The legislation, which changes the legal regime for the operation of local accommodation establishments, establishes that, in municipalities with more than 1,000 local accommodation establishments, “the municipal assembly must expressly deliberate, within a maximum period of 12 months from the date on which until the municipality reaches 1,000 records, the regulatory power assigned to it is exercised”.
The Government had already announced its intention to decentralise powers regarding the registration of local accommodation, returning to local authorities the decision to put an end to local accommodation in residential buildings or, alternatively, not to decree the immediate cancellation of the accommodation and “invite the parties to reach an agreement”.
In the case of cancellation of registration, the decree-law establishes the “conditions” under which it can be done, which the previous one did not specify.
These conditions include, among others, the lack of valid mandatory insurance, and the repeated and proven practice of acts that disrupt the normal use of urban property.
In the decree-law, municipalities are given “the legal tools to decide on the attribution, regulation, supervision and promotion of intervention processes in local accommodation units”.
This attribution includes, in particular, defining “the procedures and means of action in specific regulations” and is carried out “without prejudice to the powers of the Food and Economic Security Authority (ASAE) and the Portuguese Tourism Institute”.
The regulation “may provide for the designation of a ‘local accommodation provider’ that supports the municipality in managing disputes between residents, owners of local accommodation establishments and condominium owners or third parties”, establishes the Government.
Concretely, the executive states that it will be up to this provider to assess complaints, issue recommendations and approve and implement good practice guides on the operation of local hosting activities.
The Government also reviews the capacity of local accommodation units, setting the maximum at nine rooms (same as previous legislation) and 27 users (there were 30).
Furthermore, it adds the “rooms” modality to the exception previously provided for the ‘hostel’.
“If they have adequate conditions, convertible and/or additional beds may be installed in local accommodation units, as long as, as a whole, they do not exceed 50% of the number of fixed beds”, he adds.
In the decree-law, the Government says that “it is important to create conditions so that the activity of local accommodation is consolidated in a balanced way with the housing environment, with respect for the rights of private initiative, private property and housing”.
In August, the National Association of Portuguese Municipalities (ANMP) agreed to strengthen municipalities' powers in regulating, supervising and promoting local accommodation but warned of the need to be accompanied by economic and financial resources and service training.
“ANMP always understood that it had to be up to the municipalities - better aware of the housing needs of their populations and the effective demands for tourist accommodation existing in their territory - to manage the local accommodation dossier”, reads the association's favorable opinion to the decree-law that changes the local accommodation regime, approved by the government on August 22 and now published in the Official Gazette.
The decree-law (which amends legislation approved in 2014) comes into force 90 days from today, the date of publication.
Source: https://www.theportugalnews.com/news/2024-10-23/new-holiday-accommodation-al-rules/93051
