The Government has approved further changes to the Local Accommodation (AL) regulations, removing the non-transferability of licenses established by the previous Government. In addition, a new Decree-Law is now before the National Association of Portuguese Municipalities for consultation.

The announcement was made by Prime Minister António Leitão Amaro at a press conference following the Council of Ministers in Lisbon. The government representative reiterated the initiative of the PSD/CDS-PP government to correct “some mistakes” of the socialist government.

“We have approved a more progressive version of a law that corrects some serious errors, such as the non-transferability of licenses and their expiry after five years. At the same time, we have avoided introducing a situation of market deregulation and have instead opted for a logic of decentralization after extensive dialogue with various entities, including industry players,” he said.

According to the government, “local authorities should make decisions on the rules for operating local accommodation in the most affected areas.”

The law is expected to be finally passed “very soon”, i.e. within a few weeks.

In the previous legislation, which was passed in Parliament in 2023 and was highly controversial by the local accommodation industry, the license to operate was not transferable, even in the event of death, divorce or inheritance.

The package presented by the Socialists at the time also stipulated that inactive AL holders had to prove that they had continued their activity. If they did not do so, their registrations would be cancelled by decision of the president of the respective municipality.

The rules also stipulated that AL registrations could be reassessed during 2030 and extended for five years from the first reassessment.

The only exceptions to this would be institutions that provide security for loan agreements that have not yet been fully settled by 31 December 2029.

Leitão Amaro recalled that the “punitive measures” for the sector, announced by the government when it took office, have already been corrected, such as the extraordinary levy and the obsolescence coefficient for the payment of the municipal property tax.