RJUE · nullity exposure after the reform

How long an urban-planning act stays open to challenge

The period got shorter. For acts issued before the reform, it also restarts.

The nullity period: three years, one figure, every route

Article 69.º, n.º 4 sets a single three-year period running from the issue of the act, replacing a previous ten-year period. Article 69.º ends at n.º 5, so there is no separate five-year track for private parties.

Issuing body
3 years
Ministério Público
3 years
Popular action
3 years
Extends to the criminal limitation period where the facts founding the nullity constitute a crime.
Sole exception: national monuments and their protection zones.
RJUE article 69.º, n.ºs 4 and 5, consolidated wording
For acts issued before the reform, the clock restarts

Article 12.º of DL 108/2026 applies the new nullity and lapse periods to legal situations already constituted, and counts them from the diploma's entry into force rather than from the date of the original act. The safeguard: where the previous regime's period would complete sooner, that earlier date governs.

The counter-intuitive result. A long-standing licence does not become more settled because the period was shortened. For older properties the exposure window restarts rather than closes.

Decreto-Lei n.º 108/2026, article 12.º
A separate one-year period, often mistaken for the above

Municipal successive control over the conformity of a prior communication lapses one year from fee payment or from the start of use, whichever is later. It answers whether the municipality can still review conformity retrospectively, not whether the act can be declared void. Its lapse does not prevent administrative inspection at any time.

RJUE article 35.º, n.ºs 10 and 11
Where this stops being a general rule

The mechanism is clear on the face of the transitional provision. Applying it to one specific title, on one specific property, is work for the buyer's Portuguese lawyer and should be treated that way rather than assumed in either direction.

Sources: RJUE, Decreto-Lei n.º 555/99, de 16 de dezembro, articles 35.º and 69.º, consolidated wording · Decreto-Lei n.º 108/2026, de 29 de maio, article 12.º · Lei n.º 9-B/2026 · Diário da República.
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