Portugal may revoke short-term rental licenses from homeowners

What has happened?

More than a third of all short-term rental units may be removed from the Portuguese market as a result of the government's efforts to tackle the housing crisis.

What is the reason?

The outgoing Socialist administration has  blamed short-term rentals for contributing to housing shortages in cities such as Lisbon, where residential property prices are now higher than in Milan, Madrid and Berlin, according to Bloomberg City Tracker.

So what now?

Owners of short-term rentals in Portugal were recently given two months to provide evidence that their apartments are in use. Owners who did not, officials warned, would have their licenses canceled.

The deadline for filing this information, including tax documents, already expired last week. It was extended by almost a week after heavy traffic caused the site to crash several times.

The problem

Out of 120,719 registered short-term rentals in the system, 45,747 license holders have not provided valid evidence that their rentals are active, the government said. Homeowners renting their apartments for fewer than 120 days per year were exempt from this requirement.

Quotation

““That means more than one third of short-term rentals in Portugal may be canceled,” said Eduardo Miranda, president of the Short-Term Rental Association in Portugal, adding that some of these licenses were already inactive.

“The problem is that many of these short-term rental owners may be unfairly removed from the market because of the way the process was carried out”, the expert added.

Who is to be affected?

Among owners who may have their licenses revoked are foreigners living abroad who cannot provide the proof of their business activities because a valid Portuguese ID is required to access the government's website.

Elderly people who do not have proper documentation to access the government platform could also be affected.

Quotation

“I just hope that the government and the local authorities take all these problems into account before deciding whether or not to cancel some of these licenses,” said Miranda.

The background

Earlier this year, the Portuguese government has approved a series of measures aimed at easing the ongoing housing crisis. These include initiatives to speed up issuing building permits, ban new short-term rentals in cities and close the so-called “golden visa” program.

Source: Bloomberg

Photo by Nelson Ndongala on Unsplash

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