Dealing with Construction Permits in
Portugal
Listed below is detailed summary of the procedures, time and costs to build a warehouse —including obtaining necessary licenses and permits, completing required notifications and inspections and obtaining utility connections.
The information appearing on this page was collected as part of the Doing Business project, which measures and compares regulations relevant to the life cycle of a small- to medium-sized domestic business in 183 economies. The most recent round of data collection for the project was completed in June 2011.
-
Building a warehouse
-
Estimated Warehouse Value:
EUR 750,000
- City: Lisbon
| No. |
Procedure |
Time to Complete |
Associated Costs |
| 1 |
Obtain approval in principle of project design
Granted by the municipality, the approval indicates BuildCo's possibility to execute a certain project. This approval binds the authorities involved in the issuing process but does not authorize construction. Valid for a year, this approval is not a prerequisite for the other procedures. Even so, this procedure cannot be performed simultaneously with any other procedure.
The Ministerial Order #111/2001 has been replaced by a new Ordinance 232/2008 as of March 11, 2008. According to it the required documents are as follows:
- Title to the property, or proof of ownership or lease agreement.
- Architectural project.
- Project clearance from the Fire Department. Approval of the architectural project depends on the issuance of a favorable opinion from the Fire Department. The costs involved are chargeable only at the issuance of the operating license. The company should also request approval of the security system against fire risks that would be filed upon submission of the specific drawings.
- Specific drawings, such as drawings of the electrical power layout. Approved project design drawings are valid for 6 months but are subject to a 3-month extension upon the company's request.
- Specification of patent.
- Direct billing, issued to the owner.
- Schedule of construction work execution.
- Other forms and documents deemed relevant.
This procedure is not mandatory but it is common practice.
Agency: City Hall
|
70 days
|
EUR 162
|
| 2 |
Obtain approval of project designs from City Hall and other relevant entities
The company must present the project design to the local municipality and consult with the relevant public entities, such as the Monuments Protection Authority. The number and type of entities that must be consulted vary from case to case. The municipality forwards the file to the public entities to be consulted.
After the municipality grants approval of the design project, it requests the applicant to present, within 6 months, the "specialty projects," for instance, the stability, electricity, gas, sewage, waste water, telephone and telecommunications, thermal and acoustic behavior of the building, elevators, and the like.
The municipality then forwards the specialty projects to the relevant entities for approval. The design project approval takes on average the first 30 days of the previous procedure, after which the specialty projects can be sent for approval at the same time that the approval from the relevant entities in the previous procedure is being requested (these two steps take 10 and 20 days, respectively). Once all approvals from third parties have been granted, it takes about 35 days for the municipality to make its final decision. Because the applicant can present both the designs and specialty projects at the same time and to the same agency, those steps are considered as one procedure here.
The applicant can also directly ask the relevant authorities for approval of the specialty projects and submit those approvals with the designs, which saves substantial time.
Agency: City Hall
|
95 days
|
EUR 136
|
| 3 |
Obtain building permit (Alvará) and pay fee
BuildCo must request a building permit within a maximum of a year from the date of notification of final approval of the building project. The building permit is issued after the relevant taxes have been paid.
Agency: City Hall
|
42 days
|
EUR 2,860
|
| 4 |
Inform the labor inspection agency about the new construction site
The Labor Conditions Agency might perform on-site inspections during construction. The project might also receive unscheduled inspections from other agencies, such as the agency issuing construction licenses, the Register (INCI), and the municipality.
Agency: Labor Conditions Agency
|
1 day
|
no charge
|
| 5 |
Receive inspection from Labor authority
Labor Conditions Agency shows up more in recent years due to increased cases of using illegal labor force by construction companies. Although BuildCo is a law abiding company it is most likely it will be inspected at least once during the contruction cycle. The inspections lately look at mainly health and safety conditions. They also look at employment contracts and legal status of authorized workers ("alvara"). Every construction site can be inspected several times during the term of building permit.
Agency: Labor Conditions Agency
|
1 day
|
no charge
|
| 6 |
Apply for occupancy permit and pay fees
Once the building has been completed, the applicant requests the occupancy and use permit, which costs EUR 1,404.65. The payment can be required either when the application form is filed or when the license is issued, depending on the municipality. The municipality might charge EUR 80.92 due to an additional inspection of the works. In this case, this procedure might cost around EUR 1,485.57. The timelimit within the permit must be issued is 15 working days from previously registered 30 days.
Agency: City Hall
|
1 day
|
EUR 1,405
|
| * 7 |
Submit application for a water and sewage connection at the water and sewage authority
Agency: EPAL
|
1 day
|
no charge
|
| * 8 |
Submit application for a telephone line at the telecommunications authority
Agency: Autoridade Nacional de Comunicações (Anacom)
|
1 day
|
no charge
|
| * 9 |
Receive inspection by water and sewerage authority
Agency: EPAL
|
1 day
|
EUR 31
|
| * 10 |
Receive inspection by telecommunications authority
Agency: Portugal Telecom
|
1 day
|
no charge
|
| * 11 |
Obtain water and sewerage connection
The steps for obtaining a water and sewerage connection are as follows:
1. Filing of an application for water connection with the Water Authority (EPAL). When the connection involves installation of a water meter, the cost is about EUR 69.70. The request must be filed in triplicate and accompanied by the localization map at a scale of 1:1000, the operating license, the direct billing of the water design engineer concerning the project and the execution of the water connection, the name of the design engineer, a favorable opinion issued by the Fire Department, the security certificate, and the certification of the Fire Department. This procedure may occur simultaneously with procedures 1, 4, and 16 . BuildCo can deliver the operating license to EPAL at any time before the first on-site inspection.
2. First on-site inspection by EPAL, following the company's request. The cost of each inspection is EUR 31.17.
3. Completion of the water connection work. BuildCo is responsible for establishing the water connection and bearing the associated costs.
4. Execution of the water supply agreement and installation of the water meters.
5. Issuance of a certificate by EPAL. The company must file a copy of the certificate with the municipal authority.
Agency: EPAL
|
31 days
|
EUR 70
|
| * 12 |
Obtain phone connection
Agency: Portugal Telecom
|
14 days
|
EUR 100
|
| * 13 |
Receive inspection and obtain occupancy permit
In practice, the Building Authority is no longer required to perform any inspections during the construction phase and does not do so unless there is evidence that construction works did not evolve according to plans.
In addition, the process to obtain a final inspection and an occupancy permit now takes 10 days, which are the time to obtain the permit.
Agency: City Hall
|
10 days
|
no charge
|
| 14 |
Register the building with the real estate registry
Agency: Real Estate Registry
|
10 days
|
EUR 2,625
|
* Takes place simultaneously with another procedure.