In almost all developed and developing countries there are laws governing the process of land use and the buildings that can or cannot be erected on that land.
Portugal is no different and to be fair, the laws in force are well thought out and do protect the bulk of its population, although, often when applied to us, in each particular case, we may feel that they are unfair or unreasonable.
There is a multitude of laws governing the use of land and the building permitted to be built on that land. It would be a laborious task to summarise all the regulations in force in this article, so we will concentrate on those with which the general public come into contact the most – The building of a house or villa.
As a purchaser, the procedures and regulations will normally be managed for you by the architect, so that choice is one of the most important ones you make at the outset. It is however always good to understand the basics of the planning route.
Almost all of Portugal, each municipal region have approved their particular PDM (Plano Diretor Municipal) – Masterplan – which regulates the land use and restrictions within that land of its purpose, type, density of construction that can be built on it. All the other laws more specifically focused on the building as such will need to within the limitations of the masterplan.
Normally you will be buying land on a development where the infrastructure is already complete, commonly by a private developer, so all the roads, services and plot areas and coordinates will have been submitted, approved, and built out by the developer. Once complete and licenced by the local authority the plots are available to be built on.
In the development licence the area, storey height, footprint and maximum eaves height, to name the main limitations are already fixed and the architect will have to work within these in the design of the villa. He will also be regulated by (Regulamento Geral de Edificação Urbana), originally approved in 1951, and which has over the years suffered numerous changes to update, alter sections of it which were ambiguous, changes due to other regulations, and to update as much as possible to bring them into the modern context. This law defines the actual liveable space requirements, and defines the minimum conditions which the unit requires to be habitable.
It includes but is not limited to minimum area of rooms, bathrooms and kitchen, the natural light and ventilation requirements, room sizes and floor to ceiling heights.
From this point the architect will have the necessary information to develop, along with the client brief, the architectural design to suit the purchaser’s requirements. Normally included in the architects services, is the engineering designs to suit, and compatible with the architectural design.
At this point the submission for approval will be initiated. This is governed by decree law 555/99 and subsequent updates and revisions, and allows for alternatives routes to obtain planning approval. In the end the best route is decided with the architects advice and knowledge. Choosing an architect who is familiar with the municipality concerned is always an advantage, but not a necessity.
Some of the options which are available are:-
- Requesting a preliminary opinion from the local authority, in which case only the architectural design is submitted. At this point the design will be architecturally developed but normally without detail design, and limited engineering input. The response, if affirmative will be binding on the municipality, if the future design is exactly as submitted at this point. Being less detailed, the time periods for response is shorter. It also makes the approval process quicker later on, however, this initial process has already been through an analysis period, so effective time saving is questionable. – it is well to note that the stipulated approval periods are seldom complied with.
This route will also prevent any alterations which may become necessary to the envelope of the building later as design develops, which the engineering input may highlight. The traditional approval submission route where the full architectural design is submitted, analysed to approval by the local authority, which depending on queries from the local authority can have one or more consultation periods. This is because if the initial analysis raises any questions which need responding by the architect, the authorities will inform the applicant of this in writing.Once the applicant has corrected or justified the query and the revision submitted, the approval period starts at day 1 again. When the architectural design is approved the applicant is informed and the engineering designs are submitted. This second, engineering submission, is easier as all the engineering designs are personally validated by the author, who is legally responsible for the correctness of his designs.
There are external public authorities outside the municipality who will also need to approve the building, ex. Electricity department, Telecommunications, and any other legal body who has jurisdiction within the area in question.
- The most recent planning approval method, introduced a few years ago, which has become very popular is called the ‘comunicação previa’ , which requires the submission of all the documents, architectural, engineering and specifications, fully developed to be submitted at the same time. All the designs are covered by a personal responsibility, from the designer, as to the correctness of the design, and his commitment to the fact that the work will executed under his supervision and to his design.
A builder must also have been appointed. In this case after the submission, the local authority has 45 working days to respond either with approval, or queries, If not, the design is tacitly approved and the building works can begin. In this process there can no alteration to the design, and that is the downside of the process, as tweaks which may be identified during the build out cannot be made, however the benefit here heavily outweighs the drawbacks. A longer design process is recommended to the satisfaction of the building owner, to ensure all the alternatives have been explored. There are more regular inspections by the local authority to ensure the building conforms to the approved design.
If there are changes made the local authority can stop the works and require a resubmission of the corrected designs for analysis.
This process permits the building works to start quicker and with more accurate timescale in this regard.
All these submission processes, on approval, will give rise to a building licence issued by the local authority. In the case of the ‘comunicação previa’ it is not a licence as such, but a document acknowledging the receipt of the documents, and which serves as the build permission.
Building planning is a vast number of laws, and each case will have its specifics and peculiarities as to what is required and which public body may have a say in the approval.
The outline described above is a simplified version of the planning process in Portugal (Algarve).
The architect, which as mentioned before will lead the process, and will know what entities need consulting, so that choice is an important one for the purchaser.
The appointment or not of a project manager should also be considered to lead and represent the purchaser throughout the project.
