Simplex Urbanístico (Decreto-Lei 10/2024) eliminated mandatory municipal property verification at sale in Portugal from 1 January 2024, transferring 100% of liability for hidden defects, illegal construction, and missing certificates to the buyer. This guide explains what changed, what risks buyers face under Portuguese law, and why the Simplex Safe inspection is the most cost-effective protection before signing your CPCV (promissory purchase contract).
Table of Contents
- What is Simplex Urbanístico and what did it change for property buyers?
- What checks did the Câmara Municipal stop doing before sale?
- Is the buyer responsible for illegal construction found after purchase?
- What changes on 1 October 2026
- What is the difference between finding illegal works before and after the escritura?
- How much does it cost to legalise illegal construction in Portugal?
- What is the Simplex Safe inspection and what does it include?
- How do you protect your purchase with the right inspection before the CPCV?
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Conclusion
What is Simplex Urbanístico and what did it change for property buyers?
Simplex Urbanístico (Decreto-Lei n.º 10/2024, of 8 January) removed the licença de utilização (use/habitation licence) as a mandatory requirement for property sales in Portugal, shifting the burden of urban planning compliance verification from the municipality onto the buyer.
Before 1 January 2024, selling any urban property in Portugal required the seller to present the notary with a valid licença de utilização - the document confirming that the Câmara Municipal (municipal council) had inspected the property and verified it met current building and safety regulations. Without it, the escritura (deed of sale) could not proceed.
Decreto-Lei 10/2024 revoked that requirement. Article 19 of the decree now obliges the notary to inform the buyer that the property may lack urban planning titles - but the notary cannot refuse to execute the deed on those grounds. Verification went from mandatory to optional. Responsibility shifted from seller and municipality to buyer.
The decree also removed the Ficha Técnica de Habitação from the deed. That is a narrower change than it sounds, and the difference matters: Decreto-Lei n.º 68/2004 still obliges the promoter to produce and deliver the document, so the obligation survives. What went is the handover at the escritura. A buyer who wants the technical data sheet describing a post-2004 building now has to ask the promoter or the município for it, and nobody will hand it over unprompted.
What the decree did not change
The underlying legal framework remains fully intact. Urban planning regulations still apply. Illegal construction is still illegal. The sanctions under the RJUE (Regime Jurídico da Urbanização e Edificação, DL 555/99) - embargo, demolition orders, use cessation - remain fully enforceable. What changed is who bears those consequences. Before the sale, it was the seller. After the escritura, it is the buyer.
The paradigm shift is from prior control (the municipality verifies before sale) to subsequent control (the municipality may inspect after sale, but the new owner is liable). In practice, no public authority now stands between a buyer and a property's hidden problems.
What checks did the Câmara Municipal stop doing before sale?
Before Simplex Urbanístico, the Câmara Municipal verified up to 14 compliance categories as a condition for issuing the licença de utilização - every single one of those verifications is now the buyer's responsibility after the escritura.
The licença de utilização was not a bureaucratic formality. It was proof that a municipal officer had physically visited the property and confirmed compliance with a defined set of legal requirements. With DL 10/2024, that verification no longer happens. Here is what the municipality used to check - and what only an independent inspection can now confirm:
What the notary still does and what they do not
Under DL 10/2024, the notary's role has been redefined. The notary must verbally inform the buyer that the property may lack títulos urbanísticos (urban planning titles). But this is an obligation of information, not verification. The notary does not inspect the property, does not consult the municipal archive, and does not check for unlicensed construction.
A buyer who signs the escritura without an independent inspection, including a structural and seismic inspection Portugal for older buildings, is acquiring a property whose compliance no public or private body has verified.
Is the buyer responsible for illegal construction found after purchase?
Yes. After the escritura, the buyer becomes the legal owner of the property and inherits all administrative and legal responsibilities attached to it - including illegal works carried out by previous owners, regardless of the buyer's knowledge.
This is the most critical aspect of Simplex Urbanístico for buyers. Liability for illegal construction does not extinguish with the sale. It transfers. When the Câmara Municipal identifies an illegal construction - an unlicensed extension, a basement converted to living space, a terrace enclosed without planning approval - the enforcement notice goes to the current owner, not to whoever built it.
