Rental Increase Cap

@curt I finally found the law and now I am probably a little more confused. @Zoom and I were discussing this last night over some vino. Here is a link: https://blancavalbuena.com/tenant-rights-portugal/ “Cristas law” went into effect in Feb 2020. 

Here is the cause of my confusion.

• On the first renewal, they must be renewed for another three years, unless the landlord needs the house for him/herself or for his/her children.
• Rental contracts signed after February 13, guarantee an automatic renewal for 3 years if the duration is less than 3 years and there are no stipulations written into the lease. For example, if you sign a 2-year lease, it will be renewed for 3 years UNLESS the original lease has a clause about this.
• The new law mandates that if the rental contract is for less than 3 years and there are no other clauses in the lease, it will be considered renewed for 3 years at the end of the lease. If the terms are longer, the contract will be renewed for the same number of years (example, a 5 year contract will be renewed for 5 years). Before the law was passed, a 1-year lease was only renewed for 1 year.

Our lease:

• The present lease is made for the fixed term of 1
  (one) year, beginning on December 1st 2021, and
  ending on November 30th 2022, renewable
  automatically and consecutively for terms of 1
  (one) year, if there is no opposition to the renewal
  or if it is not validly denounced by the Second
  Party in accordance with the law.
• The opposition to the renewal of the
  agreement, made by the First Party, shall be
  executed by means of written communication to
  the Second Party, through registered mail with acknowledgement of receipt, with a minimum
  notice of 120 (one hundred and twenty) days, in
  relation to the term of the agreement or its
  renewal.
• The rent hereby established, as per Article
  1077 of the Civil Code, in the wording introduced
  by Law no. 6/2006, of 27 February, that approved
  the New Regime of Urban Leasing (NRAU), shall
  be subjected to annual rent update, using as a
  basis the published legal coefficients.
• Should the First Party wish to use the power
  referred to in the previous Paragraph, he must
  communicate the annual rent update in writing,
  with the minimum advance of 30 (thirty) days,
  expressly indicating the amount of the new rent
  and the coefficient used in its calculation.

I am guessing since the addition of "consecutively for terms of 1 year" means it does not fall into the auto renewal for 3.

The rent increase was not communicated in accordance with the lease agreement. It was lower than the coefficient, so we are just paying it and moving on. 

I am just hoping that they follow the termination of a renewal process if they ever want us out. I waited for the mail on that day and since we did not get anything prior, I figured we were good to go.

I asked our landlord at the 90-day mark for us terminating if we were all good for another year and they never responded. It is very odd renting here. No news is always good news. 

This was an interesting addition in the law.

• Tenants have a right of first refusal after living in the property for 2 years (it was 3 years before) if the landlord decides to sell the property.