"AL " Tourist Rental Licensing process

[tricky]

We currently just have a 'guest' book, where people write their comments,
the one or two suggestions that have arrisen from guest, have been helpful and fair,
surely that would be okay?

[Mexican Pete]

Michael, e-richard and tricky.
My apologies I clearly didn’t explain my point very well. We too have a “Guest Comment Book” that does indeed prove invaluable in providing feedback – overwhelmingly positive in our case for the last eight seasons that we have been letting the house. However, we are told that an official Complaints Book is required and we do have one. The point I was trying to make is that if any formal complaint is made using this book it unleashes the “whole raft of additional bureaucracy” to which e-richard refers. All I was saying is that we will not advertise the fact that the official Complaints Book exists.
Pete

[Michael Crane]

Ah. That makes good sense. Sorry for misunderstanding you.

[BONDI]

To all

Yes i agree that it would be wise to not display a copy of approval to rent ( AL License ) . AND also a notice to say you hold a complaints book.BUT PLEASE DO REMEMBER. it is a LEGAL REQUIREMENT , to diplay BOTH. and . weather you do display or not is your individula choice. But do remeber, around the months of april to september ASEA. and Fiscal Police do raid properties to check the properties for the same paper work. PLAQUE i agree is not yet manadatory as far as i know. Also when you have authority to rent the first places the ASEA and town hall officials will go for , are the once they know have been authorised. and also to check that the property is only let out to the number of people if was authorised to rent to.
Well it all comes down to cat and mouse game in the end, you takes your chances and hope for the best. But at least once you have the license to rent you can get by with certain diagreements, compared to people renting without the license and who COULD BE FINED UPTO EURO 30,000.

So it is all swings and roundabouts. Either you takes your cake and eats it and takes a CHANCE....OR ...............

good luck with what ever you decide in the end. it really is a CATCH 22 situation in certain aspects.....

Bondi

[Mike,Chislehurst]

We always tell our guests that if there are any problems, they should report them to the management agent (just around the corner with a walk in reception) who will deal with it. They will also be looking after the complaints book which they recommended we should do.

[EMM]

Does anyone have any statistics on the number of applicants .

To be honest apart from those few on this forum who post I have NOT heard of anyone applying.

KIss FM in the algarve has an add from one of the " agencies " that have sprung " offering " this service using scary music and threats of large fines to both owners and management companies and others are cold calling owners.

How many rental agencies are requiring their owners to hold a permit before listing their property ?

There is also the question over existing " Touristic Developments ", is this a requirement or NOT ?

[BONDI]

About the figures on number of licenses issued so far were talked about in portuguese press and diferent camaras having already issued licenses per each borough. i think in the algarev until last June there were some 20,000 issued so far, and time limit for applications was extended to January 2010. So eact figures now may be little higher i guess.
About managemnt companies and complaint books, managment companies are the first port of call from fiscal police, and they are fined very heavily if they have not got the relevant paper work to show they are authorised to act as management companies authorised to arrange rentals.
About touristic develoment the have MASTER license for rental purposes, so individual owneres do not need to do this, but should check this with their deeds and company that dveloped the urbanisation that it had license to be used as touristic rental purposes.

Bondi

[Mexican Pete]

To all

Yes i agree that it would be wise to not display a copy of approval to rent ( AL License ) . AND also a notice to say you hold a complaints book.BUT PLEASE DO REMEMBER. it is a LEGAL REQUIREMENT , to diplay BOTH. ...............

You'll probably not be surprised to hear that my lawyer advises me that there is NO legal requirement to display either of these! It seems to me that this may simply be another case of the legislation being so loosely drawn that not even the local lawyers or the authorities can agree on its interpretation!

[BONDI]

You may be right. but this being portugal and my 25 years of experience with lawyers, laws. bureaucracy, and the FISCAL DEPARTMENT, they all seem to follow and interprete laws as they see fit,

so lets just wait and see what we read in the media come next few months.

Bondi

[BONDI]

Hi All

Just wondering if anybody has any more news on this matter?

thanks

Bondi

[biffa]

Just to clarify - the complaints book is not some special book for tourist letting but just the same book as held in restaurants, bars and any place dealing with the public. The difference is the regulatory authority mentioned on it - in case of AL that is ASAE and the commercial activity code (CAE) mentioned in it. Under the AL "law" you have to have one at the property.

[BONDI]

biffa

thank you for clarifying this point about the complaints book. i was under the same impression as you.

bondi

[snowbirds]

In 2009 we obtained the AL Tourist License through Lagoa Camara. I have been reading the previous posts on this topic and wondered if anyone knows whether you are required to have an ongoing annual electrical inspection, as well as an inspection of an electric boiler? We are in a tourist development and our management company continues to have an annual inspection undertaken of both our electrics and the electric boiler, and is billing us for this every year. We have been told by our accountant (who has some property management companies as his clients) that this is not a requirement. He says that only the initial inspection was mandated in order to obtain the license. Does anyone have an English version of the Lagoa Camara Tourist License requirements that they would be willing to share with us?

[Geoff]

Hi Penny & Brian aka Snowbirds.....just to say that we have an electric boiler/hot water tank and don't have annual inspections....Carvoeiro Clube manage the condo, and am sure they would know if we did need it. Reckon the annual check is purely for gas ones.

[widge]

Hi Bondi,

Sorry it took so long, but the end of the year is always a bit of a hassle.

At the beginning of the week we got our first two certifications for touristic rental in the form of a letter that stated that the houses that were visited in December met the criteria.

Essentials:
Fire safety (fire blanket & extinguisher 6 KG)
Gas certificate if applicable

Electrcians certificate and signed maintenance contract for the electrical installation. This contract outlines the responsibility of the certified electrician to visit the house 2 times per year to check on the electrical installtion. The owner is also bound to notifying the electrician of any modifications to the electrical installation. Costs for this range from €100 - €200 pA depending on the complexity of the installation.

Essential electrical modifications included:
Grounding of all outlets and electrical gear (you would not beleive how many wall outlets are not grounded in the older houses)
Modification of the fuse box to meet current standards (out with the old plywood boxes).
Re-locating the electric meter to the outer perimeter of the premises (We assume that it will be obligatory to move all metering equipment to the outer perimeter soon, as is the case with new builds)
Cost varies according to the complexity of the necessary modifications.

Signs:
"AL" plaque located so it is visible from the outside.
Floorplan with location of the exits and fire fighting equipment.

The visits were conducted at lightning speed so I cannot say if they or we may have overlooked something in the process, but I beleive this to be accurate.

G.

Don't know if this advice from a couple of years ago is still relevant but at the time I had to change all my electrical sockets & appoint a contractor to oversee the house. The cost was considerable.