Landlords filed 2,181 eviction applications in the first ten months of 2026. A quarter followed a refusal to renew the lease
From January to October 2026, landlords filed 2,181 applications to evict tenants through the BAS (Balcão do Arrendatário e do Senhorio), a state service for fast-track evictions that bypasses the ordinary courts. 59% of the applications were over unpaid rent, and 26% were filed because the landlord did not want to renew the lease. The BAS figures were published by the weekly newspaper Expresso (ECO).
On average, it takes 292 days, almost ten months, from the application to the moment the tenants leave the flat.
Over five years, landlords filed about 7,400 applications over unpaid rent. That is 0.5% of the 1.4 million rental and sublet contracts registered with the tax authority.
Pedro Ventura, chairman of the Lisbon Tenants' Association (Associação de Inquilinos Lisbonenses), links non-renewals to rents: the landlord does not renew the lease and then asks the next tenant for two or three times as much. At present, the rent under a new contract cannot be more than 2% above the previous one, but the government wants to scrap this cap three years early.
If you receive an eviction notice from the BAS, you have 15 days to respond. If you do not, the case goes to a judge, who authorises entry to the flat.
What these documents mean and what to do, day by day, is explained in our guide A tenant has received an eviction notice.
