Despite the multiple differences between the ruling party and the opposition in the National Congress, there is one point on which the leaders do agree: the rental law is a resounding failure. Even so, the legislators cannot reach an agreement to find a solution to the issue and the problem continues to affect the more than 6.5 million people throughout the country, who have no other option than to be tenants.
According to the Inter-American Development Bank, in Latin America one in five people rents, that is, 20% on average; however, in Argentina the figure is much higher and reaches 34%. Thus, with the sanction in June 2020 of Law 27,551, the situation of tenants worsened and the difficulties faced by this market are very notorious, for which reason the modification or repeal of the Rental Law is also requested by real estate and owners.
Although at first the criticisms were listened to and dialogue began to make modifications to the text, the lack of consensus blocked progress and negotiations regarding the Rental Law and today there is no specific date on which Congress deems to resume the discussion. With this scenario, a national deputy from the opposition presented a bill in which he requested repeal the current standard provisionally until the leadership can reach an agreement.
The proposal was presented by the national deputy Julio Cobos (UCR), who in a short but concise 3-article bill called for the repeal of Law 27,551 published on June 30, 2020 and to restore “the validity of the articles of the Code Civil and Commercial of the Nation replaced by law 27,551”, that is, return to the previous regime.
“The reason for presenting the repeal of the rental law has to do with the fact that we have been discussing this issue for more than a year, after recognizing -government and opposition- the failure of the law, only two opinions have been reached that are neither convincing nor own or strangersbecause undoubtedly the macroeconomic situation, with inflation through the roof higher than the evolution of wages, means that any law that seeks to regulate a little more than the conveniences that can be made privately between owner and tenant, encounters obstacles of be a law that smoothes the situation so that no one is harmed and, therefore, everyone benefits,” Deputy Cobos explained to iProfessional.
In turn, he considered that if the Rental Law is repealed, the leadership will have “a reasonable time” for “our imagination to light up” and find, with the current macroeconomic scenario, some viable alternative or solution.
The proposal to repeal the Rental Law was presented by the national deputy Julio Cobos (UCR)
For the opposition legislator, it is not wise to return to the previous rental regimesince it considered that it was in force for 30 years, enduring “hyperinflation, the exit from convertibility, it overcame the inflationary era, in short, it has gone through all the instances that we have had in the country in economic matters during those 30 years,” he said. .
Lack of consensus on the Rental Law
Consulted by iProfesional about the lack of consensus among the leadership regarding the solution to this problem, the deputy Julio Cobos opined that in addition to the negative economic context, there are multiple factors for which it has not been possible to reach an agreement.
“It is very difficult to agree with the macroeconomic situation we have today… There is skyrocketing inflation, fewer and fewer homes, there is no mortgage loan in Argentina, where there are also cultural changes that affect the offerFor example, daily or temporary rental for tourism is fashionable, and this somehow reduces the offer in terms of housing, the funds of Fonavi -National Housing Fund- are increasingly reduced to their minimum expression, so everything makes the situation more and more difficult, uncertainty makes rental prices rise, and contemplating all these things is very difficult in a combo of situations that truly remove all the possibility of certainty and predictability that is required in any contractual relationship”, detailed the legislator.
On the other hand, he considered that Congress should not only focus on the debate regarding the modification or repeal of the rental law, but that there are other central issues that in Cobos’s opinion are necessary to deal with, such as the readaptation of UVA mortgage loans and recovery of mortgage loans “which are issues that are on the agenda of the people and the issues that make everyday life easier.”
“The truth is that these are issues that Congress should address, even in an election year, sharpening all the mechanisms to agree on a parliamentary agenda and move forward with these initiatives that are at the service of the citizenry,” he said.
Projects on rents
After the leadership admitted the failure of the law, some legislators have presented proposals in the National Congress with the idea of providing solutions regarding the rental issue.
For example, one year after the sanction of Law 27,551, that is, in July 2021, the national deputies Jorge Enríquez (term fulfilled) and Luciano Laspina (JxC), presented a project to modify the Rental Law because they considered that the regulation violates the principles established in the Civil and Commercial Code “in terms of the autonomy of the will of the parties”.
Among other items, this project proposed the Elimination of regulations on ways and times of the return of the guarantee depositreturned to the minimum and maximum terms according to the destination of the lease and established clauses on the adjustment of the rental value, leaving it to the discretion of the parties.
A project to repeal the rental law was also presented in January 2021, a proposal promoted by a group of deputies from Together for Change. In that proposal they asked to annul the norm and modify several articles of the Civil and Commercial Procedure Code of the Nation regarding evictions.
Another who wanted to propose a solution on the subject was the national deputy Cristian Ritondo, who in December 2021 entered a bill to modify what he considers the “main shortcomings” of the Rental Law. Among other things, he proposed a modification of article 14 of the current law, which eliminates the formula for calculating the rent adjustment.