What can happen after the escritura
The urban planning enforcement measures under the RJUE include:
- Embargo: immediate suspension of any use of the illegal construction
- Demolition order: order to demolish unlicensed structures, at the owner's expense
- Use cessation: prohibition on using the property or part of it
- Site restoration: obligation to restore the land to its pre-infringement condition Fines for administrative offences under the RJUE - such as occupying a building without a valid licença de utilização - range from €498.80 to €99,759.58 for individuals and up to €249,398.95 for legal entities (RJUE, Art. 98).
How long the exposure lasts, and why the answer changes on 1 October 2026
Under the regime in force until 30 September 2026, the Câmara Municipal has up to ten years to identify and act on urban planning irregularities (legal analysis: Sérvulo & Associados, MATLAW). A property that looks regular today can face enforcement action, including embargo or demolition orders, a decade after acquisition.
Decreto-Lei n.º 108/2026 changes that window from 1 October 2026, and not in the direction most buyers would assume. See the section below.
The liability the buyer inherits is not only immediate. It is long-term.
What Changes on 1 October 2026
Decreto-Lei n.º 108/2026 shortens the urban-planning nullity window from ten years to three, and for irregularities that already exist it restarts that clock on 1 October 2026 rather than closing it.
The ten-year window described above is the regime in force until 30 September 2026. DL 108/2026, in force from 1 October 2026 under DL 155-B/2026, replaces it with a uniform three-year period under Art. 69.º n.º 4 of the RJUE. That single period covers the emitting body's own declaration of nullity, the Ministério Público's ação administrativa and the ação popular alike. Where the facts behind the nullity amount to a crime, n.º 5 extends the period to the crime's prescription period, and national monuments and their protection zones sit outside the rule entirely.
Buyers reading that as good news should read the transitional provision first.
Art. 12.º n.ºs 3 and 4 reach situações jurídicas já constituídas, meaning acts issued years before the diploma. For those, the new three-year period is counted from 1 October 2026, not from the date of the original act, unless the old ten-year regime would have finished sooner, in which case the earlier completion date holds. The practical effect on an older property is the opposite of a reprieve: an act whose exposure window looked close to expiry gets a fresh three years, running to 30 September 2029.
A second figure circulates alongside this one and belongs to a different mechanism. The one-year period in Art. 35.º n.º 10 is the município's successive conformity check on a comunicação prévia, lapsing one year from fee payment or from the start of use, whichever falls later. Art. 35.º n.º 11 confirms that the lapse does not bar administrative inspection at any time. It is not the nullity clock, and treating one and three years as alternative readings of the same rule is the most common error in coverage of this law.
For a buyer, three consequences follow. An older irregularity is not time-barred simply because it is old. The window that matters for a purchase completing in late 2026 runs to September 2029, not from whenever the works were built. And the deed itself acquires a new formality: from 1 October 2026, Art. 4.º-A n.º 14 of the RJUE requires the título urbanístico to be declared at the escritura, with the anulabilidade attaching to the omitted mention rather than to the missing title.
None of this restores the check the Câmara Municipal stopped doing in 2024. It changes how long the consequences of skipping it stay live, and for existing properties it extends them.
What is the difference between finding illegal works before and after the escritura?
Finding illegal works before the escritura gives the buyer negotiating power or the right to withdraw without penalty; finding them after the escritura makes the buyer the sole party responsible for all legalisation or demolition costs.
The difference is not merely financial - it is legal and temporal.
Before the escritura: the buyer has a choice
If an independent inspection identifies illegal construction before signing the CPCV (Contrato-Promessa de Compra e Venda - the promissory purchase contract), the buyer has three options:
- Negotiate a price reduction corresponding to the estimated legalisation cost
- Require the seller to legalise the works as a condition of the sale
- Withdraw from the purchase without any financial penalty If the inspection is conducted after the CPCV but before the escritura, the buyer may still invoke breach of contract conditions to recover the deposit doubled (sinal em dobro) - but only if the relevant protective clause was negotiated into the CPCV.
