Sintra PDM: the plan in force in 2026 and how to check your plot

The Plano Diretor Municipal (PDM) is the plan that zones all the land in a municipality; the general PDM guide explains how it works. In Sintra, the plan in force is the revision approved by the Assembleia Municipal on December 2, 2019. Because some of its solutions conflicted with the Sintra-Cascais Natural Park management plan and with the regional plan for the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, the revision had to be ratified by the national government, which it did through Resolução do Conselho de Ministros 7-B/2020, published in Diário da República, 1st series, no. 36, 1st supplement, on February 20, 2020. The regulations took effect 10 days after publication (article 155) and replaced the first PDM, from 1999.

The plan is made up of regulations, a planta de ordenamento (land-use map, 01) and a planta de condicionantes (constraints map) split into four (02A to 02D), and it comes with reports, the REN and RAN boundaries (the national ecological and agricultural reserves) and maps such as the municipal ecological structure and the risk map (article 2). The table sums up the history of the plan in force and the new revision.

The ratification covered only the provisions that conflicted with the 2004 Sintra-Cascais Natural Park management plan (POPNSC) and with the Lisbon Metropolitan Area regional plan. The government accepted, among other solutions, redrawing the boundaries of about 40 urban areas and settlements inside the Natural Park, from Magoito and Azenhas do Mar to Colares, Almoçageme and Azoia, and creating aglomerados rurais (rural settlements) such as Almograve, Pé da Serra and Quinta Grande.

Two areas were left out: 7.8508 ha of the Linhó-Beloura urban boundary, zoned as low-density urban land inside a type II partial protection area of the Natural Park, and an area of facility and infrastructure land on rural land north of Linhó, because it cut into a corridor of the metropolitan environmental protection network. Declaração 99/2020 then covered the matters not ratified, amending article 80 of the regulations and that area of the land-use map (01H). If your plot is in Linhó or Beloura, use the version of the map dated after November 2020.

The Natural Park still shapes much of the municipality. On rural land inside the Park and the Sintra-Cascais Site of Community Importance, the regulations ban extending existing buildings and make legalizations subject to a binding opinion from the Instituto da Conservação da Natureza e das Florestas (ICNF), the nature conservation agency (articles 45 and 47). The Special Program for the Sintra-Cascais Natural Park is being drafted and is at the advisory committee stage, according to the Direção-Geral do Território (the national planning agency) platform.

At its public meeting on August 25, 2026, the council unanimously approved the consolidated terms of reference for the PDM revision, with a 36-month drafting period, and decided that the revision is subject to environmental assessment. The resolution was published as Aviso n.º 24672/2026/2 in Diário da República no. 194, 2nd series, on October 7, 2026, which opened a 90-day early public input period counted from that publication. According to the notice, the revision aims to reassess the territorial development model, correct problems found in applying the plan and align it with the regional plan for Lisbon, the West and the Tagus Valley, the Natural Park special program, the REN and the Carta Municipal de Habitação (the municipal housing plan).

During the early input period, anyone can send suggestions and questions to the council president: through the online form on the council's website, by email to dpdm.participa@cm-sintra.pt or at the Postos de Atendimento Municipal (municipal service desks). The resolution and its documents are on the council's official website and at the Departamento de Planeamento Territorial e Urbano (planning department) in Portela de Sintra.

A suggestion does not change the rules. Until the revision is approved by the Assembleia Municipal and published, the 2020 plan applies, and the 2026 notice does not set any interim protective measures. If you want a plot moved from rural to urban land, early input is the first chance to ask; the guide on when rural land can be rezoned as urban explains the criteria.

The council publishes the PDM in two ways: on the SIG viewer (Visualizador SIG), where you can view every territorial plan in force, print map extracts and take measurements; and as PDFs of the plan's ten volumes, including the regulations and the land-use and constraints maps, on the PDM "Conteúdo documental" page of the council's website. That page lists the 2020 amendments and the 2021 material correction, which touched about 30 articles and the ecological structure, noise and acoustic zoning maps.

The viewer is a reference tool: if it differs from the plan published in the Diário da República, the published plan prevails. If you prefer the national SNIT geoportal run by the Direção-Geral do Território, check the date of the version you are viewing. The steps on Sintra's SIG viewer:

• Open the SIG viewer from the PDM page on the council's website (Sintra, Espaço Público, Plano Diretor Municipal).
• Find the property on the map and check that you are viewing the 2020 PDM in force, not the 1999 plan or documents from the new revision.
• Read the land-use map (01) to see whether the property is on urban or rural land, in which category, and whether it lies in a historic core.
• Overlay the four constraints maps: natural resources, cultural heritage, facilities and infrastructure, and wildfire hazard.
• Check whether the property is in the Natural Park or the Sintra-Cascais Site, because the rules for rural land change inside those areas.
• Measure and print the map extracts of the plans in force, to attach to an application.
• Open the regulations at the article for the category and also read the rules on existing buildings, the coastline and flood-prone areas.

