Lay My Hat Forum

[e-richard]

Phil, Kate,
Welcome to LMH and its good to see the Portuguese contingent growing.

Technically everybody who rents out accomodation to toursists in Portugal needs a license from the Camara (local Council). In practice, your local Camara in Vilamoura probably don't even know how to issue one, what the conditions are, and how to police it.

While we have heard stories of rental agencies being fined thousands of Euros for not having licenses and the owners are also liable, I have also heard rumours that none of these fines have been paid or chased up.

Its a quagmire - but for peace of mind, I suggest you speak to your lawyer. I also suggest that you take what they say with a pinch of salt Get about 2-3 other opinions as well, and if you find any pattern or anything concrete - please do post here. I'm all ears.

[eldrep]

Hi Richard (e)

I asked my lawyer about this, and this was her response:-

"The apartment you are acquiring has been licensed to use has habitation , If you wish to rent to the tourists you will need a license for touristic habitation, which at the moment is a long and complicated process, so complicated that Government is now elaborating a new law about this matter. I believe you should wait until this new law comes . At the moment , legally, if you rent the property through a Portuguese company and if you do not have a touristic license you may be subject to a penalty however currently 99% of the properties being rented do not have the touristic license"

So, basically, it seems to be as we expected. Legally, if we rent the property out, we would need a licence, but as the vast majority of owners dont have one, it would be difficult to police, and it is also not clear how to obtain a licence.

This is also the opinion of the Real Estate agents, so it seems to be atleast a consistent line..

Cheers
Phil.

[e-richard]

Thanks for the update Phil. I was about to comment that we seem to have similar understanding but then I spotted a tiny phrase in your lawyer's answer (I presume you copy/pasted it verbatim).

[eldrep]

Hi Richard,

Yes, I spotted that too. I t may be a play on words, but I see it that unless you use a portuguese rental agency, it would be hard to police.

I think it is as we said....we'd have to play it as we see it

Cheers, and good luck yourself.

Phil.

[KateK]

Hi Phil

Thanks for the update. I too saw the bit about renting through a Portuguese company and wondered....

It helped make up our minds about how we rent. We had pretty much decided to do it ourselves from now on anyway just didn't want to cut off a possible route of rentals completely - now I think we probably will. We had 2 weeks rented out this summer through a Portuguese company, via the estate agent, and while we had no real problems we just never felt quite comfortable with it, if you know what I mean.

Not sure if you got my pm last month, but I hope your purchase is going well - maybe we'll bump into you in car park sometime - though when we'll next be out there I have no idea!. If you want the name of our manager/agent just let me know.

Kate
_________________
If it's true that if you look like your passport photo you are too sick to travel I should have given up long ago!

[e-richard]

Interesting perspective on the licensing issues here.

I believe the writer of this blog is a Portuguese Lawyer - or at least has some professional expertese in Law.

It seems to reinforce what I always believed.
The furore is more about ensuring that owners who rent out their property to tourists declare and pay Portuguese Income tax than anything else.

[Fil]

e-richard,

Thanks for the useful info. I agree with your view on the priority given to tax issues by authorities.