After the escritura: the buyer has no way out
Once the escritura pública de compra e venda is executed before a notary, ownership transfers in its entirety - including all encumbrances and liabilities. At that point:
- Illegal works are legally the buyer's problem
- The seller has no residual obligation (unless deliberate concealment can be proved, which is difficult)
- Legalisation costs - or demolition costs if legalisation is not viable - fall entirely on the buyer Undisclosed defects are common across the Portuguese residential stock: INE recorded in Censos 2021 that 35.8% of Portuguese buildings need repair, split into 21.8% light, 9.4% medium and 4.6% deep. Moisture damage and mold and damp issues rank among the most frequent hidden defects identified after purchase. In cases involving larger unlicensed structures, an additional floor, a garage, or a substantial outbuilding, legalisation costs typically run €5,500 to €7,000. Foreign buyers acquiring property in Portugal face particular exposure to these risks; the complete guide for foreign buyers in Portugal sets out the full verification sequence.
How much does it cost to legalise illegal construction in Portugal?
Legalising illegal construction in Portugal typically costs €5,500 to €7,000, depending on the scale, type, and location of the works - and some irregularities are legally impossible to regularise, in which case the Câmara Municipal can order demolition.
There is no fixed price for legalisation. The cost depends on multiple factors:
Factors that determine legalisation cost
Legalising a typical illegal construction runs €5,500 to €7,000, and the exact figure depends on the type of infraction, the property's location, and whether the works are viable to legalise at all. Scale and type of works:
- A boundary wall or a small anexo sits at the lower end, while an additional floor, a garage conversion or a substantial outbuilding sits at the upper end or beyond it
- Works that changed the building's footprint or its structural elements cost more to legalise than works that changed only its internal layout
- Municipal taxas vary by regulamento, so two identical infractions in different concelhos do not cost the same Location:
- Properties in classified historic areas (Lisbon, Porto, Sintra) face additional restrictions that can render legalisation impossible
- Land within RAN (National Agricultural Reserve) or REN (National Ecological Reserve) carries specific limitations Legalisation viability: The RJUE (DL 555/99) permits retrospective legalisation of existing works through a regularisation procedure, but only if the works comply with regulations in force at the time of the application, not at the time of construction. Works that violate the municipality's PDM (Plano Diretor Municipal) or current safety standards may be impossible to legalise, resulting in a mandatory demolition order.
What an inspection costs versus what not inspecting costs
Against RJUE fines of €498.80 to €99,759.58 for individuals and up to €249,398.95 for companies, and fines of up to €3,740 for a missing energy certificate, the Simplex Safe inspection is the most cost-effective step in any pre-purchase due diligence process.
What is the Simplex Safe inspection and what does it include?
The InspectOS Simplex Safe inspection is an in-person technical assessment by a certified Civil Engineer (Ordem dos Engenheiros), specifically designed to cover the risks created by DL 10/2024, verifying against more than 150 checkpoints what the Câmara Municipal stopped confirming before sale.
The Simplex Safe inspection is not a superficial visual walkthrough. It is a systematic technical assessment conducted by a credentialled professional, using diagnostic equipment, producing a bilingual (PT/EN) report within 3 to 5 business days of the visit.
What the engineer verifies across 150 and more checkpoints
Urban planning compliance:
- Cross-referencing the Caderneta Predial (property tax record) against the physical reality of the property
- Identifying extensions, rooms, or alterations not registered in the land registry (Registo Predial)
- Preliminary assessment of PDM conformity for the relevant municipality Structure and safety:
- Visual inspection for cracks, damp, structural deformation
- Assessment of roof, floor slabs, and load-bearing walls
- Identification of foundation settlement signs Installations and certificates:
- Verification of valid gas inspection certificate (DL 97/2017)
- Verification of valid energy performance certificate / EPC (DL 101-D/2020)
- Visual inspection of electrical installations and plumbing installations Documentation:
- Cross-referencing the Certidão de Teor do Registo Predial against the physical property
- Identification of registered charges, mortgages, and restrictions
- Flagging discrepancies between the registered description and physical reality
What the report includes
The InspectOS report, delivered within 3 to 5 business days, includes:
- Status classification for each checkpoint (Compliant / Non-Compliant / Requires Attention)
- Photographic documentation of every anomaly identified
- Prioritised action per anomaly
- Negotiation recommendation based on the findings
- Executive summary in both Portuguese and English
- List of missing certificates with renewal deadlines
Coverage and booking
Simplex Safe is available in Lisbon, Porto, Algarve, Cascais, Sintra, Setúbal, Braga, Coimbra, and all other mainland municipalities. Online booking available. Inspections are available within 3–7 business days. The optimal timing is after an accepted offer and before CPCV signature - the window in which you have maximum protection and maximum negotiating power.
