The government has approved the decree-law with the measures on local accommodation announced on August 8, after the law had gone through “mandatory consultations” with autonomous regions and municipalities, the Minister of the Presidency announced today.
At the press conference following today’s council of ministers, António Leitão Amaro confirmed the approval of measures on local accommodation to respond to the “balance of various interests, between owners, investors in local accommodation, condominium owners, those looking for housing”.
Recalling that the government detailed these measures in the previous council of ministers, on August 8, the minister said that the law had already “gone through the mandatory consultations”, referring to the opinions of the autonomous regions of the Azores and Madeira and the National Association of Portuguese Municipalities.
In today’s Council of Ministers communiqué, released later, the government said that it had approved the law “repealing the extraordinary contribution on local accommodation properties, as well as setting the coefficient of ageing applicable to local accommodation establishments for the purposes of assessing IMI [Municipal Property Tax]”.
At the same time, the decree-law amending the legal regime for the operation of local accommodation establishments was approved, “after hearing the bodies of the autonomous regions of Madeira and the Azores and the National Association of Portuguese Municipalities”.
Among other things, the law once again leaves it up to local councils to decide whether to put an end to local accommodation in residential buildings.
At the same time, councils may not immediately cancel the registration of local accommodation and “invite the parties to reach an agreement”.
Condominiums can still oppose local accommodation, but they have to justify their opposition by “repeated and proven acts that disturb the normal use of the building, as well as acts that cause nuisance and affect the rest of the condominium owners”.
At the same time, the government proposes the creation of a mediator for local accommodation.
According to the communiqué, the decree-law proposes to eliminate “certain burdensome and disproportionate restrictions on private initiative in the sector” and to focus on “decentralizing the powers to regulate local accommodation activity to the municipalities, which are responsible for adjusting municipal regulations to the local reality”.
At the end of the council of ministers, António Leitão Amaro highlighted the “essential principles” of the new measures, “decentralizing decision-making and regulation” on local accommodation activity and “repealing the mistakes of the previous government, which punished an investment that was important for our cities and for the national territory”.
The minister acknowledged that “it is necessary, in many territories, to regulate local accommodation”, noting, however, that this regulation “must be differentiated” and “locally based”, while respecting the “compromise between the various interests”.
