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The sample is relatively small – 320 homeowners – and therefore does not allow unambiguous conclusions, but the results are worrying enough to draw conclusions: in a survey conducted between August 22 and September 15, the Homeowners Association of Lisbon (ALP) was to know that the majority (59%) of questioned rental property owners have tenants who did not pay their rent during the months after the arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic in Portugal.
The news is given by the Public newspaper, which provides some details of the survey of owners in Lisbon. According to the newspaper, the overwhelming majority of tenants who did not pay their rent cut their payment as early as April. A state of emergency was declared in Portugal on March 18.
The owners of rented properties are complaining about the misuse of the pandemic situation by tenants who have not paid their rent. This is because more than half (56%) of landlords who stopped receiving rents say that tenants with outstanding payments did not provide proof of income loss, contrary to what is required by law.
For the Lisbon Homeowners Association (ALP), there was a lack of clarity in the way the Government communicated the protection measures to tenants – it would have led many tenants to think that they did not have to continue paying rent, reports the entity – and there was an inequality of support and the same effort was not made to protect the owners who lost income with Covid-19.
The ALP barometer also reveals that 43.5% of owners had a drop in income between 10% and 20% and a third, one in three, even had income losses between 20% and 40% . 16% of the owners no longer had between 75% and 100% of the monthly income generally guaranteed by the lease, Public also says.