Don't sign the CPCV without knowing the property's true cost. The Simplex Safe inspection identifies illegal construction, structural defects, and missing certificates before any legal commitment. Your bilingual report arrives within 3 to 5 business days. If we find nothing, you buy with confidence. If we find problems, you negotiate from strength.
How do you protect your purchase with the right inspection before the CPCV?
The ideal protection window for a buyer is the period between an accepted offer and CPCV signature - an inspection conducted in that 7–14 day interval allows price negotiation, demands for remediation, or penalty-free withdrawal from the purchase.
The optimal protection sequence for a property purchase in Portugal in 2026 is as follows:
Phase 1: Before any commitment (week 1)
Before making an offer, the buyer should verify four key documents: the Caderneta Predial, the Certidão de Teor do Registo Predial, the approved architectural project from the municipality, and the valid energy certificate via the ADENE registry (29 May 2026 is the EU deadline for transposing Directive 2024/1275, not a date on which restrictions attach to an individual property. Portugal transposed the directive in part through DL 11/2025 and the rest is pending, so buyers of low-rated property should read the EPBD compliance implications before committing). These reveal what is registered. They do not reveal what physically exists. The property due diligence checklist for Portugal covers each document in full detail.
Phase 2: After accepted offer - before CPCV (weeks 1–2)
This is the ideal moment for the Simplex Safe inspection. At this stage:
- No financial commitment has been made (the deposit has not yet been handed over)
- The buyer has complete freedom to withdraw without costs
- Inspection findings form the basis for negotiating the final price or the CPCV terms An increasingly common practice is including a suspensive condition clause in the CPCV, tying the escritura to the absence of serious irregularities discovered in the inspection - protecting the buyer even when the inspection is scheduled after CPCV signature.
Phase 3: After CPCV, before escritura (weeks 2–8)
If timing requires the inspection after the CPCV, the contract must contain protective clauses covering illegal construction liability, legalisation cost responsibility, and the right to withdraw with the deposit returned double in cases of serious irregularities. The property inspection before signing the CPCV guide covers how to structure these clauses in detail.
When to add a structural inspection
For properties built before 1983, when the RSA (DL 235/83) brought in the seismic design requirements that still shape Portuguese structural practice, combining the Simplex Safe with the Structural and Seismic inspection is the recommended approach. Portugal's first effective seismic-protection legislation dates from 1958, and 68% of the Área Metropolitana de Lisboa building stock predates it (Público, February 2023); Porto buyers will find the city's distinct structural and moisture risk profile covered in the property inspection in Porto guide. For new-build properties, the new build snagging inspection Portugal guide covers the warranty rights and snagging process applicable to recently completed construction. The Complete Bundle covers all five services in a single visit. Get a quote at inspectos.pt.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Simplex Urbanístico in plain terms?
Simplex Urbanístico (DL 10/2024) is a package of regulatory reforms to Portugal's construction and property sale process, in force from 1 January 2024. Its most significant impact for buyers is eliminating the licença de utilização as a mandatory sale requirement - shifting responsibility for any property irregularities from the seller and the municipality to the buyer after the escritura.
Was the licença de utilização completely abolished?
No. The licença de utilização still exists and is still issued by municipal councils. What DL 10/2024 abolished is the obligation to present it at the time of the escritura. A property can now be sold without a valid use licence - and the buyer inherits all consequences of that absence, including legalisation costs of €5,500–€7,000.
