Larreta announces measures to ease BA rental market

City mayor said he’d apply the measures nationally if he wins the elections

Buenos Aires City Mayor Horacio Rodríguez Larreta announced new rental policies aimed at landlords and tenants that include credit access, tax relief and construction plans in strategic areas of the city. 

He promised he’d apply similar measures across the country if he were elected president in the upcoming October elections. 

“It’s very hard to find an affordable place to rent,” he said, as he started his open-air conference in Villa Urquiza neighbourhood, “and the rental law did not fix this problem”. 

His government will therefore push proposals within the city government to improve the rental situation by helping tenants pay for the rent insurance known as a seguro de caución, providing loans to help tenants pay for the costs associated with a new lease, which can include paying one or two months’ advance rent, plus the insurance and notary costs.

Owners will receive credit for renovating and maintaining their property, as well as tax relief, he said. “We will raise the gross income tax exemption cap from AR$75,000 [US$350 at the official rate, US$230 at the MEP rate] to AR$220,000,” he said. The measure will apply to up to three properties instead of two. 

Under the new measures, owners will be exempt from paying real estate tax and the Lighting, Sweeping and Cleaning (ABL) tax, which affects all properties in the city.

In 2020, the government passed the Rental Act, a law aimed at improving the rental conditions across the country. The law extended the rental minimum period from two to three years, determined an index rate for annual price raises, which regulated what used to be an agreement between real estate agencies and owners, and relieved tenants from real estate expenses when signing a rental agreement. 

Rental policies in BA city

Accessing affordable rent has become a challenge, with annual price rises reaching 90% in recent months due to soaring inflation, which is running at over 100%. 

In BA city, this has also been affected by temporary rentals (such as Airbnb), and the refusal to comply with the rental law passed in 2020 due to claims that it affects both tenants and owners. 

The law establishes that rent can be increased once a year, by a percentage that is the average of yearly inflation, published by National Institute for Statistics and Census (INDEC), and the average salary increase of low-income workers. For March, that meant a 89.6% increase since last year. 

Some owners feel it is not worth committing to a three-year contract on their properties if their rental income will fall behind inflation. Meanwhile, many tenants struggle to deal with annual rent hikes that almost double their housing costs from one month to another. In this context, some owners say they’re turning to temporary rentals or simply refusing to let their properties.

“We have to overturn the Rental Law,” said Larreta during the first minute of his press conference this morning. The Rental Law has been under dispute since it was passed, and government sources have told press recently that the national government is looking to modify it. So far, two projects are ready to be treated in Congress, but no date has been set. 

Rodríguez Larreta did not miss the chance to mention his aims to become president. “I will push similar policies across the country if I’m chosen to be president,” he said. “This is a problem for all Argentines, and I will put all of my energy into solving the problems that they suffer.” 

“I’ve been getting ready to govern for years now – I want to lead the generation of Argentines that dare to change our country’s history.” 

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