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A roofless rammed-earth house standing on a grassy Portuguese hillside, its walls open to the sky and scrub growing along the top.

Reinvest Your Home Sale in a Ruin and the Fisco Says No: the Finance Ministry Backs Two Narrow Readings of the Capital-Gains Relief

Asked by Iniciativa Liberal whether the tax authority is adding requirements the IRS Code never wrote, the Finance Ministry says it is not. A property in ruins cannot be your permanent home on the day you buy it, and a house you also work in is not exclusively housing.

The Portugal Brief 26 Aug 2026

The village of Serra d'El-Rei in the council of Peniche seen across a ploughed field and a strip of maize, with wind turbines and a water tower on the skyline.

1,655 Submissions and Two Councils Against the Serra d'El-Rei Kaolin Mine, and the Consultation Shuts on 1 September

The Royal China Clay C-185 concession would work 51.4 hectares of open pit for 20.5 years, 100 metres from the nearest hamlet, for 12 jobs and 11 lorries an hour. Peniche, Óbidos and the parish council all want an unfavourable environmental decision.

The Portugal Brief 26 Aug 2026

The gate of the ETAR de Carvalhal de Azoia, a small municipal wastewater treatment plant in the Soure countryside, with concrete tanks behind the fence and a farmhouse on the hill beyond.

Septic Tanks in Portugal in 2026: A Practical Guide to the 20-Metre Connection Rule, Sealed Tanks Versus Infiltration, Who Is Allowed to Empty Yours, and Fines up to 3,740 Euros

If the public sewer runs within 20 metres of your boundary, connection is compulsory and the fine for not connecting reaches 3,740 euros. If it does not, a sealed tank and one that infiltrates into the ground follow different rules, and the council decides who empties it.

The Portugal Brief 25 Aug 2026

Platforms at Porto's Campanha railway station, with CP signage, overhead catenary and passengers waiting beside the tracks under a concrete canopy

About 40 Campanhã Households Sit in the High-Speed Line's Path, and Porto Is Weighing Municipal Land at Noeda to Rehouse Them

The câmara says it has identified council land behind Campanhã station and is examining its use with LusoLav, covering owners and tenants alike. The execution project foresees 236 demolitions between Porto and Oiã, and residents say nobody has visited them since the route was published in 2024.

The Portugal Brief 24 Aug 2026

Aerial view over Lisbon's Baixa Pombalina looking down Rua Augusta towards Rossio, with the ironwork of the Santa Justa lift in the foreground and terracotta rooftops on both sides

With the Bank of Portugal Bound for Entrecampos, Lisbon's Baixa Loses the Last of Its Financial Quarter

Fidelidade occupies its new Entrecampos head office in September, and the central bank's 1,400 Lisbon staff follow onto the same old Feira Popular site. The building deal was cut from two blocks at EUR 192 million to one at EUR 165.7 million. The tesouraria and the Money Museum stay downtown.

The Portugal Brief 24 Aug 2026

The whitewashed houses of Ericeira on the clifftop above the fishing beach, with Atlantic surf breaking over the rocks and breakwater below a grey sky

Mafra Closes an Ericeira Hostel That Ran for Two Years Without a Local-Accommodation Registration

The council fined the Santo Isidoro property, ordered it shut and referred the case to ASAE, having cancelled its alojamento local registration in August 2024. Inspectors also found unlicensed works in common areas and a bar with no municipal approval.

The Portugal Brief 23 Aug 2026

Portugal Clears a Path to Force the Sale of Property Locked in Undivided Inheritances

Portugal Clears a Path to Force the Sale of Property Locked in Undivided Inheritances

President António José Seguro on Friday, 7 August, promulgated a decree that authorises the government to overhaul one of the most intractable corners of Portuguese life: property trapped in heranças indivisas (undivided inheritances), where heirs...

The Portugal Brief 09 Aug 2026

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