On May 15, 2026, Miguel Albuquerque said at the University of Madeira that Portugal’s rental law should be changed to allow tenants who fail to pay rent to be evicted the next day. He argued that limited access to affordable rental housing and slow legal procedures are adding pressure to Madeira’s housing market. Albuquerque said the current system makes it difficult for landlords to remove non-paying tenants and claimed that a person who does not pay rent should be put out on the street the next day. He added that the landlord’s role is to participate in the market, not to provide social services, and that the market should be allowed to function properly. His comments were made on the sidelines of a conference organized by the Mission Structure for the 50th anniversary of Madeira’s autonomy at the University of Funchal, which focused on health policy and public debate. The article notes that, in Madeira as in the rest of Portugal and most developed countries, eviction still requires formal steps such as warnings, hearings, appeals, and waiting periods, which can stretch cases over months or years. It also warns that faster evictions could hit vulnerable renters hardest, especially single mothers, pensioners, low-income workers, and families living on retirement income, while the island’s limited housing supply makes finding another affordable home increasingly difficult.
