Decreto-Lei 76/2024 and Portugal's AL Restriction Zones

Decreto-Lei 76/2024 and Portugal's AL Restriction Zones: Full Guide for Foreign Owners

Decreto-Lei 76/2024 rewrote the rules for Alojamento Local in Portugal: licences are transferable again, the 5-year expiry is gone, the special AL tax (CEAL) was revoked, and the national freeze on new registrations was replaced by municipal control. The catch for buyers: new AL licences remain frozen in central Lisbon, central Porto and dozens of coastal municipalities through the áreas de contenção system. Existing RNAL numbers remain valid. This guide explains how to check whether your property sits in a restricted zone and what the rules mean for a foreign owner managing from abroad.

If you own or are buying a short-term rental property in Portugal, DL 76/2024 is the single most important piece of legislation to understand in 2026. Published in May 2024 and in force since 1 November 2024, it repealed the most controversial parts of the Mais Habitação package (Lei 56/2023) while keeping the mechanism that matters most to investors: containment zones where no new AL registrations are accepted.

Why DL 76/2024 exists: the Mais Habitação backlash

To understand the current framework you need the 2023 backstory. Lei 56/2023 (Mais Habitação) hit the AL sector with four simultaneous shocks:

• A national moratorium on new AL registrations in all areas declared under containment, with no distinction between saturated city centres and tourism-dependent regions.
• CEAL (Contribuição Especial AL): a special levy of roughly 15 to 20% of gross AL revenue, calculated on the property's utilisation coefficient.
• Automatic 5-year expiry of every AL registration, with renewal subject to a favourable opinion from the câmara municipal.
• Non-transferability of licences: selling the property extinguished the AL registration, except in inheritance cases.

The market reaction was severe. In Lisbon alone, 6,765 RNAL registrations were cancelled between 2024 and 2025, according to public data from the Câmara Municipal de Lisboa. Sector pressure from ALEP (the national AL association) and tourism-heavy municipalities led to an accelerated revision that became DL 76/2024.

The five headline changes in DL 76/2024

1. Licences travel with the property again. Selling a property with an active AL is once again a clean transaction: the RNAL number accompanies the property and the buyer notifies the change of ownership through the Balcão do Empreendedor within 30 days of the deed. Market data suggests an active AL licence adds roughly 8 to 15% to property value in Lisbon and 12 to 25% in the Algarve. See selling a Portuguese property with an active AL for the full procedure.

2. The 5-year automatic expiry is gone. Registrations now have indefinite duration, subject only to normal municipal supervision. Owners who paid renewal fees under the old rule can request a refund through gov.pt.

3. CEAL was revoked. The special AL levy disappeared with effect from 2024, restoring 12 to 18% of gross revenue to the owner depending on the parish coefficient. Standard Categoria B income tax under the CIRS continues to apply.

4. The national moratorium ended. Each câmara municipal now sets its own policy. Some municipalities reopened; the most touristic ones kept restrictions in place.

5. The 5%/10% density rule was refined. Municipalities can now declare containment in sub-zones within a parish (for example, only the saturated tourist streets) rather than closing an entire freguesia.

How áreas de contenção work: the 5%/10% ratio

The trigger is a simple ratio: the number of active AL registrations divided by the number of residential units in the parish (freguesia).

AL density ratio	Classification	Effect on new registrations
Below 5%	Free zone	New AL registrations accepted normally
5% to 10%	Relative containment	New applications assessed case by case with additional qualitative criteria
10% or above	Absolute containment	No new AL registrations, save narrowly justified exceptions

To give a sense of scale in Lisbon: Santa Maria Maior (Alfama, Baixa) runs at roughly 22% AL density, Misericórdia (Bairro Alto) around 18%, Arroios around 14%, while a free parish like Olivais sits near 3%.

Lisbon in 2026: 6 absolute, 6 relative, 12 free parishes

• Absolute containment (no new AL): Misericórdia, Santa Maria Maior, Santo António, Estrela, São Vicente, Arroios.
• Relative containment (case-by-case): São Domingos de Benfica, Belém, Alvalade, Penha de França, Avenidas Novas, Santa Clara.
• Free parishes: Olivais, Marvila, Beato, Carnide, Lumiar, Benfica and others — roughly 12 parishes remain open, with typical AL yields of 5 to 9% depending on location.

