Rentals: freedom of contract returns

What changed

Art. 249 of DNU 70/2023 repeals the Rental Law No. 27.551. The same DNU also voids the contractual amendments that Law 27.737 (Oct-2023) had introduced to 27.551, keeping from the latter only its Chapter III of tax incentives. Real-estate leases stop being governed by forced minimum terms, peso contracts and annual adjustment tied to an official index, and come to be governed by the Civil and Commercial Code: freely agreed term, free currency (it can be agreed in dollars), and adjustment by the index and frequency the parties agree. The repeal of the leases was NOT judicially suspended (unlike the labor chapter of the same DNU, which the courts did halt): tenants' injunctions were rejected and the measure was later consolidated by the Ley Bases (Law 27.742, 2024). verif · Dec 20, 2023 ↗

In force

Decree signed on 12/20/2023 and published in the Official Gazette on 12/21/2023 (notice 301122). The DNU did not set an express validity clause, so art. 5 of the Civil and Commercial Code applies: entry into force 8 calendar days after publication, i.e. 12/29/2023. verif · Dec 29, 2023 ↗

Who it affects

Owners and tenants of urban real estate nationwide, and real-estate market intermediaries (agencies, administrators, brokers). It covers lease contracts entered into from the DNU's entry into force; those signed under Law 27.551 keep their rules until they expire. verif · Dec 20, 2023 ↗

The norm

DNU 70/2023 (DNU-2023-70-APN-PTE, "Bases para la Reconstrucción de la Economía Argentina"), article 249: "Derógase la Ley N° 27.551" (Ley 27.551 is hereby repealed). InfoLEG norm id=395521. Note: the primary InfoLEG page and the Boletín Oficial page truncate the text before art. 249 (both cut off at the Customs Code); the recital calling for the repeal of Ley 27.551 WAS read in the primary source, but the literal text of art. 249 was confirmed by convergence of legal sources (doctrine citing 'cfr. su artículo 249'), not by reading the article directly in the official source. verif · Dec 20, 2023 ↗

Our reading

The repeal of the Rental Law returns to the parties the freedom to agree term, currency and adjustment: less regulation, more supply. It is textbook deregulation (R4 · opening and deregulation): by removing the corset that froze contracts and emptied supply, properties return to the market and real rent falls. It survived the injunctions and the Ley Bases consolidated it; what we watch is the residual judicial risk, not the Executive's will. thesis

Where it lands, province by province2

Neuquén Rent free in currency, term and indexation is the condition that makes build-to-rent work in the corridor: in Añelo and the provincial capital demand comes from high oil wages and construction costs are dollarised. With a peso contract and annual adjustment by an official index it did not add up; with a free contract it does. It is also the condition whose reversal breaks the induced economy on the Neuquén watchlist. favorable without controls, supply responds to the boom thesis

Río Negro Sierra Grande had 8,957 inhabitants in 2022 and today hosts a project employing thousands: 237 accommodation units taken and hotels in San Antonio Oeste at 90% in season. With term, currency and indexation free, an expensive rent is a signal the private sector can answer by building or converting; under the old law it was a capped price that pulled units off the market exactly where they are scarce. favorable without controls, supply responds to the boom thesis

Rentals: freedom of contract returns

What changed and who it applies to

Our reading

Where it lands, province by province2

The other rules on this subject36

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