Alojamento Local Licence and Rural Tourism in Portugal: 2026 Rules
In Portugal, a guest room is not a private matter. It is a register.
Few rules in Portuguese property have moved as much as those for short-term rentals. Between 2023 and 2025 they were tightened, partly reversed and handed to the municipalities. In 2026 the picture is clearer. What foreign buyers call an alojamento local licence, or an Airbnb licence, is in fact a registration number, and whether you can obtain one depends on the building, the street and the town hall. For a country house or a historic one, rural tourism and turismo de habitação are other routes, with other rules. This guide sets out both.
What alojamento local is
Alojamento local (AL) is governed by Decreto-Lei 128/2014. It covers paid, temporary accommodation for tourists in premises that do not meet the requirements of a tourist establishment such as a hotel. There are four types: the house (moradia), the apartment, the guesthouse (estabelecimento de hospedagem, called a hostel when dormitories predominate) and rooms, up to three, in the owner's own home. Outside hostels, an AL can have at most nine rooms and thirty guests.
The activity starts with a prior communication on the government's single electronic portal. Only once the registration number is issued may the property be advertised and receive guests; the number then appears in the national register, the RNAL, kept by Turismo de Portugal. The owner needs civil liability insurance, a complaints book, a fire extinguisher and blanket, a first-aid kit and, except for houses, an identification plaque at the door. AL income also requires a tax registration as a business activity.
From Mais Habitação to 2026
In 2023 the Mais Habitação law (Lei 56/2023) suspended most new registrations for apartments, created an extraordinary contribution on AL (the CEAL), made registrations non-transferable and scheduled a review of all of them in 2030. Much of this has since been undone. Decreto-Lei 57/2024 repealed the CEAL, with effect from 31 December 2023, so it was never charged for 2023. Decreto-Lei 76/2024, in force since 1 November 2024, lifted the general suspension, ended the five-year validity and the 2030 review, and made registrations transferable again.
The same decree gave the decisions to the municipalities. Each town hall may now adopt an AL regulation, define contention areas, where AL is already dense, and sustainable growth areas, where it must be watched, and set conditions on new registrations there, including limits on transferring them. Municipalities with more than a thousand registered AL had twelve months to decide whether to use these powers.
Lisbon, Porto and the rest
Lisbon has used them. Amendments to its municipal AL regulation, approved by the Municipal Assembly on 2 December 2025, measure the ratio of AL units to dwellings in each area. Where it reaches 10%, contention is absolute and new registrations are not allowed: this covers the parishes of Santa Maria Maior, Misericórdia, Santo António, São Vicente, Arroios and Estrela, and neighbourhoods such as Belém, Alcântara, São Bento and Parque das Nações. Between 5% and 10%, contention is relative, as in Avenidas Novas, and new registrations need exceptional approval. Transfers of registrations are restricted in both. Our guide to Lisbon's neighbourhoods gives the wider picture.
Porto's regulation, approved in December 2024, places the historic centre parishes of Vitória, São Nicolau, Sé, Santo Ildefonso and Miragaia in contention areas. Elsewhere, the answer lies in each municipality's own rules, which change: ask the town hall before you buy, not after. Each municipality also decides its tourist tax; in Lisbon it is €4 per guest per night since September 2024.
Alojamento local is registered. Rural tourism is classified.
The building and the neighbours
For an apartment, the condominium matters. Under the current rules, running an AL in a flat is not in itself a use contrary to its purpose, unless the title deed, the condominium regulation or an assembly resolution says otherwise. Inserting a ban in the condominium regulation requires two-thirds of the building's permilage, and applies only to later registrations. To oppose an existing AL, owners holding more than half of the permilage must pass a reasoned resolution based on repeated disturbance of the building's normal use or of residents' rest, and the decision then falls to the mayor.
How AL is taxed
AL income is business income (category B) for personal income tax. Under the simplified regime, 35% of gross income from a house or apartment is taxed, rising to 50% in contention areas. Owners of houses and apartments may instead opt to be taxed as rental income (category F), at the autonomous 28% rate or aggregated. Accommodation carries VAT at 6% on the mainland, although small operators with turnover up to €15,000 in the previous year can be exempt. IMI remains due on the property; see our guide to property taxes in Portugal and to the total cost of buying.
Rural tourism and turismo de habitação
A different law, Decreto-Lei 39/2008 on tourist establishments, governs tourism in rural areas (turismo no espaço rural). It has three forms: casas de campo, houses in villages or the countryside that respect the local architecture; agritourism, on a working farm; and rural hotels. Five or more casas de campo run together in one village form a turismo de aldeia, a route we discuss in our guide to buying a village.
Turismo de habitação is the most demanding category: family-run accommodation in old private houses of architectural, historic or artistic value, such as palaces and manor houses, where the owner or a representative lives during operation. If the house is listed, our guide to buying a classified property applies too. Unlike AL, these are classified. The municipality classifies casas de campo, agritourism and turismo de habitação; Turismo de Portugal classifies rural hotels. All require a use licence suitable for tourism and planning rules that allow it, which in the countryside means the municipal master plan; see our guide to farms and montes in the Alentejo.
Two cases
In the historic centre of Abrantes, Casa Studio is a rehabilitated urban building with two suites, a family studio, a shared kitchen and a courtyard with a lemon tree. Its listing presents it as a mixed-use property and suggests a boutique guesthouse among its possible uses. The listing does not mention an AL registration, so any hospitality use would start with the steps above.
On the Alentejo coast, Casetas de Melides is presented as a lifestyle and rural tourism property: a main house, six timber casetas with their own decks and bathrooms, a shared kitchen pavilion and a pool on 12,695 m² of land with olive trees. For a property of this kind, the first questions in due diligence are which registration or classification exists and what the plan allows; the Comporta and Melides market is covered in our guide to the coast. A country house on its own land, such as Casal Riba Tejo on the Tagus near Abrantes, raises the same questions.
Wiseguys Properties advises buyers and owners of houses with a hospitality vocation. To discuss a purchase, see our step-by-step buying guide or contact us.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a licence to rent my property to tourists in Portugal?
Yes. Short-term rental to tourists requires an alojamento local registration, obtained by prior communication on the government portal, before the property is advertised.
Is an alojamento local registration transferable in 2026?
In general, yes, since Decreto-Lei 76/2024. Municipalities may restrict transfers in contention areas, and Lisbon does.
Can I register a new AL in Lisbon?
Not in absolute contention areas, which include the historic centre parishes. In relative contention areas, new registrations need exceptional approval from the municipality.
Can the condominium stop an AL?
Owners with two-thirds of the permilage can ban AL in the regulation for future registrations. Opposing an existing AL requires more than half, a reasoned resolution and a decision by the mayor.
What is the difference between AL and rural tourism?
AL is a registration for premises that are not tourist establishments. Rural tourism and turismo de habitação are classified tourist establishments under Decreto-Lei 39/2008, with stricter requirements.
This article is general information and does not replace legal or tax advice. Sources: Decreto-Lei 128/2014, as amended by Lei 56/2023 and Decreto-Lei 76/2024; Decreto-Lei 57/2024; Lisbon Municipal AL Regulation, amendments approved 2 December 2025; Porto Municipal AL Regulation (2024); Decreto-Lei 39/2008 and Portaria 937/2008; Turismo de Portugal; Código do IRS and Código do IVA. Photographs: Wiseguys Properties.
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