Real estate industry calls for a halt to rental bill revision

Over 360 real estate agencies and companies posted a whole page statement in Friday’s issue of Chinese language newspaper Macao Daily, urging the government to suspend the revision of the rental law.
‘We believe that there will be an impact on Macau residents if the Legislative Assembly hastily passes the bill without improving the articles of the law,’ the statement reads.
The industry stressed that the statement was not an act of disagreement, but an expression of hope that the public would be allowed an opportunity to be well informed of the bill’s details, as well as wanting to ensure that the bill receives extensive approval before becoming law.
The current revision suggests a mechanism to allow the Chief Executive (CE) to cap rental prices by taking into account the city’s economic indicators, such as the inflation rate or unemployment rate, while the bill also clarifies that this mechanism, if applied, would be temporary and exceptional.
Moreover, the new bill proposes to increase the length of rental contracts, changing the current two-year minimum to three years.
However, many representatives of the real estate market have voiced their opinion that the mechanism inappropriately allows the government to intervene in the free market.