The juridical impact of COVID-19 in Portuguese tenancy contract law

In response to the public health emergency derived from the COVID-19 disease, Portugal opted for a relatively strict lockdown. Most business activities were suspended and citizens were put under an obligation of confinement. This has created serious disruptions in people’s lives and professional activities. In this contribution I will address the specific measures the Portuguese legislator brought into force to solve problems that arouse in tenancy contracts, namely, the adjournment of the obligation to pay rent and the suspension of eviction’s effects. Since the legislative measures do not have a general scope that could comprehend all of the tenancy contracts and provide for only a limited and very specific set of solutions, I believe that it is necessary to turn to other legal provisions of a more general approach in order to give an adequate response to the problems encountered in tenancy contracts as a consequence of the pandemic. The COVID-19 public health crisis urged national legislators to take immediate and exceptional measures on contract law to mitigate the anticipated economic and financial calamity. In Portugal, right after the state of emergency had been declared varied legislative provisions brought into force. The Portuguese legislator’s approach was not to create a general set of provisions on contracts but to define some specific solutions for some specific types of contracts, mainly credit, employment and tenancy contracts. The aim of this contribution is to address the specific legislative intervention on tenancy contract law, analysing its extent and – given its limited scope – questioning whether a classical and more generic instrument such as the “unexpected change in circumstances”, enshrined in Article 437. o of the Portuguese Civil Code, may provide a necessary and adequate solution to the disruption of the tenancy contracts, caused by the pandemic. SPECIFIC LEGISLATIVE MEASURES: As a result of the declaration of the state of emergency, Law num. 1-A/2020 came to force on 19 March 2020. This law contained two extraordinary and transitory measures aimed at protecting tenants: one determining the suspension of the effects of contract termination by landlords (see Art 8.o)