New changes to the Local Accommodation rules

TRANSFERABILITY OF REGISTRATION

One of the most significant changes is the change in the nature of the registration of Local Accommodation establishments, which is no longer personal and non-transferable. Consequently, this registration, which serves as a licence for the establishment to be open to the public, will no longer lapse upon (i) transfer of ownership of the registration, cessation of operation, leasing or any other form of transfer of operating rights; or (ii) transfer of any part of the share capital of the legal entity holding the registration.

However, as part of the powers granted to municipalities to regulate Local Accommodation activities, it has been established that, for containment areas, municipalities may impose restrictions on the transferability of new registration numbers for the 'single-family dwelling' and 'apartment' categories.

PRESENCE IN CONDOMINIUMS

Even if the constitutive title of the horizontal property or the condominium rules (if integral) do not prohibit local lodging activities, the following decisions may be taken:

1)    Creation or amendment of the condominium rules aimed at prohibiting the operation of Local Accommodation in the building: requires the approval of a majority representing two-thirds of the percentage ownership of the property;

2)    Objection to the operation of Local Accommodation in a specific autonomous unit: requires the approval of more than half of the percentage ownership of the property and must be justified by repeated and proven incidents that disturb the normal use of the building or cause nuisance and disturb the peace of the residents.

The decision outlined in point 2) above may result in the cancellation of the relevant registration of the Local Accommodation establishment, if the cancellation is requested by the Mayor. Alternatively, instead of cancellation, the Mayor may invite the registration holder and the residents to negotiate an agreement, facilitated by the Local Accommodation Ombudsperson (if applicable). This process must be completed within a maximum of 60 days.

REGULATORY POWERS

As expected, municipalities may adopt an administrative regulation to regulate the activity of Local Accommodation establishments in their areas. Under the new amendments, municipalities with more than 1000 Local Accommodation establishments registered on 1 November 2024, such as Lisbon and Porto, must decide within a maximum of 12 months whether to exercise this regulatory power. Other municipalities will have 12 months from the date they reach 1000 registrations to make this decision.

Within the regulatory framework, municipalities retain the option of establishing:

a)    Containment areas, which are areas where there is an oversupply of Local Accommodation establishments; and

b)    Sustainable growth areas, where monitoring and control measures are justified to prevent overloading.

Where these areas exist, they must now be reassessed at least every three years, rather than every two years under the previous rules. In addition, in both cases, the regulation may impose restrictions on new registrations.

It should be noted that, pending the entry into force of the administrative regulation, the municipal assembly may decide to suspend new registrations in specially designated areas for a maximum period of one year.

As part of the regulatory powers, the newly introduced role of Local Accommodation Ombudsperson can be established in the regulation. This role is intended to assist the municipality in resolving disputes between residents, operators of Local Accommodation establishments and condominium owners or interested third parties. As anticipated, municipalities can approve an administrative regulation with the object of regulating the activity of Local Accommodation in their territory.

MAIS HABITAÇÃO (MORE HOUSING) PROGRAMME

The following measures introduced by the Mais Habitação (More Housing) programme concerning the legal framework for the operation of Local Accommodation establishments have been repealed: (i) registrations will no longer have a duration of 5 years, renewable for equal periods; (ii) the general suspension of new registrations for Local Accommodation in apartments and lodging establishments within autonomous units of buildings has been lifted; and (iii) there will be no re-examination of registrations in 2030.

It should also be noted that on 10 September 2024, Decree-Law 57/2024 was published and entered into force on the following day. This introduces further changes to the Mais Habitação programme, namely: (i) the abolition of the extraordinary contribution to Local Accommodation; (ii) the abolition of the determination of the vetustez (depreciation) coefficient applicable to Local Accommodation establishments for the purposes of assessing the Municipal Property Tax (IMI). Please see our Informative Note on this topic.