PORTUGAL Trends and Developments Contributed by: Francisco Lino Dias, Teresa Madeira Afonso, Diogo Neves and Maria Sanches Afonso, PLMJ
Management Instruments ( Regime Jurídico dos Instrumentos de Gestão Territorial , or RJIGT), the Law on the General Principles of Public Land, Spatial Planning and Urban Planning Policy and the Legal Framework for Urban Rehabilitation. These can be summarised as follows: • simplifying licensing procedures, with some relevant operations being dependent on a mere prior communication ( comunicação prévia ), rather than an ordinary and usually more lengthy licensing procedure; • the use permit certificate has been abolished, so it is no longer necessary to present such a document when transferring ownership of urban property; • the authorisation to carry out the urban devel - opment operation will now be proof of pay - ment of the respective fees and there will no longer be such a thing as a “building permit certificate” ( alvará de licença de construção ); • when signing a public deed for the acquisition of ownership of a building or unit intended for residential use, it is no longer necessary for the notary to certify the existence of the technical data sheet for the dwelling and that it has been handed over to the buyer; • with regard to the technical rules for the prep - aration of urban construction projects, it has been established that these will be defined by the competent personal orders and as part of the development of the Construction Code by 1 June 2026; and • mechanisms have been introduced for a simplified procedure of reclassification of rural land as urban land – namely, if the land is intended for the establishment of activities of an industrial, warehousing or logistics nature and related support services or for dry ports for cost-controlled housing or residential use.
All these measures are expected to bring a new dynamism to the real estate market. Rent updates for 2024 In 2023, a law was passed that set a cap of 2% on rent increases in 2023 for lease agreements that are subject to the legal annual update coeffi - cient for rents (which includes all leases that pro - vide for a specific rent update or in the absence of a specific regulation). This law placed strict limits on the situations in which the legal coef - ficient would normally apply. The legal coeffi - cient results from the variation of the consumer price index and is provided for in the New Urban Leasing Rules ( Novo Regime do Arrendamento Urbano , or NRAU). If it were to be applied in 2023 to the different types of leases (both urban and rural), the rent increase coefficient would have been of 1.0543 (5.43%). However, such limitation will not take place for 2024 and the legal annual update coefficient of 1.0694 (6.94%) will apply (Notice No 20980 A/2023 published in the Official Gazette), unless otherwise agreed by the parties. Alongside the above, Decree Law No 103- B/2023 of 9 November has reinforced the appli - cation of extraordinary and temporary support measures for families in the context of hous - ing, previously approved by the Decree Law No 58/2023 to mitigate the effects of inflation and rising interest rates on housing credit. This legal regime provided for: • support for the payment of rent from a lease or sublease of first dwellings, corresponding to the difference between the value of the rent and the amount that would be paid if the effort rate was 35% of the average monthly value of income up to a maximum amount of EUR200 per month; and
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