Build-to-Rent Homes on State Tax Contracts Will Carry a Land-Registry Lock From Saturday

Homes built, bought or refurbished under Portugal's new build-to-rent tax contracts will carry a land-registry entry barring their sale one by one. Portaria n.º 500/2026/1, published in the Diário da República on Friday, sets out how that encumbrance (ónus) is recorded and when it ends. It takes effect on Saturday 14 November.

It is a technical act, but it makes the scheme's core promise enforceable: in return for the tax breaks, the homes stay rented for as long as the contract lasts.

What the contracts are

The contrato de investimento para arrendamento (CIA, investment-for-rent contract) was created by Decreto-Lei n.º 97/2026 of 20 May. An investor signs it with the Instituto da Habitação e da Reabilitação Urbana (IHRU, the State housing institute) for up to 25 years. The application rules came in a separate ordinance on 30 September, which we covered at the time.

The investor can get exemption from IMT (property transfer tax) and stamp duty on the purchase, exemption from IMI (municipal property tax) for up to eight years and a 50 percent cut for the rest of the contract, the reduced VAT rate on building work, and exemption from the AIMI surcharge. The IMT and IMI breaks need a vote by the municipal assembly where the homes sit.

In exchange, at least 70 percent of the floor area must be for residential letting, and rents may not exceed 2.5 times the 2026 minimum wage. With the minimum wage at 920 euros (DGERT), that ceiling is 2,300 euros a month. Each home must be let for at least eight months of every full year. An investor in breach repays all of the tax saved in the first ten years, half in the middle years and 30 percent in the last five.

What Friday's ordinance adds

The decree already said homes in a CIA can only be sold together, with the whole contract passing to the buyer, and only with the housing minister's authorisation. The ordinance turns that into an entry at the land registry:

• IHRU registers the encumbrance, free of registry fees, on every plot, building and flat in the contract, including those created later by subdivision or by splitting a building into separately owned flats.
• The entry shows the contract's reference number, length and start date.
• The owner can have it cancelled for units that are not let under the contract, such as the shops or other uses allowed in the remaining 30 percent of floor area, but only with a declaration from IHRU.
• The entry lapses automatically when the contract ends.

What it means for residents

If you rent in a CIA building, the landlord cannot sell your flat to an individual buyer while the contract runs. The building can change hands only as a whole, with the new owner taking on the same obligations, including the contract's rent limits.

If you are buying, the land-registry certificate (certidão permanente) will now show whether a flat is tied to one of these contracts. A flat carrying the entry cannot be sold to you on its own unless IHRU certifies it is not one of the rental units, or the contract ends.

The scheme also carries a promise to investors: under Article 5 of Annex I, if a future change in rent law upsets a contract's finances, the investor is entitled to compensation from the State. These homes therefore sit in a fixed legal frame for up to 25 years, whatever comes of the wider rent-law changes still under negotiation, which our report on the 2,300-euro moderate rent sets out.