---
title: "Portugal's New Building Licence Rules Now Start 1 October"
description: "Portugal postponed its revised building and renovation licensing regime from 3 August to 1 October 2026. Until then the old RJUE rules and 2024 forms apply."
url: "https://ultimateportugal.com/posts/portugal-building-licence-rules-delayed-to-october"
author: "Rex McIntosh"
author_role: "Founder & Editor, Ultimate Portugal"
author_url: "https://ultimateportugal.com/authors/rex-mcintosh"
publisher: "Ultimate Portugal"
license: "Free to read and quote with attribution to Ultimate Portugal."
type: "news"
published: 2026-08-01
updated: 2026-08-01
facts_last_verified: 2026-08-01
category: "Bureaucracy"
tags: ["rjue", "building licences", "renovation", "property", "bureaucracy"]
---

# Portugal's New Building Licence Rules Now Start 1 October

## The short answer

Portugal's revised rules for building, renovation and urbanisation licensing were due to take effect on Monday 3 August 2026. Decreto-Lei n.º 155-B/2026, published on 31 July, moved them to 1 October 2026. Until then the old rules and the 2024 application forms still govern your licence, your prior communication and your prior-information request.

> Published 2026-08-01. News posts describe the rules as they stood on that date; the sources at the end are the primary record.

Portugal's revised rules for building, renovation and urbanisation licensing were due to take effect on Monday 3 August. They now take effect on **1 October 2026**.

[Decreto-Lei n.º 155-B/2026](https://diariodarepublica.pt/dr/detalhe/decreto-lei/155-b-2026-1153967387), published on Friday 31 July, made the change. Until October the old *regime jurídico da urbanização e da edificação* (RJUE), the code that governs urbanisation and building, still applies, and so do the old forms for your licence, your *comunicação prévia* (prior communication) and your *pedido de informação prévia* (prior-information request).

If you have been sitting on a filing to catch the lighter regime, our read is that the wait has stopped paying. The decree's own transitional rule can hand you the new regime in October without you holding anything back.

## What did the government actually change?

One paragraph of one article.

Decreto-Lei n.º 155-B/2026 runs to three articles. Article 2 rewrites article 13 of [Decreto-Lei n.º 108/2026](https://diariodarepublica.pt/dr/detalhe/decreto-lei/108-2026-1128002421), the decree carrying the revised regime, so that its first paragraph now reads, in full: "O presente decreto-lei entra em vigor no dia 1 de outubro de 2026." Nothing else in the reform was reopened.

The margin was thin. Article 3 brings the postponing decree into force "the day after its publication", and publication was Friday 31 July, which puts it in force on Saturday 1 August — two days before the Monday it moved.

The old date is worth being precise about, because the decree never printed it. Decreto-Lei n.º 108/2026 set its own start by formula: it would enter into force "on the first working day of the third month following its publication". It was published on 29 May 2026, which makes the third month August, and the first working day of August was Monday 3 August. That date is arithmetic rather than a quotation. It is also the date the sector had been working to: the architecture press, the construction employers' association AICCOPN and the northern engineers' *ordem* had all published it as the start.

| | Date |
|---|---|
| Revised RJUE was due to start | Monday **3 August 2026** (derived from the formula in article 13) |
| Postponing decree took effect | Saturday **1 August 2026** (the day after publication) |
| Revised RJUE now starts | Thursday **1 October 2026** (printed in the amended article 13) |

One carve-out survives. Article 13's second paragraph was left untouched, so the amendments Decreto-Lei n.º 108/2026 made to Decreto-Lei n.º 10/2024 came into force the first working day after 29 May and are unaffected by any of this. The part that governs your building file is the part that waits for October.

## Which rules and which forms apply until 1 October?

The old ones. The neatest proof is what else was published on 31 July.

The reform had been waiting on a *portaria* (ministerial order) to approve its new application forms, and that portaria landed on the same day as the postponement: [Portaria n.º 320/2026/1](https://diariodarepublica.pt/dr/detalhe/portaria/320-2026-1153698591), 53 pages of it, printed in the main Série I of *Diário da República* n.º 147 while the postponement went out in a supplement to the same issue.

It approves a single model *requerimento* (application) covering a licence, a *comunicação prévia* and a *pedido de informação prévia* alike, plus forms for the start of works, for use or change of use, and for the notices you have to post publicly. Seven annexes, I to VII. The application model is compulsory nationwide.

None of it applies yet. Article 5 of the portaria sets its entry into force at "the date of entry into force of Decreto-Lei n.º 108/2026", so when that decree moved to 1 October the forms moved with it. Article 4 revokes the two 2024 portarias that carry today's forms, Portaria n.º 71-A/2024 and Portaria n.º 71-B/2024, and that revocation does not bite until October either. The Ordem dos Engenheiros' northern region reads it the same way: the decree, its rectification and the portaria all produce effects only on 1 October.

