"Laws 'without practical application' fail to protect tenants from abuse" (with Luís Neto Galvão and Regina Santos Pereira)

The use of video surveillance systems in common areas of the tenancy can be considered excessive and contrary to the right to privacy and the protection of personal data, as it restricts, in an unproportional manner, the tenant's freedom to enjoy common areas," explains Luís Neto Galvão, a Partner at SRS Legal.
[...]
Thus, when a contract (such as the one Público consulted) stipulates that failure to comply with the total duration of the agreed term leads to the security deposit being retained and not returned, this can be considered a null clause, says Regina Santos Pereira, a Partner at SRS Legal and a specialist in rental issues: "The clause on which the question is asked can be considered null and void, bearing in mind that the consequence that results from it constitutes a limitation on the right that the tenant has to terminate the contract at any time (freely) after the expiry of one third of the initial term of the contract or its renewal, with the advance notice provided for by law. " "The tenant's right to terminate the lease under the terms referred to is imperatively provided for in the law, i.e. the landlord and tenant cannot agree otherwise," he adds.