The Government has prepared a decree-law, which the Público has seen, which will take away some of the power condominiums have over the implementation of an AL in the building.
The decree-law proposal has been sent for review by the National Association of Portuguese Municipalities (Associação Nacional de Municípios Portugueses) and, if finally approved, will mean that condominiums can prohibit the AL activity in the building only if this is included in the condominium rules or the initial title deed. If this is not the case, condominiums can only prohibit future ALs in the building with a two-thirds majority vote. The requirement for AL’s to obtain unanimous approval of the condominium will be revoked.
As is the case now, condominiums will still be able to request the cancellation of a specific AL property, “based on the repeated and proven practice of acts that disrupt the normal use of the building, as well as acts that cause nuisance and affect the rest of condominium owners” (translated from the original Portuguese). The final decision on the requested cancellation will be made by the President of the corresponding municipality, who also has the chance to mediate an agreement between the two sides within 60 days, allowing the AL to continue operating after taking measures to correct the reported problems. Finally, if the AL is indeed cancelled, this will be for a maximum of 5 years.
The municipalities will also have the power to implement contention areas or areas of sustainable growth. Contention areas will not allow new AL’s to be implemented, whereas the sustainable growth areas will require constant monitoring regarding the ratio of AL’s to residential properties.