The Câmara Municipal de Lisboa reviews its AL regulation on a two-year cycle; the next revision is expected around 2027, and Belém is the parish most often flagged as a candidate for tighter rules.

Porto, the Algarve and the coastal municipalities

Porto: around 6 central parishes have suspended new registrations, including Bonfim, Cedofeita and Santo Ildefonso, alongside the historic Ribeira, Sé and Vitória areas. Peripheral parishes remain open.

Algarve: most municipalities remain open to new AL, with targeted restrictions in parts of Albufeira centre, Lagos and Tavira. Given the region's dependence on tourism, full-scale containment is politically unlikely, but individual municipal regulations change and should be verified before any purchase.

Other coastal and urban municipalities: dozens of municipalities along the coast — plus cities such as Cascais, Coimbra, Braga and Aveiro — have adopted their own regulations with density rules adapted to their historic centres. There is no single national list: each câmara municipal publishes its own regulation, which is exactly why buyers get caught out.

What a containment zone means for a foreign owner

The practical consequences differ sharply depending on whether you already hold a licence:

• Existing RNAL numbers remain valid. Containment blocks new registrations; it does not cancel active ones that remain compliant.
• You can still buy an active AL in a containment zone. The licence transfers with the property under DL 76/2024, without a new inspection in normal conditions. This makes properties with active RNAL numbers in Alfama or Bairro Alto scarce assets.
• You cannot register a new AL there. Buying a property in absolute containment with the intention of obtaining a fresh licence is the single most common and most expensive mistake foreign buyers make in Portugal.
• Inactivity is a risk. The wave of Lisbon cancellations targeted registrations inactive for over 12 months or lacking valid liability insurance. If you hold a licence in a containment zone, keep it demonstrably active and insured — once cancelled, it cannot be re-issued there.
• Change of AL type is restricted. In absolute containment zones you generally cannot switch modality (for example, from apartamento to hostel).

If your registration is cancelled and you believe the decision is wrong, you have 30 days from notification to file an administrative appeal with the câmara, with the administrative courts as the final instance. Evidence of activity — booking records, invoices, Modelo 30 filings, photographs — is decisive.

How to check your property's zone from abroad

Three steps you can complete remotely, before signing a CPCV (preliminary purchase contract):

1. Identify the freguesia. The authoritative source is the caderneta predial urbana (property tax document), available on the Portal das Finanças, which states the parish. Municipal geoportals (for example the Lisbon Geoportal) map addresses to parishes.
2. Check the municipal AL regulation. Each câmara publishes its containment map and regulation on its website. Zone maps are typically updated annually, so verify the date of the version you are reading.
3. Confirm sub-zone rules. Since DL 76/2024 allows containment in parts of a parish, a "relative" freguesia may contain streets that are effectively closed. Ask the câmara in writing if the listing sits near a tourist core.

For the full remote registration procedure once you have confirmed the zone is open, see RNAL registration for foreign owners: UK and US step-by-step guide.

What DL 76/2024 did not change

The decree reshaped licensing and taxation but left daily operating duties untouched. As a foreign owner you remain bound by:

• Guest reporting: foreign guests must be reported to AIMA (formerly SEF) via the SIBA platform within 3 working days of check-in.
• Livro de reclamações: physical and electronic complaints books, with 15 working days to respond to any complaint.
• Mandatory liability insurance: minimum cover of EUR 75,000 for damage to guests and third parties.
• Safety equipment and guest documentation: the fire safety kit and the livro de informações remain the top items checked in ASAE inspections.
• EU Regulation 2024/1028: the European short-term rental data-sharing framework applies from 20 May 2026, adding platform data-sharing and registration-number verification on top of the Portuguese rules.

Maximum fines for AL infractions were consolidated at up to EUR 40,000 for the most serious breaches by legal entities, so the compliance stakes did not soften even as the licensing regime relaxed.

Bottom line for 2026 buyers and owners

Portugal is not closed to short-term rentals — it is concentrated. Lisbon still offers around 12 open parishes, Porto's periphery is open, and most of the Algarve accepts new registrations. If you already hold an RNAL number in a containment zone, you own a scarce, transferable asset: protect it by staying active, insured and inspection-ready. If you are buying, verify the freguesia and the municipal regulation before the CPCV, not after the deed.

Related reading: AL types and capacity limits explained and buying Portuguese property as a foreigner: CPCV and IMT.

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