The executive of the Porto City Council unanimously approved a proposal to move forward with the regulation of short-term rental and the creation of contention zones in Porto. The topic, which has been under consideration since 2019 and was suspended in 2020 due to the pandemic, enters the discussion folder again and soon an outline of the zones that will be restricted to new licenses will be presented.
In 2019, much of the Bonfim area and the historic city center were restricted to new AL license applications, but due to the pandemic, the contention zones in Porto were suspended in April 2020. With tourism picking up and the sector recovering, the expectation is that these zones will be restricted again.
The proposal of the contention zones in Porto is to suspend new short-term rental licenses per parish when registrations exceed a predetermined percentage of tourist accommodations in that zone, setting new limits at a time when new applications for AL registrations are expected to increase rapidly.
And in which parishes will the new contention zones be created in Porto? It will probably be the parishes in the historical center of the city, where an excessive expansion of short-term rental is recognized, as is the case of the Union of parishes of Cedofeita, Santo Ildefonso, Sé, Miragaia, São Nicolau and Vitória, according to a study conducted by the Catholic University in 2019.
However, given the recent decisions approved by the Porto City Council, in the coming months, new regulations will be launched aiming at the demographic balance of the city and the sustainable growth of tourist accommodation.
“We were already expecting this decision by the Porto City Council and it is in line with what has been done in other cities. We are already working with alternative models for properties that are in contention areas and the whole team is always in contact with our clients and possible partners to advise them, in the certainty that this is the best time to transform properties into short-term rentals, as we will certainly have news on this subject in the coming months”, comments Miguel Marinho Soares, Head of Business Development at LoveyStay.
Read more about the contention zones in Lisbon!
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Translated by Miguel Marinho Soares
