Portugal's habitation license (licença de utilização): what it is, what replaced it and how to sort out your home's use title

The licença de utilização is the act by which the Câmara Municipal confirms that a building, or a unit within it, can be used for its intended purpose. It was made general by the RGEU (Regulamento Geral das Edificações Urbanas, the general building regulation approved by Decree-Law 38382 of August 7, 1951), whose article 8 required it for new, rebuilt, extended or altered buildings. Later, the RJUE (Regime Jurídico da Urbanização e Edificação, Portugal's planning and building code, Decree-Law 555/99) renamed it autorização de utilização, which is the name you will see on more recent permits.

Licença de habitação and licença de habitabilidade are not different permits: they are popular names for the use permit of a home, because the use it authorizes is housing. What matters is the use stated on the title. A unit licensed for retail or offices is not authorized as a home, and switching from one use to the other is a change of use.

The license confirmed two things: that the work matched the approved design and that the use was allowed under the applicable rules. Do not confuse it with the caderneta predial (property tax record) or with the land registry description: neither proves that the council authorized the work or the use. The use title passes automatically with the property (RJUE article 4-A(13)).

The habitation license did not disappear overnight. The Simplex reform (Decree-Law 10/2024) began phasing it out in 2024, and the RJUE revision by Decree-Law 108/2026, in force since October 1, 2026, a date set by Decree-Law 155-B/2026, completed the change. Habitation licenses and use permits issued before remain valid as the use title.

If your home already has a license, you do not need to do anything. If it does not, the fix today is one of the notices explained below or, if there is unpermitted work, a legalization. The table sums up the dates that matter.

The reliable way is to look at the property's building file at the Câmara Municipal. It should contain the building permit, the approved plans and the habitation license or use permit, with the authorized use. If the license exists but you have lost the document, ask for a certificate or copy: in Porto, the certificates service on the Portal do Munícipe issues copies of use permits and certificates of a building's or unit's use, with a stated average response time of 30 working days for planning file requests.

When you read the file, there are four possible answers, and each one leads somewhere different:

• There is a habitation license or use permit and the house matches the approved plans: the title is in order and passes to the buyer with the property.
• There is a building permit but no habitation license: the process was never completed and is usually fixed with a use notice, if what was built matches what was approved.
• There is no file and the house is old: it may predate the RGEU in that area and never have needed a license.
• What exists differs from what was approved, or a post-RGEU house has no permit at all: it is a legalization case.

Buildings constructed before the RGEU applied in their area were not subject to the habitation license, so it is normal for them not to have one: they are not illegal houses. Article 1 of the RGEU applied it to municipal seats and other towns with an urban plan; elsewhere, it only applied once the municipality extended it. In many rural areas the duty began after 1951, and the date to confirm with the council is when the RGEU began to apply in that place.

Since October 1, 2026, the RJUE addresses these cases directly: a building's “último antecedente válido” (last valid legal status) includes work that needed no permit when it was carried out (RJUE article 2(r)). Later work done without a permit is not covered and may need to be legalized. To prove the date, some councils issue a dedicated certificate; in Porto it is the “certificação de que uma construção é anterior a 1951” (certificate that a building predates 1951). The usual evidence, such as tax history and old aerial photos, is covered in our guide to legalizing an old house and annexes.

Since October 1, 2026, “getting the habitation license” means filing a notice with the council, on the national form approved by Portaria 320/2026/1 (a ministerial order), together with the professionals' statements of responsibility. The council no longer approves the use: it checks afterward, and only inspects when there are serious signs that the building is not fit for the intended use.

In a building under propriedade horizontal (condominium ownership), the notice can cover the whole building or each unit, and the council can object to the use if the common areas are not fit to be used (RJUE article 66); for an apartment, check the building's position too. The table shows which route applies to each situation.

For the comunicação prévia com prazo, the usual route for an existing house with no recent works, the law requires two statements of responsibility. One, signed by someone qualified to author an architectural design, declares that the intended use is allowed under the rules that set permitted uses, such as the PDM (Plano Diretor Municipal, the municipal master plan); the other, signed by a professional qualified as a site manager or supervising engineer, declares that the building is fit for that purpose (RJUE article 63). The remaining documents are listed in Portaria 320/2026/1.

Fees are set in each municipality's regulation and fee schedule; check them before you file. On top of them come the fees of the professionals who sign the statements and, if needed, a survey of the existing building. The legal deadlines, on the other hand, are short:

• 10 days: once 10 days have passed since filing, the building can be used for the stated purpose (RJUE article 64(1)).
• Within those 10 days, the mayor can reject the notice if it is incomplete or the use clearly breaches the rules, or order an inspection if there are serious signs that the building is not fit for purpose (RJUE article 64(2)).
• Inspection: it takes place within 15 days and ends with a declaration of compliance or an order to carry out works. Once the works are done, the new inspection takes place within 10 days of your request and, if it does not happen in that time, the council can no longer object to the use (RJUE article 65).
• Title: the use is covered by the completed form, the filing receipt and the proof of fee payment, plus the declaration of compliance if there was an inspection (RJUE article 4-A(4)). Keep these documents: they are what you show at the deed.

No law forbids selling a house in Portugal without a habitation license. What has changed over time is what the escritura (the deed of sale) must contain, and the table sums up the three regimes.

For sellers, the 2026 rule means the buyer learns from the deed itself whether there is a title. A pre-RGEU house can be sold, and the certificate or evidence of the date helps the seller make the declaration with confidence. If the title exists but you cannot find it, request the certificate before booking the deed.

The seller's declaration in the deed informs you, but it does not fix anything. The title passes with the property, and so do the problems: if there is unpermitted work, enforcement measures may be directed at the new owner. Before signing the promissory contract (contrato-promessa), check:

• The municipal file: a habitation license or use permit, a use notice with its receipts, or proof that the property predates the RGEU in that area.
• Whether the use on the title matches what you plan to do, for example housing or short-term rental (alojamento local).
• Whether the current floor area and layout match the approved plans, including annexes, enclosed balconies and attics.
• Whether your bank will finance the property with the documents it has.
• Whether the promissory contract should be conditional on obtaining the title or legalizing the work.

A use notice only works when what exists has a permit or never needed one. If the house, or part of it, was built without a license or comunicação prévia when they were required, or if what exists differs from what was approved, the work must first be legalized (RJUE article 102-A) and only then can the use be filed. Typical cases are extensions, annexes beyond the limits for exempt works, enclosed balconies, attics turned into living space and units used for a purpose other than the licensed one.

Legalization is only possible if the work complies, or can be made to comply with corrections, with the rules in force, above all the PDM; the council may waive technical rules that have become impossible to meet if the work complied with those of its time. The procedure, documents and deadlines are covered in our guide to how building legalization works.

It is best not to wait. Using a building without the required notice, or for a use other than the one on the title, is an administrative offense punishable by a fine of €500 to €100,000 for individuals and €1,500 to €250,000 for companies (RJUE article 98), and the council can order the use to stop (article 109). Apto Group reviews the municipal file and identifies the right route through our building legalization service. If you want to change the use, a prior information request (PIP) can confirm first whether the PDM allows it.

The official sources are in Portuguese. Check the version in force before preparing a notice, project or application.

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