General Daily Briefing: Tuesday, 3 November 2026
Claiming under the Legal Guarantee on Goods in Portugal
The three year warranty, the two year presumption in your favour, the repair, replace, or refund order, and the law behind it.
Good morning. Here is your Tuesday briefing for 3 November 2026: the day's essential Portugal stories for residents, immigrants and anyone keeping an eye on the country, below this week's featured guide.
- TAP: the government and Lufthansa sign the contract for up to 49.9 percent of the airline in Lisbon today, leaving a European competition review before the sale closes.
- Housing funds: EU cohesion money under Portugal 2030 now holds 656 million euros for housing, about ten times the original plan, the head of the cohesion agency says.
- Cars: fully electric cars took 44.9 percent of new passenger car registrations in October, and the market passed 241,000 vehicles for the year.
- Housing protests: Lisbon's housing camp voted to pitch its tents on the Rossio again tonight and to meet President Seguro, while the Council of State's note left the protests out.
- Building rules: the government starts drafting this month the law that will replace the 1951 building regulation, though the old rules still apply.
- Energy: shared solar schemes and energy communities more than doubled this year to 2,127, and new ones running by 2029 skip a bill charge for seven years.
TAP Changes Hands on Paper
Prime Minister LuÃs Montenegro and Lufthansa chief Carsten Spohr sign the contract for the partial sale of TAP in Lisbon today, worth up to 1,201 million euros for 49.9 percent. The European Commission's competition review comes next, and the government says Lufthansa will bear any conditions Brussels imposes. Nothing changes for passengers until the deal closes, expected in 2028.
EU Money for Council Homes
Portugal 2030, the EU cohesion programme, now sets aside 656 million euros for housing, up from 64 million in the original plan, AD&C president Cláudia Joaquim told Negócios. Social housing gets 315 million and affordable rent 256 million. The money goes to councils through regional calls open until 2027 and 2028, so residents will feel it through municipal building.
Nearly One New Car in Two Is Electric
Fully electric cars made up 44.9 percent of new passenger cars registered in Portugal in October, just below September's record, ACAP figures show. Total registrations rose 2.4 percent to 20,367 vehicles and reached 241,293 since January, up 9.9 percent. Plug-in and conventional hybrids both fell, while electric van sales almost tripled.
The Camps Return to the Rossio
Lisbon's housing protesters voted by 163 to 6 to camp on the Rossio again from tonight and agreed to meet President Seguro, though no date is set. In Porto, 14 tents went up on Praça D. João I after the 00:30 cut-off. The Council of State's statement on Monday's meeting did not mention the camps.
A New Building Rulebook, Eventually
The law replacing Portugal's general building regulation, in force since 1951, enters legislative drafting this month, the Secretary of State for Housing told MPs on Monday, Negócios reports. It then goes to a meeting of secretaries of state and to cabinet. No draft or date has been published, and homes are still designed to the old rules.
Sharing Solar Power Takes Off
Collective self-consumption projects and renewable energy communities in operation rose from 879 in January to 2,127 in September, the Ministry of Environment and Energy said on Monday, crediting June's Decree-Law 130/2026. Schemes able to start by the end of 2029 skip the CIEG policy charges on shared power for seven years, the ministry says.
Also published since yesterday's briefing
- Lisbon Court Lets a Housing Protester Keep One Tent on the Rossio Until the 24 November Budget Vote, Ruling the 00:30 Protest Cut-Off Is Not Automatic Read →
- ECCO Will Shut Its Santa Maria da Feira Shoe Factory, Its First Outside Denmark, and Lay Off 632 Workers Read →
- Six Environmental Groups Sue to Stop a 260-Hectare Tangerine Orchard That Could Draw Almost Twice Alcácer do Sal's Mains Water Read →
- New Home Loans in Portugal Cost 3.06 Percent After a Sixth Monthly Increase, as New Term Deposits Jump to 1.82 Percent Read →
- Portugal's Public Debt Sinks to 88.4 Percent of GDP, Its Lowest Since 2009, After July's Big Repayments to Creditors Read →
- Banks Must Refund Phishing Victims by the Next Business Day Even When They Claim Negligence, EU Court Rules Read →
- The Rossio Tent Ruling Sends Portugal's 00:30 Protest Curfew to the Constitutional Court, Whether Prosecutors Agree or Not Read →
- 28,000 Low-Income Households Left Waiting for an Energy-Efficiency Voucher Will Get One After All, Without the Home Visit Read →
- Data Centres in Portugal Face a Renewable Power Requirement in a Decree Due by Year End, While Factories Keep First Call on the Grid Read →
- Seven Intermarché Stores in Portugal Lose Control of Their Fridges in What the Owner Calls a Cyberattack, and Three Throw Out Stock Read →
- Ten Northern Councils Press EDP and Movhera to Pay 335 Million Euros in Taxes on the 2020 Sale of Six Douro Dams Read →
- Decree in Force Today Bars State Lawyers From Appealing Rulings That Match the Government's Own Binding Legal Positions Read →
- West Nile Virus Has Reached Seven Horse Farms in Portugal This Year, and a Health Council Fears Human Cases Are Going Unnoticed Read →
