The enactment of this decree-law, approved by the Council of Ministers on March 30, was announced today through a note on the official website of the Presidency of the Republic.

According to Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, "the present diploma should have been submitted to the Assembly of the Republic, for political reasons, since it is not merely organic or procedural, rather it creates a new leasing regime for subleasing and is combined, in part, with a proposal of law just passed by parliament".

"It does not take the opportunity to go deeper in the recovery of essential institutions for its application, nor does it wait for two studies ordered by the Government, which have already begun, and which could benefit from its content", criticises the head of state.

In his opinion, "strictly speaking, this diploma, not having been presented in the Assembly of the Republic, should at least wait for the end of the legislative process which is still in progress".

"However, given the very short deadline to implement the ambitious Housing Program approved by the Government, in which more or less six months make a huge difference, and not to raise obstacles in a diploma in which no reason of principle or of obvious unenforceability, the President of the Republic promulgated the diploma that changes several legal regimes in the area of housing", justifies Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.