Visit a house for rent? Attention: You do not need to prove income.

When visiting a house to rent, know that you do not need to submit documents.

In a statement to Notícias ao Minuto, Deco Proteste warns that there are currently real estate agents demanding pay stubs or proof of income to make the first visit to a house in order to rent it.

This is a measure that, legally, is not required as it takes place before any contract signing.  

DECO has been faced with consumer complaints, potential tenants, who are required to present payslips and proof of income to visit a house," DECO said in the statement.

The conflict revolves around this requirement being made "even when they have not yet entered into real estate mediation contracts, that is, without any contractual relationship established between themselves and the leasing intermediary company."

On a legal level, DECO recalls that this measure goes against the "ordinance approving the model of real estate mediation contract with general contractual clauses, including the identification of the business, the identification of the property, the burdens and charges, the contracting regime, the remuneration, the obtaining of documents necessary for the completion of the business targeted by mediation, guarantees for mediation activities, the duration of the contract, and the duty of collaboration and obligations of the second contracting party".

In other words, the necessary and useful documents must be delivered to the mediator, but only when it makes sense to do so. This is why DECO "does not agree that documents such as income statements and pay receipts can be requested without violating the principles established in the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)".

Advance payment of rent and security deposits are also a cause for concern.

In addition to requesting documents during the visit, the advance payment of rents and the deposit amounts required by landlords are also a concern for DECO.

“There are more and more reports, as well as concerns and doubts related to prepayment of rent and security deposit amounts received at the Association”.

According to the law, it is stipulated that "with a written agreement, the payment of rent can be made in advance for a period not exceeding two months, and beyond that, the landlord may only request a security deposit from the tenant whose value cannot exceed two rents".

So, DECO concludes that it "opposes the request for values from potential tenants to visit a property, since they are not included in this regime, nor do they have current legal framework. The Association argues that legal solutions should be developed for this type of issues."

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