"As a representative entity of this activity and concerned with the effects that this decision may have, AHRESP is asking the tutelage to urgently meet to discuss this problem with a view to its resolution", reads a note released by the association.

At issue is a ruling by the Supreme Court of Justice (STJ), published on Thursday by the Público newspaper, which concludes that “in the horizontal property regime, the indication in the constitutive title, that a certain fraction is intended for housing, must be interpreted in the sense that it is not allowed to carry out local accommodation (AL)”.

The association concludes, "it will not fail to have a persuasive effect, causing future decisions to meet the understanding now given, which considers that it is not possible to carry out local accommodation activity with a housing title, which could cause a very negative impact and even destabilise an entire economic activity".

AHRESP underlines that the Local Accommodation legal regime does not mention "specifically which title should be considered for its exercise" and that "many work with housing title, since, in many cases", they are "property for housing, and the use that is actually made does not differ from the housing use".

Contacted by Lusa, the Secretary of State for Tourism, Commerce and Services, Rita Marques, replied in writing that “the Government does not comment on court decisions nor does it consider it appropriate to comment on the impact of that particular decision”.