A proposed local referendum has been approved in Lisbon’s municipal assembly, which paves the way for a potential ban on short-term rentals for tourists in residential buildings in the Portuguese capital.
According to Reuters, the move could put an end to a portion of the estimated 20,000 short-term holiday rental listings in Lisbon and free up housing opportunities for locals as a result.
Last month, the Movement for a Housing Referendum [Movimento Referendo pela Habitação – MRH] claimed to have secured 11,000 signatures from locals on a petition that it then presented to municipal authorities. The group said that the petition reflected the housing issues in Lisbon being experienced by more than 6,000 residents and that some 4,400 residents have been forced out of their homes due to the cost of living crisis.
According to Raquel Antunes, a member of the referendum movement, the high proportion of short-term rentals and rising numbers of tourists are turning communities into “leisure centres”, leading to rising noise levels, littering, pollution and overcrowding. She suggested that holiday rentals make up around eight per cent of total housing stock in Lisbon.
After foreign visitor numbers grew by 7.5 per cent in a record breaking first half of 2024, residents are concerned that a rise in listings in popular and historic neighbourhoods in the capital is pushing up rent levels and real estate prices to unsustainable rates for locals.
Despite not wanting to eliminate holiday rentals entirely in Lisbon, the housing movement believes that a ban on short-term rentals in residential buildings would contribute to addressing the city’s housing crisis and help more residents to stay in their homes.
A vote on a ban on holiday rentals in residential blocks in the city is moving closer, despite the Portuguese Government announcing just last month that it was revoking restrictions that were brought in by the previous Socialist regime on a national level.
At the start of November, the new Portuguese Government’s decree-law 76/2024 officially came into effect. The decree-law specifically revokes mandatory short-term rental licence renewals and restrictions on new registrations, while the power to make decisions on licences and registrations will be restored to municipal councils.
In addition, the decree-law will undo the automatic expiry of inactive licences and the planned re-evaluation of existing licences in 2030, condominiums will no longer have the “absolute power” to approve, cancel or deny licences without justification, and the government has clarified valid use cases and operational guidelines for short-term rentals [or alojamento local – AL – in Portugal].
Last year, the Portuguese Government put an end to its contentious ‘golden visa’ scheme and introduced a ban on new licences for short-term rentals as part of a €900 million package of measures designed to alleviate the country’s housing crisis.
However, the landscape shifted when Socialist Prime Minister António Costa stood down at the end of 2023 amid corruption allegations, and centre-right Democratic Alliance leader Luís Montenegro succeeded him in a snap election in March.
In August, the newly-formed government proposed the reversal of short-term rental restrictions and changes to the legislation introduced by the Mais Habitação package.
Eduardo Miranda, president of Portuguese short-term rental industry association ALEP [Associação do Alojamento Local em Portugal], spoke exclusively to STRz last week to provide his insights into the government’s decision and what it would mean for the country’s travel and tourism industry.
Speaking to Reuters, he added that the referendum “had no legal basis to destroy a sector that accounts for half of the city’s tourism” and that it would cause an “unprecedented economic crisis”, as well as “jeopardising over 40,000 jobs in Lisbon”.
After the municipal assembly approved a local referendum on Tuesday, the Constitutional Court must now approve ballot questions. A potential referendum on short-term holiday rentals in residential blocks could then be scheduled for spring 2025.
