New build · Portugal

Two warranty regimes, running in parallel

A consumer buying a new home from a professional developer can hold rights under both. They carry different periods, different deadlines and different defendants, so they are never merged.

Consumer regime

Against the seller

DL 84/2021, de 18 de outubro
10
years
structural elements
5
years
everything else
Applies to
Professional seller to a consumer, since 1 Jan 2022
Runs from
Delivery of the property
Burden
Reversed. A non-conformity appearing inside the period is presumed to have existed at delivery
Clock
Suspends from the date of communication, and while use is lost
Notice
Carta registada com aviso de receção
Remedies
Repair, replacement, price reduction or resolution. No hierarchy for immovables
Empreitada regime

Against the builder

Código Civil, Art. 1225.º
5
years from delivery · defects of soil or construction
Applies to
Buildings destined by nature for long duration
Reaches
The empreiteiro directly, and a third-party acquirer can invoke it
Also covers
A vendedor who built, modified or repaired the property (n.º 4)
Denúncia
Within 1 year of discovery (n.º 2)
Action
Within 1 year of the denúncia (n.º 2)
Why it matters
The route around a single-purpose developer company that no longer trades
Boundary not yet drawn

DL 84/2021 left the meaning of elementos construtivos estruturais to a portaria carrying an exemplificative list, and no publication of that portaria has been confirmed. The ten and five-year periods are settled. Which specific building elements sit on the ten-year side is not.

One digit apart. DL 84/2008 amends the older DL 67/2003 consumer regime. DL 84/2021 is the current one. Search results mix them constantly, so check the year on any citation before relying on it.
Sources: Decreto-Lei n.º 84/2021, de 18 de outubro · Código Civil, Art. 1225.º n.º 2 e n.º 4 · Directive (EU) 2019/771 · Decreto-Lei n.º 84/2008, de 21 de maio
InspectOS · inspectos.pt · Updated August 2026