New Land Law a flop – only five reconversion requests and not one for housing

Since Portugal’s new Land Law came into effect in January, only five applications to have land reclassified as suitable for development or economic activities under the new rules have been submitted to authorities.

Since the new Land Law came into force in January, (known as the amendments to the Legal Regime of Territorial Management Instruments or new Land Law) – which aims to slash bureaucracy, making more land available for development and economic activities to boost house building – there have been only five applications for the reclassification of open land, none of which was intended for the construction of affordable homes, reports Expresso.

“Since the change was made at the beginning of this year, which was intended to boost affordable house building and lower house prices, all applications for construction on rustic/rural land have been for economic activity projects and none for housing,” said the president of the Portuguese Urban Planning Association (APU), Manuel Miranda, suggesting that one explanation could be that “there were municipal elections, and city and town councils may have decided not to accept applications because the changes have been seen as controversial”.

As for those applications that were registered, none of the cases were in Lisbon or Porto where the lack of affordable housing is at its greatest, instead they were submitted in rural districts for medium-sized projects, none of which were for affordable new build projects.