Decree-Law 10/2024, of January 8, is part of the “Simplex Urbanístico” (Simplex Urban Planning) and is made up of a set of 26 measures that aim to simplify, modernize and innovate the state’s administrative services by eliminating licenses, authorizations, acts and procedures that are dispensable or redundant in terms of urban planning, reducing context costs and deadlines.
This framework approves, in essence, measures: (i) Applicable to the entire Public Administration and to all procedures related to the exercise of the administrative function; (ii) to simplify urban planning; and (iii) to simplify land use planning.
Among the measures approved, we highlight 10 measures relating to administrative procedures in the area of urban planning and land use planning:
1 – The need to obtain urban planning licenses or to make prior communications is eliminated, meaning that it is now necessary to identify the new cases of exemption from prior control by the municipalities.
This will be the case, for example: when there is an increase in the number of floors without increasing the height or frontage (e.g. creation of an interior floor in an industrial establishment, to make better use of the space); when there are interior works affecting the stability structure, ensuring that the qualified technician declares, by means of a term of responsibility, that the stability structure is considered acceptable in relation to the situation in which the property was before the work was carried out, and this document may have to be shown in any inspection actions; when sufficiently precise prior information has been obtained; and for the replacement of openings with others that, by providing an exterior finish identical to the original, promote energy efficiency.
2 – There are licenses that are no longer compulsory and only prior communication is required, and it is no longer possible to choose to follow the license regime when it is legally possible to follow the simplified prior communication procedure.
3 – The need for a building license comes to an end, being replaced by the receipt of payment of the due fees.
4 – The use authorization is no longer required when the work has been subject to prior control. In this case, it is replaced only by the submission of documents relating to the project.
5 – A 20-day prior communication is now required for a change of use without work being subject to prior control. If the municipality does not give its decision within the stipulated period, the request will be granted.
6 – Implementation of an Electronic Platform for Urban Planning Procedures that allows applications to be submitted online, the status of processes and their respective deadlines to be checked, electronic notifications to be received, certificates of exemption from urban planning procedures to be obtained and procedures and documents required by municipalities to be standardized. This platform will be mandatory from January 5, 2026.
7 – Municipalities do not and will not approve specialty projects. When they are submitted to the municipalities, these projects are only used for information and archiving purposes and are accompanied by the terms of responsibility issued by the competent technicians justifying that the projects comply with the law.
8 – Excessive requirements for documents to be submitted by interested parties in applications for urban planning operations have been eliminated, such as digitized construction books and authenticated, recognized or certified powers of attorney.
9 – The formalities relating to the purchase and sale of a property have been simplified, by eliminating the need to show or prove the existence of the technical housing file and the use authorization.
10 – There will also be a simplification of the process of reclassifying rustic land as urban land, for industrial, storage and logistics purposes or for controlled-cost housing.
By simplifying administrative procedures, controls and/or control phases are being eliminated, which means that the responsibility is being transferred to third parties, and this responsibility, in the case of these measures, will essentially fall to the developers and technicians who oversee the preparation and implementation of urban planning projects.
“Simplex Urbanístico” thus aims to modernise various areas of public administration and proposes to streamline urban licensing procedures, with relevant repercussions for the real estate sector.
By Dr Eduardo Serra Jorge
|| features@algarveresident.com
Dr Eduardo Serra Jorge is founding member, senior partner and CEO of lawyers firm Eduardo Serra Jorge & Maria José Garcia – Sociedade de Advogados, R.L., created in 1987.
In his column, he addresses legal issues affecting foreign residents in Portugal.
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