flag in Lisbon. The Finnish space-intelligence firm ICEYE opened a Lisbon centre of excellence this week, aimed at building out Europe's own satellite capacity, while the Portuguese law firm Abreu Advogados is leading a 14-member European Union consortium on the bloc's space autonomy. It is the quiet story running under the noise about tourists and rents: the city keeps landing serious deep tech, and the jobs that come with it.
Prices are cooling everywhere except the pump. The statistics office (INE) says inflation eased to 3.2% in June, with falling energy costs leading the slowdown. The exception arrives on Monday: fuel goes up for the second week running, with diesel about seven cents a litre dearer and petrol around two and a half. If the tank is low, fill it Sunday.
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🍽️ SPOT OF THE DAY
Belém is where you go to queue for a pastel de nata behind three coach parties. Tucked into the Altis Belém down on the Doca do Bom Sucesso, a few minutes from that scrum, is the quiet opposite: a thousand square metres of Swiss day spa by the river, and the only Karin Herzog spa in the country. Most people walk straight past it to the monastery.
The heart of it is the Thermo Garden, a heated indoor pool set in a bamboo garden under natural light, plus a toning pool, a sundeck pool when the weather plays along, sauna, hammam, Turkish bath and sensory showers. The house speciality is oxygen-based rituals, and the massage therapists have a following by name. It is open to non-guests, not just people staying upstairs.
The water circuit runs around €50 for the day, and signature rituals and massages start near €90. Not cheap, but this is the affluent-July-treat category, not the flat white category.
The facilities are refined rather than sprawling, so come for the calm and the river light, not a giant thermal complex. Book at least a day ahead, bring swimwear and a cap, and note the pool is adults-only outside the 10am to noon kids' window. Parking nearby is free, which in Belém is a small miracle.
Insider tip: go on a weekday morning, take the water circuit slot before your treatment rather than after, and leave time for a walk along the dock afterwards while everyone else fights for a table.
📅 WHAT'S ON
Festival ao Largo (until Sat 25 Jul, Centro Cultural de Belém) Free outdoor symphony, ballet and theatre. Relocated to Belém while Teatro Nacional de São Carlos is renovated.
Lisboa Football Arena (until Sun 19 Jul, Terreiro do Paço) Free World Cup big screens through to the final on the 19th, with the semi-finals on 14 and 15 July.
Cine Society (nightly, Príncipe Real Terrace and Beato Riverside Rooftop) Open-air rooftop cinema with city and river views. Doors an hour before the film.
Ageas CoolJazz (until Fri 31 Jul, Hipódromo Manuel Possolo, Cascais) Jamiroquai on 18 July, Diana Krall on 22 July, Chet Faker closing on 31 July.
AgitÁgueda (until Sun 26 Jul, Águeda) The umbrella sky installation plus street music. A day trip by train.
Out Jazz (Sun 19 Jul, Parque Urbano de Miraflores) Free open-air jazz, soul and funk from 5pm until sunset.
MEO Kalorama (28–30 Aug, Parque da Bela Vista) Robbie Williams, Ms. Lauryn Hill with Wyclef Jean, Deftones. Tickets on sale now.
See you tomorrow morning.
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