The government states that it is necessary to promote the relationship between Local Accommodation (AL) and the neighborhoods and the resident population, namely “through the recruitment of employees of the Local Accommodation establishment in the territory where the establishment is located”. It is one of the proposals in an evaluation report on the impact of the LA released by the executive branch to the Assembly of the Republic. Another measure recommended in the document concerns the creation, at national level, of the figure of the local housing mediator, with the task of correcting “conflicts and tensions”.
The document handed over to the parliamentary committee on economics stems from the local housing law passed in 2018, which expressly stipulates that the “government, in cooperation with local authorities, shall present an annual impact assessment report to the assembly of the republic” of the AL. At the end of October, without any report having been delivered, the Economy Committee asked the government to request the documentintroduced last November 22, with data reported up to 2020. According to Afonso Oliveira, a social democrat who chairs the Economy Committee, this issue will continue to be “analyzed by the deputies” given the 2021 report. Incidentally, this has been extended until 2019, since the law entered into force in October last year.
This is stated in the report from the Ministry of Economic Affairs advocated the “creation of sustainability areas” instead of the current “containment areas” – where, once a certain threshold of the number of local housing units on the total available housing is reached, restrictions are imposed in whole or in part on the opening of new local housing units. A new designation that does not entail any changes to the restrictions already provided for in the law and implemented in the municipal bye-laws drawn up by the municipalities. “While retaining the restrictions already included in the current regime, it seems more consistent with the assumptions of preserving the social reality of neighborhoods and offers the opportunity to create sustainable areas, given the impact that the growth of Local Accommodation had, for example, in the historic centers of urban areas,” the report points out, then suggests some measures of “reconciliation” between the AL and the spaces where they are located.
The first is exactly the hiring workers from the local community, promoting “relationship with the local population”.🇧🇷 In the same sentence, the “development of partnerships with the local trade and local associations of the territory of location” of the creation of LA is proposed. The report also puts forward a third recommendation, which concerns “the adoption of efficiency measures and good environmental performance practices that promote the sustainability of the area where the LA is located and its relationship with surrounding residents.”
It is also with the argument to strengthen relations between the LA and the communities in which these establishments operate Government proposes to “create the figure of the Local Accommodation Broker”, with the aim of “promoting the balance and correction of conflicts and tensions between residents, tourists and businesses”🇧🇷 “With this figure, it wants to guarantee adequate articulation between all parties and services involved in the development of local housing activity,” the college argues. The figure of the LA mediator already exists in the city of Porto – by decision of the municipality headed by Rui Moreira – an idea that the guardianship now wants to expand to the whole country.
Still on the containment areas, the report says “the need to make some legislative changes was discovered” for “more clarity” – and refers to the article of the law that provides for the suspension, for a maximum of one year, of the admission of new registrations, until the entry into force of the municipal regulations; and also the maximum number of AL devices that the same owner can operate. However, the report does not indicate in which direction these changes should go. Currently, the law stipulates that the same owner cannot have more than seven local accommodations in containment areas (with the exception of those that already had a higher number on the date of entry into force of the law).
Extend exceptions until registrations expire
By law, the registration of an AL branch located in a containment area is “personal and non-transferable”, even if it is a legal entity. The title to the exploration expires in the event of a transfer of ownership of the registration, cessation of operation as an AL, lease or other form of ownership transfer – an imposition intended to inhibit the growth of AL in the areas where it gained greater weight . In the case of succession, the registration does not expire.
What the government is now proposing is to expand the range of situations in which the title does not expire. “After three years of application of this regime, practice suggests that other causes of non-expiry should be foreseen, such as the change of ownership of the registration made to the owner of the property, who already had this capacity on the date of entry into force of the Municipal Ordinance”. A change intended to respond to a claim made by the industry, as there are cases where the AL registration is made in the name of a trustee and not the owner – a situation that, in light of current law, cannot be changed, under penalty of forfeiture of the AL registration, and cannot be extended, in the case of containment areas. The document also mentions the donation and divorce as “other possible exceptions, suggested by trade associations”.
The Ministry of Economy report also suggests that the law begin to provide for a system of suspension of the operation of the AL for a period of three years, which can be extended to a maximum of five, with municipal permit. But limited to three situations: when the AL branch is undergoing work; if it is the subject of an agreement for housing purposes; or if it is used for the permanent residence of the owner or immediate family members (parents or children). A model that is close to what is in force by municipal decree in Lisbon, but in this case only for the containment areas.
Turning to data for the year 2020, the report states that the covid-19 pandemic had a “catastrophic effect on all tourism activities and in particular on local accommodation”, with a “25.2% drop” in the number LA units.
The 2018 law that changed the local housing regime was agreed in the Assembly of the Republic, but this is not a matter of the exclusive competence of the AR – the original 2014 law came from the government of Pedro Passos Coelho. Which means future changes can come directly from the Executive.
Source: DN
