Kafka would be proud

Thinking of buying your dream home in the Algarve? Think again if you plan to cover the mortgage cost with rentals to holidaymakers.

In the style of overbloated, beaurocratic governments the world over, the portuguese government has created a kafkaesque nightmare world of licensing, this time for holiday rental properties. These licenses are very complex, difficult (sometimes impossible) and expensive to acquire, and few have been issued to an estimated 80,000 property owners as local Camaras (Councils) are not equiped to deal with them.

Bizarrely, some areas of splendid and magnificant villas, for example, Quinta do Lago, are not capable of being licensed due to ancient planning technicalities.

Have no fear though, the public is being protected by jackbooted inspectors sent from Lisbon to keep us safe by issuing large numbers of fines of non-compliance to the miserable holiday home investors in dreams. Quote from the inspectors 'It is not our business whether the law is a good one or not, we are just doing our job.' Strangely reminiscent of the Gestapo circa 1939.

Of course, in the heady political heights of Lisbon, the kerfuffle going on down south will hardly have ruffled feathers as foreigners have a large and positive economic input but zero political representation.

So what of the future. I guess the political masters will only take notice when approximately 2 million holidaymakers fail to show up due to lack of accommodation, and the direct impact on property sales, restaurants, shops, cleaners, car rental companies and many others begins to put a hole in the national budget. At which point they will hastily revise the unworkable legislation and fund the local license issuing process.

In the meantime think hard, think very very hard before issuing a fat cheque to a developer in the Algarve.