What Portugal's short-term rental law changes mean for your renovation

What changed between Law 56/2023 and Decreto-Lei 76/2024?

Law 56/2023 suspended new apartment AL licences in most of the country, made registrations personal and non-transferable, imposed renewal time limits, and introduced an extraordinary contribution known as the CEAL. For an owner planning a renovation with rental income in mind, that law effectively froze the upside: even a beautifully restored apartment could be locked out of new AL registration.

Decreto-Lei n.º 76/2024, in force since roughly 1 November 2024, reversed the harshest of those measures at the national level. Registrations generally become indefinite again. They also become transferable with the property, meaning a buyer who purchases an already-licensed AL unit can usually keep the licence, a detail that changes how renovation and resale plans get built. The national freeze on new licences was lifted, and the CEAL contribution was repealed.

What did not disappear: insurance requirements and guest-reporting obligations to SEF/AIMA remain in force, and municipalities kept, or in some cases strengthened, their own power to designate containment zones (zonas de contenção), suspend new licences locally, and set stricter local ratios. Lisboa tightened its own AL ratios in 2025 and into 2026, even as the national freeze lifted.

Why does AL status matter before you renovate?

For an owner-occupied renovation, the câmara municipal cares about structural safety and the usage licence (licença de utilização) matching the work performed. For a property intended for Alojamento Local, there is a second layer: AL registration itself has its own compliance checklist, covering fire extinguishers, emergency signage, and in some building types, additional egress requirements.

This is where renovation scope and AL law intersect directly. An electrical rewiring (from €5,000) or bathroom rebuild (from €12,000) done without AL compliance in mind can pass câmara municipal inspection for general habitation and still fail an AL-specific review. Owners who plan to list a newly renovated property on Airbnb or Booking.com should confirm, before signing a contractor scope, whether the unit already holds AL registration, sits in a containment zone, or would need a fresh application under Decreto-Lei 76/2024's current rules.

How do municipal containment zones affect renovation planning?

The 2024 reform returned significant discretion to municipalities. A property in central Lisboa's historic parishes, for example, may sit inside a zone where new AL licences are suspended regardless of the building's condition. A full renovation (from €85,000) undertaken on the assumption of future AL income carries real financial risk if the containment zone status was never confirmed at the outset.

This is a case where local knowledge matters more than national headlines. The national story in late 2024 and through 2025 to 2026 was "restrictions lifted." The municipal story, particularly in Lisboa and pockets of the Algarve, was "restrictions tightened locally." Both are true at once, and only a property-specific check resolves which applies.

What should you check before budgeting a renovation on an AL property?

A caderneta predial and a licença de utilização review, alongside a municipal registration check, should happen before a single contractor quote is requested. Renovating first and checking AL status afterward inverts the risk in the wrong direction.

How does remodel.pt help owners renovate AL properties with confidence?

We match you with personally vetted local contractors and get you competitive quotes to compare, completely free, and for AL-linked projects that means contractors who already understand the difference between a general habitation renovation and one that needs to clear AL-specific fire and safety review. Every contractor on remodel.pt holds a verified alvará checked against IMPIC records, and every project begins with an independent pre-renovation survey, the same survey that surfaces containment-zone and licensing questions before the budget is locked.

Frequently asked questions

Conclusion

The regulatory swing from Law 56/2023 to Decreto-Lei 76/2024 changed the national picture for Alojamento Local twice in two years, and the practical result for renovation planning is that national rules and municipal rules now diverge in important ways. A renovation budget built without confirming containment-zone status, transferability, and current registration risks spending on a property that cannot legally operate the way the owner intends.