“This revision results in a significant increase in the areas under containment, allowing for more effective control of the expansion of AL in already saturated areas and their surroundings,” indicated the office of the Mayor of Lisbon, Carlos Moedas (PSD), in the information provided on the proposed amendment to the Municipal Regulation on Local Accommodation (RMAL).

The proposal also aims to create a single absolute containment zone at the municipal level, "whenever the municipality reaches an index equal to or greater than 10%", according to the proposal, which will be discussed next week at the council meeting scheduled for November 27th.

Suspension

In recent months, the registration of new short-term rentals (ALs) has been suspended in the city until the change in the Local Accommodation Regulations (RMAL) comes into effect, or while the municipality presents an index between permanent housing and those establishments "equal to or greater than 5%", and the municipality registers an index of 7.2%.

According to the PSD/CDS-PP/IL leadership, which governs without an absolute majority, the proposed amendment to the RMAL introduces a set of measures aimed at "strengthening the protection of the housing function, ensuring balanced urban development and guaranteeing more effective management of short-term rental activity in the municipality".

With a “more rigorous and well-founded” territorial approach, the proposal reflects the conclusions of the weighting report on the contributions received during the public consultation, with more than 70 contributions, aligning itself with the Municipal Housing Charter and the amendments to the Legal Regime for the Operation of Local Accommodation Establishments.

The amendment to the RMAL (Municipal Regulation for Local Accommodation Establishments) foresees the “adoption of parishes, and within parishes, neighbourhoods, as basic geographical units for monitoring and containment,” meaning that the entire city will be permanently monitored, “and it will be possible to declare any neighbourhood or parish that exceeds the containment ratios (ratio between the number of Local Accommodation establishments and the number of dwellings in the same area) as being under containment.”

In revising the indices that determine containment areas, the council intends to make them "more restrictive than the current regulation, approved in 2019," suggesting that, in absolute containment, the index is reduced from 20% to 10% (10 AL [Local Accommodation] for every 100 dwellings, instead of the previous 20 AL for every 100 dwellings), and, in relative containment, the index is reduced from 10% to 5% (five AL for every 100 dwellings, instead of the previous 10 AL for every 100 dwellings).

Submitted by councilor Vasco Moreira Rato (independent nominated by the PSD) – there is still no information on the distribution of portfolios among the eight elected members of PSD/CDS-PP/IL – the RMAL proposal includes the possibility, in areas of relative containment, of offering AL [Local Accommodation] in the form of "rooms" in T2 or higher type dwellings that constitute the habitual residence of the owner.

“This measure promotes a form of tourism integrated into community life, contributing to the permanence of the resident population as a supplement to family income,” he argued.

Other measures include the impossibility of exceptional authorizations for short-term rentals in properties acquired at public auction; the restriction of complementary uses, such as commerce, services, food and beverages, within lodging establishments; and the limitation of the transferability of the registration title in containment areas, safeguarding the exceptions provided for by law.

Balance

According to Carlos Moedas' office, the Lisbon City Council intends to guarantee a sustainable balance between tourism activity and the right to housing, promoting an urban development model that favors the quality of life of the population and the protection of the territory, at a time when short-term rentals currently represent “about 67% of the tourist accommodation supply” in the city.

In the current term (2025-2029), the Social Democrat Carlos Moedas governs in a minority, with eight elected members from the PSD/CDS-PP/IL coalition, falling one short of obtaining an absolute majority, which would require the election of nine of the 17 members that make up the capital's executive. In opposition are four councilors from the PS, one from Livre, one from BE, two from Chega, and one from the PCP.