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A tiled Lisbon apartment block in blue and white azulejos, with cantilevered balconies, potted plants and a resident standing at an open window

The Tax Authority Has Emailed 33,381 Landlords About Contracts Its Own System Still Calls Active, and Gives Them Until 30 September to Reply

Each contract is registered on the Portal das Financas as active, non-renewable and past its end date. Some owners say they closed them years ago, and the tax authority concedes a lag between selecting the list and sending the alerts.

The Portugal Brief 08 Sep 2026

A narrow cobbled street in Alfama, Lisbon, with tram rails curving between pastel and yellow residential facades, wrought-iron balconies and a hanging street lamp

Brussels Wants a Single European Test for When a City May Curb Short-Term Lets, and It Carves Your Own Home Out of It

The Affordable Housing Act, presented Wednesday, sets common criteria for housing-pressure zones and requires authorities to show short-term letting worsens supply or prices. A main residence is explicitly excluded.

The Portugal Brief 08 Sep 2026

Four-storey white social housing blocks at the Bairro de Santo Amaro in Lagos, with cars parked on a cobbled forecourt and trees along the edge under a blue sky

The European Investment Bank Will Put 1.5 Billion Euros Behind Portuguese Social Housing, and the First 500 Million Was Signed on Monday

The first phase targets 50,000 homes built or rehabilitated under 1.o Direito, the IHRU programme for people in undignified housing. The government says it covers the social responses left outside the Recovery and Resilience Plan.

The Portugal Brief 08 Sep 2026

A long mid-century residential block on Rua das Amoreiras in Lisbon, seen from the street, with balconies on every floor and cars parked below.

Portugal Scrapped Its Old Affordable-Rent Programme on 1 September, and the Replacement Still Cannot Be Used: the Rent Ceilings Were Due by 19 June and the IHRU Platform Is Not Live

Decreto-Lei 97/2026 offers landlords a full IRS and IRC exemption on accessible rents. It also gave the government 30 days to publish the portaria fixing the maximum rent by typology. That deadline was 19 June, and neither the order nor the platform exists.

The Portugal Brief 07 Sep 2026

Aerial view of Samora Correia in the Leziria do Tejo, the town and its belt of white warehouse roofs, dark woodland behind it and irrigated fields stretching to the right.

Benavente Zones 32 Hectares for Business Beside the Future Airport, and Sets a 2028 Deadline After Which the Land Turns Back Into Farmland

The firing range that becomes the Aeroporto Luis de Camoes lies mostly inside Benavente, not Alcochete. The council has zoned a business park there, projects more than 100 million euros of turnover per mandate, and set a clause returning the land to farmland if nothing is built by 2028.

The Portugal Brief 07 Sep 2026

A street corner in Porto: a blue and white azulejo-tiled building with iron balconies and shopfronts at street level, on a cobbled square.

Right of First Refusal in Portugal in 2026: A Practical Guide to the Direito de Preferência, the Thirty Days a Tenant Gets and the Eight Everyone Else Gets, the 15 Euro Notice That Clears the State, and the Six Months to Sue

A tenant of more than two years, a co-owner, a neighbouring farmer and the municipality can each take a Portuguese property off the buyer who agreed to it, at the price the buyer agreed. Here is who holds the right, in what order, and how long each one has.

The Portugal Brief 06 Sep 2026

The empty main stand of the Estadio do Bessa in Porto, its seats spelling B.F.C. in black against cream with the Boavista panther crest above, and the striped pitch in front of it.

Three Months After the Bessa Auction Failed, 33 Million Euros Arrives From a Lisbon Property Group, and Boavista's Creditors Now Decide

The two lots carried a 32.9 million euro floor and the online auction never reached it. A Lisbon group has now gone above it. Under article 161 of the insolvency code the creditors must be told the buyer's name and every term of the deal fifteen days before anything is signed.

The Portugal Brief 06 Sep 2026

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