Despite the old Passos Coelho coalition parties' opposition, last January saw legislation approved that allowed those being pursued for debts to the tax department to remain in their homes rather than be evicted and the property sold, often for a fraction of its market value.
The scale of the result is impressive with 11,500 families still with a roof over their heads since the law came into effect in May 2016.
The Left Bloc and the ruling Socialist Party made sure the law was passed despite the CDS-PP and the PSD calling the measure ‘a foreclosure pardon.’
The Left Bloc MP, Paulino Ascensão, said at the time of the legislation that the party "has always defended those who already have lost everything so their house is not taken away,” adding that "while enormous sacrifices have fallen on people to save banks, nothing was done to rescue the indebted families. More than 6,000 families have lost their home since 2014," and that "the seizure of the family home is the end of the line, after confiscation of income and other assets."
The law covers houses with a value of less than €574,000 and where the debts has triggered enforcement proceedings subsequent to the law’s approval and in cases that were pending at that time.
Lawyers, Pedro Marinho Falcão and Natália Nunes, at the Support Office for the Over-Indebted at Deco, praise the effects of this law, with Nunes calling for further action to extend the law to cover those who have private debts to non-State entities.
"This protection should be extended to cover any debt, especially when the amount is small in comparison to the value of the property.”
This was a sensible law, keeping people housed while they work out repayment plans according to their financial abilities, keeping marriages together and often preventing the need for children to move school due to a repossession followed by a move of location.
