In essence, the Decree-Law promotes, the creation of extraordinary and temporary support for payment, of contracts signed until March 15, 2023:

From the rent of a lease or sublease contract of first habitation
The provision of credit agreements for the acquisition, renovation, or construction of one's own permanent residence.
Article 4 of the Decree-Law, lists all the beneficiaries covered by such a measure, namely:

"1 - Households that, cumulatively, are eligible for extraordinary rent or credit assistance:

a) Have fiscal residence in Portugal;

b) Are holders of rental or sublease contracts for their first home, duly registered with the Tax and Customs Authority (AT), or a loan contract for the purchase, renovation, or construction of their own permanent home;

c) Have an annual income equal to or less than the maximum limit of the sixth bracket of the table provided for in paragraph 1 of Article 68 of the Personal Income Tax (IRS) Code, approved by annex to Decree-Law No. 442-A/88, November 30, as amended, in force on the date the support is granted;

d) They have an effort rate equal to or greater than 35% of their annual income with the annual expenses with the payment of the rents or credit installments covered by this decree-law.

2 - Individuals may also benefit from the support provided for in this decree-law if they meet the requirements indicated in paragraphs a), b) and d) of the previous number, are not obliged to file an annual income tax return and have monthly work incomes declared to social security or are beneficiaries of the following social benefits:

a) Old age, survivor, disability or social pensions;

b) Unemployment benefits;

c) Parental benefits;

d) Allowances for occupational illness and disease, with a period of attribution of not less than one month;

e) Social insertion income;

f) Social Inclusion Benefit;

g) Solidarity supplement for the elderly;

(h) Primary informal caregiver support allowance.

3 - For the effects of the previous number, the total monthly income cannot exceed an amount corresponding to 1/14 of the value of the maximum limit of the sixth bracket of the table provided for in number 1 of article 68 of the IRS Code, in effect on the date the support is granted.

4 - In the case of plurality of holders of a lease or sublease contract duly registered with the AT, each of these holders may benefit from the extraordinary income support, under the terms foreseen in the following articles."

Regarding the rent corresponding to the lease contract, the support will reach the families, on a monthly, non-refundable basis, paid by the 20th of each month, corresponding to a percentage of the monthly rent (this being the one declared in the stamp tax model 2 to the AT), with a maximum of € 200.00.

The support will be paid by Social Security, through the IBAN in the information system, so it will be essential to update the data with this institution. However, and although it is Social Security that will make the payments, the choice of the beneficiaries will be made by the IHRU, I. P., and it is the responsibility of the AT to communicate the data of the tenants and the rent value, as well as the total income to determine the rate, only when the conditions of no. 2 of article 9 of the Decree-Law are met. If there are beneficiaries, this information will be sent to them, according to the conditions of article 10, by the AT.

It is worth mentioning, however, that the support will cease with the termination of the lease, or at the request of the interested parties, and the first payment of the support computes the totality of the amounts due since January 1st, 2023.

Regarding the support granted in the existence of a credit contract for the acquisition or construction of permanent home ownership, these correspond to contracts covered by Decree-Law No. 74-A/2017, of June 23, entered into with credit institutions, financial companies and branches of credit institutions and financial institutions operating in Portugal, which cumulatively meet the following requirements:

(a) are variable interest rate contracts or, if mixed interest rate contracts, are in a variable interest rate period; and

b) The amount initially contracted is equal to or less than (euro) 250,000.

For the purposes of access requirements, the provisions of Article 14 apply, namely:

"1 - Borrowers who, being beneficiaries under Article 4, also meet the following requirements are eligible:

a) Have their installments in the credit contract referred to in the previous article duly settled;

(b) for credit agreements prior to 2018, as well as for agreements whose initial maturity was less than 10 years, there is a change in the reference indexer equivalent to 3 percentage points in relation to its value on the date of conclusion of the credit agreement;

c) Have an annual income equal to or below the maximum limit of the sixth bracket of the table provided in paragraph 1 of Article 68 of the IRS Code or, being above, have suffered a drop of more than 20% of their income that fits them to the maximum limit of the sixth bracket.

2 - Borrowers who hold financial assets that include, namely, deposits, financial instruments, capitalization insurance, or savings or treasury certificates, with a total value greater than 62 times the social support index (IAS) are not eligible for the effects of the previous number.

3 - For the purposes of paragraph 1, where the credit agreement has more than one borrower, the eligibility requirements apply to all borrowers jointly."

In these situations, the request for access to support must be made to the financial institution, where the following data must be provided (article 15, no. 2):

"a) Last income tax return for tax purposes or last payment note of income tax for individuals or, also, in the case of borrowers who are exempt from submitting an income tax return under the terms of article 58 of the IRS Code, any other suitable document that proves the limit provided for in paragraph c) of no. 1 of the previous article;

b) Updated information on income, if the provisions of the final part of paragraph c) of no. 1 of the previous article apply;

c) Updated information on their financial assets."

At this later stage, it will then be the responsibility of the financial institutions to communicate to the applicants, within 10 working days, whether they meet the eligibility requirements for access to the subsidy, and if so, the subsidy will be applied, in the very next instalment. It will also be the institution's responsibility, on a monthly basis, to communicate to the beneficiaries the amount of the bonus attributed.

As for the subsidy (which has a maximum annual amount of 1.5 IAS per credit agreement), according to article 16, it is applicable when the indexer of the credit agreement was equal or superior to 3%, and corresponds to

"a) 75% of the amount calculated in accordance with paragraph 3, when the borrower's annual income is equal to or less than the maximum limit of the fourth bracket of the table provided in paragraph 1 of Article 68 of the IRS Code;

b) 50% of the amount calculated in accordance with paragraph 3, when the borrower has an annual income higher than that referred to in the previous paragraph and equal to or less than the maximum limit of the sixth bracket of the table provided in paragraph 1 of Article 68 of the IRS Code."

There being a special condition for contracts entered into before 2011, an amount equivalent to the deduction to the taxable income resulting from the charges foreseen in lines b) to d) of no. 1 of article 78-E of the IRS Code is deducted from the benefit granted, with reference to the last available tax period.

In conclusion, it will also be important to know that, under the provisions of Article 23, no IRS or Social Security contributions are levied on this support, and there will be legal liability for providing false information and the allocation of undue support.

The Decree-Law goes into effect, today, March 23, 2023. "