So the forms your *câmara* wants this month are the 2024 ones. One requirement does not move with the date. The *termos de responsabilidade* (statements of responsibility) in the new annexes ask for a *contribuinte n.º*, your Portuguese tax number, so if you do not have one yet, [start there](https://ultimateportugal.com/guides/how-to-get-a-nif-portugal).

Nor should you assume October flips everything to digital. Annex VI of the new portaria lets a licensing authority that does not yet run its procedures electronically ask for the documents **on paper**, until either the RJUE's electronic licensing platform or the municipality's own system is running. That is written into the reform, not a way around it.

## If you file in August or September, which rules will judge you?

Possibly the new ones, even though they are not in force yet.

Article 12 of Decreto-Lei n.º 108/2026 is the transitional rule, and it reaches backwards. The decree applies to procedures started after it enters into force, and also to procedures started earlier that are still in the *saneamento e apreciação liminar* phase — the screening and preliminary assessment under article 11 of the RJUE — when the day comes. If yours is one of those, the same article lets you take the steps needed to adapt your application to the new decree.

Read as written, that undercuts the case for sitting on a filing. A file submitted in August and still in screening on 1 October picks up the new regime anyway, without two months of waiting for it.

**What nobody can tell you is whether your file will still be in that phase on 1 October.** That depends on how fast your *câmara* works through it, and neither the decree nor the portaria says anything about how long screening takes. We are not going to put a number on it.

One more piece of article 12 matters if you already have something running. The new time limits for declaring or invoking nullity, and the new *caducidade* (lapse) periods, apply to situations already in place unless the old law's period would run out sooner, and they count from the date of entry into force, which is now 1 October rather than 3 August.

## Why did it slip?

Town-hall software, and the decree says so itself.

Its preamble accepts that the new forms are *imprescindível*, indispensable, to the reform, then names the obstacle: applying the new rules "presupposes the prior adaptation and parameterisation of the municipalities' own IT platforms", so municipalities have to be guaranteed minimum deadlines to do it. The Council of Ministers approved the postponement on 23 July and put it more plainly, saying the delay secures "the conditions necessary for the full application of the reform".

The dates around it were tight in a way that shows. Decreto-Lei n.º 108/2026 was still being corrected on 27 July, by [Declaração de Retificação n.º 29-A/2026/1](https://diariodarepublica.pt/dr/detalhe/declaracao-retificacao/29-a-2026-1152696606), four days before the postponement. Two of the three ministers signed the forms portaria on 21 July and the third on 27 July, and it reached print on the 31st.

Developers welcomed the delay. APPII, the association of property promoters and investors, said on 30 July that the *portarias* regulating the new regime had yet to be published, and that it made no sense to bring in a diploma of that size without the instruments that make it workable. The forms portaria appeared the next day, tied by its own article 5 to a decree that had moved to October on the same date.

## What should you do next?

- Filing with a *câmara* and no Portuguese tax number yet? [How to get a NIF](https://ultimateportugal.com/guides/how-to-get-a-nif-portugal) covers it, and the new statements of responsibility ask for one.
- Buying or renovating with residency in mind? Read [the Golden Visa guide](https://ultimateportugal.com/guides/golden-visa-portugal) first: the property route closed in October 2023, and people are still selling it.
- Still deciding where to build or buy? [Cost of living in Portugal](https://ultimateportugal.com/guides/cost-of-living-portugal) ranks the country by price, with the caveat the guide makes itself, that its budgets price renting rather than buying.

Licensing rules and their start dates are moving month to month. This is general information, not legal advice: confirm with your *câmara municipal* which rules and which forms it is processing under before you submit, and read the decrees yourself at [diariodarepublica.pt](https://diariodarepublica.pt/dr/detalhe/decreto-lei/155-b-2026-1153967387).

## Frequently asked questions

### When do Portugal's new building licence rules take effect?

On 1 October 2026. They were due to start on 3 August, and Decreto-Lei n.º 155-B/2026 of 31 July moved the date by rewriting article 13 of Decreto-Lei n.º 108/2026. The postponing decree came into force the day after it was published, on 1 August, two days before the original deadline.

### Which forms should I use for a building licence in Portugal right now?

The 2024 ones. Portaria n.º 320/2026/1 approves the new model forms, but its article 5 ties its own entry into force to that of Decreto-Lei n.º 108/2026, now 1 October 2026. Its revocation of Portaria n.º 71-A/2024 and Portaria n.º 71-B/2024 does not take effect until then, so those remain in force. Confirm with your câmara before you submit.

