Owners may prohibit the neighbors to rent houses to tourists – Daily News – Lisbon

landmark Ruling of the Court of relação de Lisboa gave reason to an assembly of the joint-owners of a building in Lisbon

property owners may prohibit neighbors from leasing homes to housing for tourists, reported today in the journal Public, citing a judgment of the Court of appeal of Lisbon, which gave reason to a owners meeting.

according To the Public, the case that arrived at the Lisbon Court of appeal is based on a decision of a meeting of the joint-owners of a building of Lisbon, approved by a majority in may of this year, prohibited the practice of local accommodation is exercised in the fraction.

The owner wanted to rent the house moved forward with an “interim injunction to halt the decision, which was accepted by the first instance, but overturned in the Relationship,” said the newspaper.

“The judgment is limited to recover what is in the Code Civil (article 1418), where the safeguard that, if the title of constitution of horizontal property (building with fractional units, held by various owners) to establish how to use the housing, the assembly of the joint-owners may not authorize another target allocation. And the accommodation for tourists is considered a commercial activity,” he adds.

So, the newspaper continues, citing the judgment of the Relationship, “or the annual condescendem in the practice of commercial activity, such as hairdresser, doctor’s office, among others, or can not be exercised”.

“The Civil Code provides for the possibility of change to the title is constitutive, but requires to be made by public deed, which is only possible if this change is approved by unanimity, that is, with the express acceptance of all of the remaining owners,” writes the Public.

The judges of the Relationship concluded that “if a commercial partner gives your fraction to a use different from the use to which, according to the title of constitution of horizontal property, it is intended, that is, whether it violates the prohibition contained in article 1422º of the Civil Code, the sole remedy for the breach is the reconstruction of the natural (the allocation of the fraction in question for the purpose it was intended)”.

The Public is reminded that the legislation that frames the activity of the local housing is recent (Decree-Law no. 128/2014 and Decree-Law no. 63/2015), “requiring authorization by several public entities, but is silent in respect of the authorisation of the owners of property”.

The judgment of the Relationship considers “irrelevant” the licensing of the activity on the part of the financial services of Lisbon, Lisbon municipality and Tourism of Portugal.

“The authorizations of the administrative bodies, according to which a certain fraction stand-alone building set up in the regime of horizontal property can be used for trade, do not have the virtuality to modify the bylaws of the horizontal property constant to its title of constitution, according to which this fraction is intended for housing”, is referred to in the judgment.

The Public recalls that the accommodation of local or of short duration has grown in the last two years, mainly in Lisbon and Porto, and has generated some conflict between permanent residents and tourists due to noise, hours of departure and late arrivals or lack of privacy in the common areas.