en.Wedoany.com Reported - On July 23, 2026, the Portuguese Government approved a decree postponing the effective date of Decree-Law No. 108/2026 (which revises the Legal Framework for Urbanization and Construction, RJUE) from August 3, 2026, to October 1, 2026, providing municipalities and industry operators with additional preparation time. The draft decree still requires promulgation by the President of the Republic, countersignature by ministers, and publication in the Diário da República before it can take effect.

This postponement directly affects real estate industry operators, developers, and municipal authorities. Until October 1, 2026, prior control procedures for urban planning remain governed by the pre-reform version (Decree-Law No. 555/99 of December 16); as of October 1, the amendments introduced by Decree-Law No. 108/2026 will formally apply. The Government stated that the postponement aims to ensure municipalities have sufficient time to adjust and configure their computer platforms and to implement the supplementary regulations provided for by the reform.

Meanwhile, on July 27, 2026, the General Secretariat of the Government issued Rectification Declaration No. 29-A/2026/1, correcting several provisions of Decree-Law No. 108/2026. Most corrections are of a formal or grammatical nature, but some are substantive: regarding demolition guarantees, Article 23(6) of the RJUE clarifies that the revocation of the permit is no longer a condition for requiring a guarantee to secure the demolition of structures down to the lowest approved floor level, and municipalities may authorize partial structural construction permits after approval of the building design, although a guarantee is still required if the design approval lapses or the permit application is rejected; regarding cost-controlled housing or affordable rental housing, Article 43(5) of the RJUE clarifies that the floor area used for this purpose (at least 700/1000 of the floor area) is exempt from the compensation obligation set out in Article 44(5), provided the corresponding area parameters are met; regarding the liability declaration in prior notices, Article 63(2) of the RJUE provides that, in prior notices involving a period of use or change of use, the liability declaration stating that the building is suitable for the intended use is no longer signed by the works supervisor or the supervision supervisor, but rather by the person legally qualified as the author of the architectural design project.

The Rectification Declaration also corrects errors in the republished text of the RJUE to ensure consistency between the republished text and the approved normative content. The main corrections include: Article 62, which had been reinstated in amended form but appeared as repealed in the republication, has now been corrected and the amended version has been included in the republished text; Articles 62-C and 74, which had been repealed but whose previous versions were erroneously retained, are now listed as repealed in the republished text; in Article 102(2)(b), the content concerning administrative suspension has been extended to prior information, and item (d) now mentions "legalization of urban operations" as a measure to safeguard urban legality; in Article 24-A(5), the reference to "Article 13-A(3)" has been corrected to "Article 13(5)".

Real estate developers, municipalities, and interested parties must closely monitor whether the postponement decree ultimately completes the promulgation, countersignature, and publication procedures, and should rely on the text of the decree introducing the legislative amendments, paying particular attention to potential discrepancies in the republished version.