The maps apply together and the most restrictive rule prevails (article 31(3)). If a parcel falls in more than one category, any permitted building goes in the least restrictive one, following the ranked list in Annex IV of the regulations (article 32). The municipality's REN was set by Aviso n.º 15591/2020 of the Comissão de Coordenação e Desenvolvimento Regional de Lisboa e Vale do Tejo (the regional planning commission); for the agricultural and ecological reserves, see the guide on RAN and REN land.

In central and residential areas, the rule is the modal value: the most common height and massing on the street frontage between two cross streets or, failing that, on the block or the surrounding frontages (articles 113 and 114). Central areas and residential areas 1 count as consolidated urban zones under the RJUE (article 91). A setback top floor or an attic conversion is allowed within 45-degree planes and up to 3.5 m above the permitted facade height (article 87).

Some rules apply to all urban land: no building on slopes of 25% or more, except justified infrastructure (article 86(13)), and work must, as a rule, keep the building line and fit the prevailing form of the street (article 87). The table shows the parameters by category; the guide on how much you can build on your land explains the concepts.

Sintra's rural land is divided into natural areas (1, 2 and 3), forest areas (1 and 2), agricultural areas, mineral extraction areas, industrial areas, tourism areas, facility and infrastructure areas and aglomerados rurais (article 49). In agricultural areas, new housing is not among the permitted uses: buildings tied to the farm do not include residential use, except for existing buildings and legalizations (article 70).

The figures are low. A farm support building needs a parcel of at least 2 ha in the category, a floor area ratio of 0.02, 5 m height, 4 m eaves height and up to 1,000 m² of floor area, or 250 m² inside the Natural Park; small support structures of up to 25 m² need 1 ha (article 106). A new tourism development on rural land needs a 10 ha parcel, with a ratio of 0.01 (article 112). Existing buildings can be extended by up to 20% of their floor area, but not on rural land inside the Natural Park and the Sintra-Cascais Site (article 45).

In a village, the plot may sit in an aglomerado rural, where urban uses, including housing, are allowed, with height by modal value and 0.30 permeability (articles 83 and 111), or inside a low-density urban boundary. Only the land-use map can confirm it. See what you can do on rural land.

The PDM protects what already had approval. Pre-existing rights include, among others, buildings that needed no permit, those with a valid permit or notice and rights protected while still valid, such as favorable PIPs, approved architectural designs and approved subdivisions (article 45). A favorable PIP still within its validity period therefore counts as a pre-existing right; check the PIP's validity before relying on it.

For work without approval, article 47 allows buildings and uses dating from before October 4, 1999, when the first PDM was published, to be legalized even if they do not meet the plan's uses and parameters, provided their existence is proven by maps, photographs or other suitable evidence and they meet health, safety and integration requirements. On rural land inside the Natural Park, legalization requires a binding ICNF opinion and is only allowed in limited cases. The procedure is in the guide on how building legalization works.

Reading the PDM gives you an interpretation; a decision on a pedido de informação prévia (PIP) gives you an answer that binds the council. Under the RJUE (Regime Jurídico da Urbanização e Edificação, Portugal's planning and building code) as revised by Decree-Law 108/2026, in force since October 1, 2026, a simple PIP confirms feasibility and constraints, and an extended PIP can also set massing, footprint and number of dwellings. The council has up to 20 days for its initial check and then decides within 15 days (simple) or 30 days (extended; 45 for subdivisions); without a decision in time, the PIP is tacitly approved, and a favorable answer is valid for 2 years. You do not need to own the property to apply. The PIP guide explains the rules.

In Sintra, every planning application is filed on the Urbanismo Online electronic platform, available on the council's website (article 147 of the Sintra urban development and building regulations, published as Aviso n.º 15347/2025/2). The PIP fee is paid in full when you file, under the municipal fee regulations and schedule; for an extended PIP, the other building fees are calculated at the decision (article 133). The required documents are those of Portaria 320/2026/1, detailed in the guide to documents for a PIP. In Sintra, a PIP is worth it when:

• The plot is in a low-density urban area and its size or shape raises doubts about the 500 m² minimum or the 160 m² rule.
• The height depends on the modal value of the street frontage, in central or residential areas.
• The property is in the Natural Park, the Sintra-Cascais Site, the coastal strip, a historic core or next to listed heritage.
• The plot is rural and you want to know whether it allows a farm building, a tourism development or an extension to an existing house.
• You want an answer under the 2020 plan before the revision opened in 2026 changes the rules.
• You are buying and want to make the promissory contract conditional on the answer: see PIP before buying land. Apto Group prepares and follows up on the PIP in Sintra.

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

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