Hi there,
I am writing this post because whenever I tell people about illegal houses, they always ask me how do you know it is illegal?
Let’s start with the fact that from 1951 is when in Portugal they began to regularize and legalize everything that has to do with the renovation works that you do in your house. The houses built after that year would need “Licença de utilização” (license for use).
Houses prior to 1951 were exempt from such a license so even if the house had a license from the year it was built, it was not a mandatory document to sell the property. Even so, the notary must give you a document stating that the house does not need a Licença de utilização.
But, as I have been telling you, the Portuguese are experts in cheating and scams.
As you can imagine, a house built before 1951 is a house that is old and probably falling apart. In Porto, houses that were built before 1951 are usually sold completely renovated.
This is where the magic of illegality comes in.
There are many renovations works that must have a license from the Municipal Chamber; therefore, if you are going to do a construction work you have to go to the Municipal Chamber to inform them and they will tell you if you must apply for a license or not.
If it is a big work or a complete renovation of the house, you must bring an architectural project before starting so that they, after approving it, will issue a building permit.
For houses prior to 51, the Municipal Chamber will issue a building permit and then a new license for use.
What does this mean? When a house has been renovated, the license for use exception for pre-51 houses no longer applies.
Therefore, if they sell you a renovated house saying that the house is exempt from license for use because it is pre-51, they are scamming you.
Everyone is doing illegal construction and selling illegal houses in Porto. As there is only surveillance in the center of Porto, the rest of the district, where the municipal police never passes by, is no man’s land, and people do whatever they want.
Not only will you be ripped off by the individual who renovated the house illegally, but you will also be ripped off by the real estate agents and the same solicitors who make the sales contracts knowing perfectly well that the house is in an illegal situation.
The real estate agents have this phrase that they repeat over and over again: “The renovation did not modify the structure, so it does not need a building license from the Municipal Chamber”.
I don’t know if this is a lie that was repeated so many times until they believed it themselves because it is incredible that a real estate agent can be so ignorant and so far from reality.
First of all, in Portugal the situation is so third worldist that most of the cartographic records are not digitalized, and, in addition, they do not know what is in most of the houses.
In other words, I cannot tell people that the renovation did not modify the structure as if my words were a legal document. Who is going to say if the structure was modified or not is going to be the Municipal Chamber through an architectural project, a topographic survey, and a visit to the building.
Even if you do not modify the structure, if you renovate a house, especially if it is a pre-1951 house, you are obliged to pay for the building permit and then you will have a new license for use.
A pre-51 house that was completely renovated cannot be sold without a Licença de utilização.
In reality, all pre-1951 houses that were renovated are sold illegally.
This is because there is no oversight by the Municipal Chamber and because no one checks the purchase and sale contracts.
The notary or solicitor registers such contracts in the Property Registry and there they should check the documentation to see that everything is correct and legal, but nobody checks anything.
All the lawyers who saw the contract of sale of my house, just by taking a look at it, already knew that the sale had been illegal.
How is it then that no alarm bells went off when this document was verified by the Property Registry?
After a year in Porto, I understand why the Portuguese move between illegality and scams since the same public bodies are totally incompetent.
If you bought a refurbished house prior to 1951 which is illegal, this is not going to affect you continuing to live in that house. The problem would be to sell it again because you would have to look for a corrupt real estate agency and notary.
Even so, if the buyer needs a bank loan, since the bank is going to make sure that everything is legal, they may not give you the loan. So only a person who does not need a loan could buy it from you.
It can affect you if you want to convert your property into local accommodation, if you want to rent it on a long term basis and even to apply for housing subsidies.
The illegality in Porto goes far beyond the pre-1951 houses.
I have also seen apartments that are a T3 and are sold with a T2 license because they did illegal renovation works, modified the structure to have 3 rooms instead of 2, and never asked permission to the Municipal Chamber.
Why do people do these barbarities? To save money.
An architectural project costs between 3500 and 6000 euros; in addition, you must pay at the Municipal Chamber to have the building permit and then the license for use.
Therefore, if you see a renovated house advertised that says “before ’51”, that house is illegal, and you are going to be ripped off.
I have also heard people say that when years go by, the illegal house automatically becomes legal. If 20 years have passed since the illegal renovation work was done, the only thing that changes is that you are more likely to get the legalization approved without major problems; but you still have to hire an architect to do the legalization and pay all the corresponding fees at the Municipal Chamber.
As I was told at the Municipal Chamber of Porto, you cannot trust either the real estate agencies nor the solicitors; so, if you are going to buy a house, you have to go first to the Municipal Chamber so they can tell you if the house is legal or not.