The National Budget (OE) allows the opening of new local accommodations (AL) to be suspended during 2023, giving local authorities more time to complete the revision of the municipal rules that regulate this sector. THE measure is part of a proposal to amend the state budget submitted by the PS to the Assembly of the Republic (thus guaranteed with approval by the socialist absolute majority), leaving the final decision in the hands of the municipalities.
The possibility of banning the opening of new AL units will particularly affect the cities of Lisbon and Porto, which already have severe restrictions on the opening of tourist accommodation. In the case of Invicta, the restriction applies to parishes in the historic center and Bonfim, in the capital, it includes 14 parishes. Under current law, this suspension is allowed while the LA regulatory process is underway, but cannot exceed one year.🇧🇷 It is this limit that the amendment proposed by the Socialists now modifies, allowing the ban to remain in place beyond that deadline, until the end of 2023.
In Lisbon, the suspension of the opening of the new LA was initially introduced in March and extended at the beginning of October, so that it would end in April, with no possibility of further extension. A scenario that is now open. It should be remembered that the brake on local housing was approved on the proposal of the socialist councilors, accompanied by the entire left represented in the municipal administration, with votes against from the coalition led by Carlos Moedas.
A “demanding” process
In the text justifying the proposed amendment to the OE2023, the PS considers that the “procedure for amending the regulation, which should regulate and justify the establishment of containment areas for new local establishments, is demanding from the point of view of compliance with all formalities”. And he adds o “processing and analysis of the final results of the 2021 census are essential to carry out the evaluation”, so the “period of one year may prove insufficient for its effectiveness and proper weighting”. Therefore, the socialists add, the aim is to “allow that when the deadlines set expire in the course of the year 2023, it can be extended until the end of the year”.
In Porto, the Executive led by Rui Moreira has already indicated early 2023 as the deadline for completing the review of the regulation. As no more concrete date has been indicated in Lisbon, the foreseeable deadline would be in April. These regulations are the tool through which the councils define the criteria for the demarcation of containment zones – where local accommodation will continue to be banned beyond 2023. That is, the neighborhoods where tourist accommodation weighs too heavily in the total housing of the park.
Local accommodation with aggravated IMI
The hypothesis of extending the suspension of new local accommodation is not the only change envisaged by the PS, which is aimed directly at tourist accommodation. The Socialists also came up with a proposal that will allow municipalities to increase the Municipal Property Tax (IMI) by up to 100%, if they are allocated to local housing and located in areas of urban pressure.
“The allocation of real estate to local accommodation in areas of urban pressure has created barriers to the availability of housing for sale or rent. These difficulties have in some cases led to mischaracterization and depopulation of major urban centres., the PS writes in the amendment proposal, which also changes the legal framework of vacancy. From 1 January 2023, the date on which the national budget comes into force, one year is sufficient for an empty building or an independent faction to increase the IMI – currently the term is two years.
Municipalities decide whether monuments pay IMI
Another novelty related to the payment of IMI concerns monuments. Currently, the Tax Benefits Act stipulates that “buildings designated as national monuments and buildings separately designated as being of general interest or municipal interest” are exempt from paying this tax. But this is a reality that is about to change. The PS supplied one proposed amendment to the OE that refers the decision on this exemption to the municipalities.
“Since IMI is the municipalities’ own revenue, it is suggested that the municipalities make this assessment precisely, when the classification is a competence of the municipalities or when the buildings considered separately are part of sets or sites classified as national monuments,” they write. the socialists stressed that a “municipal procedure for recognition of the right to exemption” is now required in these cases. The national monuments themselves fall outside this regulation, which automatically remain exempt from IMI.
Source: DN
