On Wednesday October 11th the lower house in Argentina approved the reform of the rent law complete with its Senate amendments.
The final law ended up similar to the original government bill after the Senate amendments, the duration of contracts remains at three years same as per the current law but rents may now be updated every six months instead of annually.
The final text same as the previous law also specifies that rent contracts can only be made in pesos argentinos, that leases must be stipulated "in a single value in national currency and for monthly periods over which adjustments may be made periodically at intervals of no less than six months".
The reform introduced by the Senate changed the mechanism for updating the price of rents and established that "adjustments must be made using a coefficient made up of the smallest variation that arises from comparing the average of the variation of the coefficient of salary variation published by the INDEC and the variation of the Reference Stabilisation Coefficient (CER), published by the BCRA".
The law further exempts all property rented out for residential purposes from personal assets taxation and the cheque tax, as well as offering an income tax deduction for 10 percent of the value of the contract.
The reform is enacted and has come to effect. However, all contracts signed before October 18 will be maintained with the same conditions as per what the law established June 2020 and all contracts signed until now will continue with the same parameters. In the same way, contracts already signed will maintain the current standard and agreement to which they were adjusted to.
Changes in the law or repealing of the law itself are still liable to occur for administrative reasons and upcoming elections outcome.