Associations of auctioneers and real estate chambers in the interior of the country raised this Tuesday the need to reform the term and update the contracts established in the rental law, while the tenants spoke in favor of maintaining the current law that governs the sector, by participating in a meeting that was held under a mixed, virtual and face-to-face format, convened by the General Legislation Commission of the Chamber of Deputies.
The meeting was led by Cecilia Moreau and by the vice president of the commission, the deputy for Radical Evolution, Carla Carrizoand the UCR legislator, karina banfi.
At the first briefing held this Tuesday, most of the 42 exhibitors corresponded to the College of Auctioneers and the real estate chambers that represent the owners, who raised the need to modify the term of the contracts so that they are reduced from three to two yearsand that rents be updated every six months, within the framework of a reform of the law currently in force.
Although this time only exposed nine tenant associations, the representatives of these entities stated that the reform of the law should not be accelerated. They also proposed analyze “in detail” the initiative in order to protect families who must rent a property.
The General Legislation Commission will continue with the informative rounds with the sectors involved on Tuesday, April 19 and Wednesday, April 20, in which the Minister of Territorial Development and Habitat of the Nation could be present, Jorge Ferraresi.
Meanwhile, the debate of the deputies to agree on an opinion between the ruling party and the opposition will be held on April 25 and 26, with the aim that the reform be sanctioned on the premises in the first half of May, based on the schedule agreed.
In this way, the deadline that the Chamber imposed on itself ten days ago would be fulfilled, when the authorities of the body and of the main blocks agreed that the debate should be exhausted in 30 business days from April 5, that is, before May 18.
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A great day of work in the General Legislation Commission of @DiputadosAR.
We continue to delve into the modifications of the #RentalLaw and for that we listened to more than forty exhibitors from all over the country. ?? pic.twitter.com/WO3eqOaUyG
— Cecilia Moreau (@ceciliamoreauok) April 12, 2022
What the exhibitors said
The first to present this Tuesday was Giovanni Tesaro, head of the legal department of Consumer Defense of Chaco, who considered that the law “must have predictability“, referring to the “lack of certainty” of the current standard.
Meanwhile, Matías Sironi, representative of the Association of Real Estate Brokers of the same province, said that the current law “did not contribute to providing solutions to the housing crisis and deepened the shortage of supply”, warning that “it does not take into account the receptivity of tourism or seasonal activities: the mere derogation is insufficient to address the problem because the real causes must be addressed”.
For his part, Roberto Diaz of the Union of Tenants of Río Negro warned that “there are people living in tents, in cars or in buses” as a consequence of the application of the law and considered that “the situation is worrying”.
From San Luis, the president of the College of Auctioneers and Public Brokers, Fernando Olcese, assured that “there are no real estate offers for rent, there are nonebut not only in San Luis, but in the rest of Argentina, which is what we constantly talk about and we have to solve”.
Meanwhile, Antonio Salinas, head of the Rosario Municipal Consumer Office, assured that This year, 245 complaints have been received for breaches of the rental law by tenants.” and pointed out that they are “related to expenses, contract terms and non-registration.”
In her turn, the representative of the Association of Public Brokers of Misiones, María Bower, pointed out that “the law caused consequences in a direction opposite to what the law intended: was born with good intentions, but caused a decrease in the rental offer in our market”.
Meanwhile, Jonathan Villanueva, from Inquilinos por Entre Ríos, pointed out that “the market is voracious and is detrimental to the tenants” and rejected the arguments of the owners and auctioneers by pointing out that they say “lies” and “hide information when they say that the 3 years do not give predictability and whoever says that is because they do not rent.”
The representative of the College of Real Estate Brokers of Tucumán, Fernando Guzmán, requested “reduce the term and return to two-year contracts because it increased the cost of the tenant” and noted that “it is impossible not to update rents every six months.”
Finally, from the Organized Tenants of Luján they said that “I come to represent the voice of women heads of household, dissidents and migrants; since we are in a constant odyssey due to the asymmetry between tenants and the real estate market”.
