New LA registrations require prior agreement of all condominium residents

Those wanting to register their apartment in a horizontal condominiums as Local Accommodation will now have to seek the unanimous approval of all of the other fraction owners under a last-minute change to a restrictive proposed law that will be handed to parliament.

In the first draft law only a two-thirds majority in agreement from all the other home owners was required.
It has led to condemnation from the Association of Local Accommodation of Portugal (ALEP) which called the change “surprising and unbelievable” which will make a law which already penalises the sector even more draconian”.
It means that all the residents in a condominium will have to call a meeting for the applicant to get authorisation from all residents. It would only require one resident to reject the application for an apartment to be used for Local Accommodation for it to be turned down.
Only if all the residents approve and sign a document or a copy of the minutes of the meeting are provided that prove unanimous agreement, can the applicant for AL begin the formal application process at the appropriate municipal council.
The ruling PS party MP Maria Begonha justified the change by saying: “We think it is important that people have a word to say in their buildings and in their neighbourhoods as to whether there should be Local Accommodation activity or not”.
The MP referred to a ruling from the Supreme Court of Justice from April last year that there should not be Local Accommodation in buildings that are meant for housing.
ALEP President Eduardo Miranda said, “If it is confirmed that new licences for Local Accommodation will require the unanimous authorisation of condominiums, this law is nothing short of a total ban on LA in cities and so the PS will be responsible for the death of a sector which, according to a study from Nova SBE, contributed €8.8Bn to the Portuguese economy and employed over 100,000 people”.