By: ELOISE WALTON
THE RESIDENT has been closely following the progress of property rental licences in the Algarve, which have come to the fore after a wave of checking and fining by the Autoridade de Segurança Alimentar e Económica (ASAE), the authority in Portugal responsible for food safety and commercial activities.
Having been contacted by several readers this week regarding the difficulty of obtaining one of these licences from Silves Câmara, The Resident has investigated the situation.
After the wave of inspections carried out by ASAE in March and April, many private property owners, villa rental agencies and real estate firms have been desperately putting applications in to local câmaras for the Licença de Utilização Turística for fear of being fined.
The Resident was contacted this week by a representative (who wished not to be named) for a limited company in the Silves council, regarding his experience of attempting to apply for the licence.
Having realised a licence was needed to rent his property (a block of apartments), the representative went to Silves Câmara to ask for a vistoria (câmara inspection of the property) in 2006. Inspectors decided the apartment block itself conformed to the necessary requirements, but the owner’s accommodation further down the land did not conform and had to be modified in order to pass an “alvará” for everything.
Turned away
Having carried out the modifications, the company was then told by an employee at Silves Câmara that “we are not issuing any more alvarás because they have a limit of several years and the Câmara could be held responsible for any accidents at a property that it had issued a licence to”. The submission was not accepted and the representative was told to contact the Regional Tourism Board (RTA) in Faro.
When contacted, an employee at Silves Câmara informed The Resident that “we only issue licences relating to the construction of buildings or for the alteration of the purpose of the building”, adding “the tourism board issues the Licença de Utilização Turística”.
Ana Blanco from Turismo de Portugal in Lisbon explained to The Resident that “the Câmara is responsible for consulting us during the application process if the building requires an alteration of use”. She added that “projects are analysed here but the Câmara issues the necessary documents once all has been approved”.
Rosa Branco from Caspo, a villa rental agency in Carvoeiro, told The Resident that the applications for Licenças de Utilização Turística on behalf of their clients in Lagos, Lagoa, Albufeira and Loulé “have been progressing very well”. She explained that “what the Câmara is calling an alteration of use is, in fact, this Licença de Utilização Turística that is needed”. She added: “Unfortunately, some Câmaras do not fully understand the concept of this yet and call it by another name, sometimes being so ignorant they even send people away!”
Have you got a property rental licence?
FOLLOWING THE ongoing coverage of the controversy surrounding property rental licences, The Resident would like to hear from any property owners who have successfully managed to obtain the Licença de Utilização Turística.
Obtaining this licence from a câmara is complex, costly and time consuming – property owners can pay upwards of 1,200 euros and it can take many months. Despite tireless campaigning to get the government to change the law and make obtaining a rental license more straightforward, so far, nothing has been done.
If you have managed to successfully obtain this rental licence please get in touch with The Resident by emailing news@portugalresident.com or call 282 342 936 (speak to Eloise).
Do you have a view on this story? Email: editor@portugalresident.com
