Local accommodation cannot be canceled immediately

Around 40% of all registered local dwellings did not provide proof of their tax return. In Lisbon, more than 8,200 local accommodation registrations are to be canceled. The cancellation of local lodgings that didn’t take the activity test within the time limit set by the government “has by no means been immediate and nor can it be”, the sector association points out.

With the approval of Law no. 56/2023, all holders of local accommodation registrations are now obliged to prove that they are maintaining their operating activity by submitting a tax return.

The deadline for doing so was December 13 and, according to official figures, around 40% of all registered local accommodation did not provide this proof, and it is now up to the local councils to process the cancellation of the licenses.

ALEP, which represents the sector’s entrepreneurs, believes that the local authorities have shown “common sense” and a willingness to “assess each situation and always guarantee the right to a hearing”.

ALEP accuses the government of committing “a series of errors” with the approval of the new housing law, in a “thoughtless attack, without dialog and which will only create problems for a sector that represents 40% of tourist overnight stays” in Portugal.

According to the association’s accounts, “80% of the municipalities with the highest rate of failure to send proof are inland or small municipalities, where local accommodation is often the only form of tourist accommodation”.

Law no. 56/2023, of October 6, made several legislative changes to housing, including the obligation to provide proof of the maintenance of the local accommodation activity by submitting a tax return.