A detailed study of the Lisbon short-term property rental market shows that most of the properties that now are being let were lying empty before being converted.
The study, commissioned by the national accommodation association, concludes that 59% of properties that are let to tourists were empty but only 32% of owners said the neighbours were happy.
As part of the government’s thrust to devolve powers to localcouncils, the task of valuing property for the collection of the municipal property tax (IMI) is to be included. The Tax Authority will be responsible only for collecting the money.
This measure appears in the Government's draft law on the decentralisation of powers to municipalities which was published on Wednesday.
More than half of the €10 billion in offshore transfers that failed to appear in the government statistics between 2011 and 2014, supposedly due to a computer error, came from Banco Espírito Santo.
A source in the tax department, who has chosen to remain anonymous, said the amount of money leaving BES “was enormous” and was disproportionate to transfers from other banks.
With Aethel Partners standing by with an offer for Novo Banco worth €3 billion, Correio da Manhã today has stated that the sale already has been agreed between the Bank of Portugal and the US Lone Star fund whose offer is €750 million plus the same again for refinancing.
The ‘close to zero euros,’ price from the US, as suggested by Correio da Manhã, comes as two more bidders have appeared, attracted by the knock-down price that the Bank of Portugal has either agreed, or is still weighing up, from Lone Star with which it is in exclusive negotiations.
Monchique locals have lived for year under the ever-present threat of extensive mining in the surrounding hillsides and, despite years of licence applications, followed by complaint and uproar, an announcement in Diário da República opens up the distinct possibility of feldspar mining operations commencing in the Corte Grande area.
Monchique mayor, the popular Rui André, will fight to preserve the beautiful south facing hillsides that make the unspoiled Monchique countryside ideal for ‘nature tourism’ - the growing sector that this low-activity council area increasingly has been taking advantage of.
Caixa Geral de Depósitos has €2.3 billion in risky debt. Who owes the most? Friends of corrupt creditors without giving guarantees?
See the list of those who live at the Portuguese taxpayers’ expense and do not pay what they owe. This is part of the extensive list of debtors that the committee of inquiry has been tasked with analysing before Caixa Geral is handed any more taxpayer funds for a refinancing excercise that will aim to cover the losses and impairments shown below.
The unwelcome spectre of disgraced politician Miguel Relvas has appeared in the miasma surrounding the sale process for Novo Banco.
The former minister is one of the shareholders of Pivot SGPS, which appeared alongside the UK based Aethel Partners which has put in a last minute offer for the loss-making bank.
Portugal’s public prosecution service has filed charges against the Quinta do Lago barman who allegedly started several fires which consumed large sections of the Monchique countryside last summer, stopping just short of the International Autodrome in the neighbouring council area of Portimão.
The prosecution charged the 49-year-old on seven counts of deliberately starting fires which caused the most extensive blaze of 2016 in the Algarve region.