### If I file in August, will the old rules or the new ones apply to me?

The old ones apply when you file. But article 12 of Decreto-Lei n.º 108/2026 also applies the new decree to procedures started earlier that are still in the screening and preliminary-assessment phase on 1 October, and lets you take the steps needed to adapt your application. Whether your file is still in that phase depends on how fast your câmara works; nothing in the decree sets a time.

## Sources

- [Decreto-Lei n.º 155-B/2026, de 31 de julho (Diário da República)](https://diariodarepublica.pt/dr/detalhe/decreto-lei/155-b-2026-1153967387) — The postponing decree. Article 1 (first amendment to DL 108/2026), article 2 (the new article 13: in force 1 October 2026), article 3 (in force the day after publication), the preamble's reason, and the signature block: Council of Ministers 23 July 2026, promulgated 31 July 2026.
- [Decreto-Lei n.º 155-B/2026 — printed supplement (PDF)](https://files.diariodarepublica.pt/1s/2026/07/14705/0000200003.pdf) — Diário da República n.º 147/2026, Suplemento, Série I, 31 July 2026. The two printed pages, read in full.
- [Decreto-Lei n.º 108/2026, de 29 de maio (Diário da República)](https://diariodarepublica.pt/dr/detalhe/decreto-lei/108-2026-1128002421) — The revised RJUE itself. Published DR n.º 104/2026, Série I, 29 May 2026. Article 11 (republication of Decreto-Lei n.º 555/99), article 12 (transitional application, including the screening-phase rule and the caducidade periods) and the original article 13 (entry into force on the first working day of the third month after publication).
- [Portaria n.º 320/2026/1, de 31 de julho (Diário da República)](https://diariodarepublica.pt/dr/detalhe/portaria/320-2026-1153698591) — The new model forms. Article 1 (which models), article 2 (compulsory use), article 3 (annexes I to VII), article 4 (revokes Portarias n.º 71-A/2024 and n.º 71-B/2024) and article 5 (entry into force tied to that of DL 108/2026).
- [Portaria n.º 320/2026/1 — printed order and annexes (PDF, 53 pp.)](https://files.diariodarepublica.pt/1s/2026/07/14700/0003500087.pdf) — Diário da República n.º 147/2026, Série I, pages 35 to 87. Carries annex VI paragraph 7 on paper submissions, and the annex VII statements of responsibility that require a contribuinte n.º.
- [Declaração de Retificação n.º 29-A/2026/1, de 27 de julho (Diário da República)](https://diariodarepublica.pt/dr/detalhe/declaracao-retificacao/29-a-2026-1152696606) — The rectification of Decreto-Lei n.º 108/2026, published DR n.º 143/2026, Suplemento, Série I, four days before the postponement.
- [Governo de Portugal — Comunicado do Conselho de Ministros de 23 de julho de 2026](https://portugal.gov.pt/gc25/governo/comunicados-do-conselho-de-ministros/comunicado-do-conselho-de-ministros-de-23-de-julho-de-2026) — The government's own account of the decision: a decree-law postponing the RJUE revision to 1 October 2026 to secure the conditions necessary for the full application of the reform.
- [Espaço de Arquitetura — Governo decreta adiamento da entrada em vigor da revisão do RJUE](https://espacodearquitetura.com/noticias/governo-decreta-adiamento-da-entrada-em-vigor-da-revisao-do-rjue/) — 29 July 2026. States the move as being from 3 August 2026 to 1 October 2026, and the extra time for municipalities to adapt their IT systems.
- [AICCOPN — Principais alterações ao RJUE, Decreto-Lei n.º 108/2026 (PDF)](https://www.aiccopn.pt/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Info_Resumo_Alterac%CC%A7oes-RJUE_DL-108-2026.pdf) — The construction employers' association summary, June 2026. Used only for the sector's working start date of 3 August 2026.
- [Ordem dos Engenheiros, Região Norte — Novos diplomas reforçam a revisão do RJUE](https://www.oern.pt/noticias/rjue-publicada-nova-regulamentacao/) — 31 July 2026. The scope of Portaria n.º 320/2026/1, and that the decree, its rectification and the portaria all produce effects only on 1 October 2026.
- [Vida Imobiliária — Novo RJUE adiado para outubro. Promotores aplaudem a decisão](https://vidaimobiliaria.com/noticias/habitacao/novo-rjue-adiado-outubro-promotores-aplaudem-decisao/) — 30 July 2026. The APPII statement on the missing regulations, and the extra time for municipalities to parameterise their platforms.

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