Metro Quadrado
Square Meter
para arrendamento habitacional com renda moderada, são estabelecidas reduções de IRS e IRC para rendimentos de contratos de arrendamento habitacional e é criado um regime de isenção de IRS e IRC no âmbito do novo Regime Simplificado de Arrendamento Acessível (RSAA), entre outas medidas no mesmo sentido. Quanto ao licenciamento, as alterações são extensas e com diversas implicações, sendo criado um novo enquadramento procedimental, que tem como eixos a celeridade, a responsabilização e a digitalização. São muitas as alterações introduzidas, mas podemos dar algum exemplos de aspectos que terão impacto relevante: a comunicação prévia assume centralidade como mecanismo de controlo prévio, baseado na autorresponsabilização de promotores e projetistas (o que poderá gerar um aumento da procura de mecanismos de seguro), a disciplina dos procedimentos é reforçada, com prazos por fase, prorrogações estritas e possibilidade de deferimento tácito, as consultas externas migram para um modelo de conferência procedimental, procede-se a uma criação de títulos urbanísticos padronizados, com o objectivo elevar a segurança jurídica nas transacções e no financiamento, com obrigatoriedade de menção do título em instrumentos de transmissão, o regime de utilização e alteração de uso é tornado mais ágil, são introduzidas alterações relevantes em matéria de cedências e compensações, nomeadamente para alinhar objetivos de habitação acessível com as obrigações dos promotores, é clarificado o regime das invalidades. O pacote normativo proposto é ambicioso e não esconde o desígnio benigno de aumentar exponencialmente a oferta. Agora há que aprová-lo, para que possa passar à prática. E depois, ultrapassar os recorrentes desafios de implementação e de harmonização de procedimentos entre os diversos municípios. Não é tarefa fácil. Mas vale a pena. On December 2, 2025, two outline bills entered parliament for legislative authorisation, Proposed Law Nº 47XVII1.ª and Proposed Law N.º 48XVII1.ª that were other important steps to achieving government housing measures. The first aims to authorise the government
to approve measures to cut tax to encourage housing supply, and the second aims to authorise the government to revise the regime that applies to the licensing of urban operations and change the legal regime for urban development and building construction, and the legal regime for urban rehabilitation. They are the central planks of the policies put forward by the government - tax measures and an improvement to the planning permission processes - which are now a reality. And the result is very detailed because the government has supervised the Proposed Laws of the respective authorised DecreeLaws (which if they are passed in their current terms, could be applied immediately. The bills in question are only the beginning of a road that will inevitably be long (although the government had asked parliament to treat it with urgency in the respective debate) and in which the final texts may not be exactly as the government had proposed. The government does not have an absolute majority, and these Draft Laws will certainly be the subject of intense discussion in parliament with the focus being on tax reducing measures which will always have a significant political impact. In any case, these Draft Laws were welcomed because on the one hand they achieve the Build Portugal (Construir Portugal) programme, which very often was accused of being a bunch of general ideas, without concrete measures; and, on the other hand, marked the government’s clear position on the path it intended to follow that could now be debated and passed or not, could be syndicated in political terms in the future with the government’s and the opposition’s ‘waters’ clearly being separated on the housing matter. The Draft Laws in question are very long and complex and, naturally, demand a profound and detailed analysis that does not have the space in an article like this one. In any case, there are some key aspects that can immediately be emphasised. As to tax measures, the intention to scale up the supply is clear and very evident, be that for sale or rental. As to VAT, the government has achieved what it had announced it would: a reduced rate of 6% on construction companies’ building and refurbishment pro-
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jects for housing for sale at moderate prices (Up to €648,022) and moderate rents (Up to €2,300), construction and refurbishment projects for own permanent housing, with a mechanism of partial restitution for private individuals who build their own homes, and construction and rehabilitation projects as part of the also created Investment Contracts for Rental, among others. As to IRS and IRC, steps have also been taken which had been announced: an IRS exemption regime on capital gains from buildings where gains are reinvested for rental housing at moderate rents. Reductions on IRS and IRC have been established on income from rental housing contracts and an IRS and IRC exemption regime on the new Simplified Affordable Rental Regime (RSAA), among other measures in the same vein. As to licensing, the changes are extensive with several implications, with the creation of a new procedural framework whose core features are speed, responsibility and digitalisation. Many changes were introduced, but we can provide some examples of aspects that will have a relevant impact: prior communication takes a pole position as mechanisms of prior control based on the developers and project designers having to be responsible themselves (which could create an increase in demand for safety mechanisms), procedural discipline is reinforced with time limits for each phase, strict extensions and the possibility of tacit approval, external consultations move to a procedural conference model, standardised urban planning deeds have been created with the aim of increasing legal certainty in transactions and financing with the obligation to mention the deed in property transfer systems. The regime for use and change of use has been made more agile in the matter of concessions and compensation, namely, to align affordable housing goals with the obligations of developers, and the invalidity regime has been clarified. The draft regulatory package is ambitious and does not hide the benign intention to exponentially increase supply. Now it must be passed so that it can come into practice and later overcoming the recurrent challenges of implementation and harmonisation of procedures between the various municipalities. It’s no easy task. But it’s worthwhile.