Doesn't the notary protect the buyer?
The notary is now legally required to inform the buyer that the property may lack urban planning titles (DL 10/2024, Art. 19). But the notary cannot refuse the escritura on those grounds and does not physically inspect the property. The protection offered is one of information, not of technical verification - an independent inspection is the only way to confirm the property's actual compliance.
Does DL 108/2026 mean old irregularities are now time-barred?
No, and for most older properties the opposite is closer to true. From 1 October 2026 the nullity window shortens from ten years to a uniform three under Art. 69.º n.º 4 of the RJUE, but Art. 12.º n.ºs 3 and 4 count that three years from 1 October 2026 for situations that already exist, rather than from the date of the original act. An irregularity from 2015 therefore gets a fresh window running to 30 September 2029, unless the old ten-year regime would have expired sooner. The separate one-year figure people cite belongs to Art. 35.º n.º 10, the município's successive check on a comunicação prévia, and is a different mechanism.
Can I hold the seller responsible for illegal works they didn't disclose?
In principle, a buyer can attempt to prove dolo omissivo, deliberate concealment, if the seller knew about irregularities and hid them. In practice, this proof is difficult, and Portuguese property litigation is slow and expensive. The most effective protection is an inspection before the escritura, preventing the problem rather than trying to resolve it after the fact.
When should I book the inspection - before or after the CPCV?
The optimal window is between the accepted offer and the CPCV signature. At that stage, no financial commitment has been made and the buyer can withdraw without penalty. Inspection findings provide direct negotiating leverage on price or contract conditions. The InspectOS Simplex Safe can be booked online, with inspections typically available within 3–7 business days.
Is the Simplex Safe inspection enough for every property?
For most properties, the Simplex Safe provides the right level of protection. For buildings constructed before 1983, where seismic and structural risk is elevated, combining the Simplex Safe with the Structural and Seismic inspection is the recommended approach. For properties requiring energy renovation, the Renovation Passport is the natural next step. The Complete Bundle combines all five services in one visit. Get a quote at inspectos.pt.
What if the inspector finds nothing wrong?
A clean report is itself a valuable asset. It confirms the property is compliant and allows the buyer to proceed to the escritura without uncertainty. Set against the price of the property and against RJUE exposure that reaches €99,759.58 for an individual owner, a survey is the cheapest certainty available anywhere in the purchase.
Conclusion: Simplex Urbanístico created a risk that only an inspection eliminates
Simplex Urbanístico (DL 10/2024) did not remove the irregularities from Portuguese properties. It removed the mechanism that identified them before sale. Illegal construction still exists and legalisation costs remain real: typically €5,500 to €7,000 for a common construction, with municipal taxas varying by regulamento. RJUE Arts. 98–106 set fines, not legalisation costs: up to €99,759.58 for individuals and €249,398.95 for companies. Certificate fines are still enforced too, up to €3,740 for a missing energy certificate (DL 101-D/2020, Art. 35) and up to €3,500 for a missing gas inspection (DL 97/2017, Art. 29).
From 1 January 2024, these liabilities fall on the buyer, not the seller and not the municipal council.
The InspectOS Simplex Safe inspection is the only way to verify, before any legal commitment, whether the property you are considering actually matches what the seller is presenting. An Ordem dos Engenheiros certified engineer visits in person, verifies more than 150 checkpoints, and delivers a bilingual report within 3 to 5 business days, with severity classification for every anomaly and negotiation recommendations.
→ Book your Simplex Safe inspection, available across mainland Portugal
Updated August 2026 | Reviewed by a certified Civil Engineer, Ordem dos Engenheiros | InspectOS Portugal
Sources: Decreto-Lei n.º 10/2024, of 8 January (Diário da República); RJUE - DL 555/99, of 16 December; DL 97/2017, of 10 August; DL 101-D/2020 (energy certification); InspectOS inspection data, 2024; Sérvulo & Associados, DL 10/2024 legal analysis; MATLAW, urban planning analysis 2024.