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Inventory and Registration of Public Real Estate Assets

14 October 2017

The budgets of the Treasury and Finance Directorate General and Estamo will include the “necessary funds” for the registration and inventory of public real estate assets, according to the proposed 2018 State Budget Law (OE2018). The funds will fill a gap that has persisted for too long.

The document refers to “inadequacies” in the public real estate asset information management system that undermines the “preservation and enhancement of its economic, cultural and social worth.”

“Public real estate property varies according to the source of information, turning management in some cases, impossible,” the document states.

Thus, the Treasury and Finance Directorate General – the entity managing the public real estate assets – and Estamo Participações Imobiliárias, a state-owned enterprise, will have “necessary funds” in their budgets to inventory and regularise the property registries of state-owned assets.

Work teams will be set up to coordinate activities between the two entities, and external groups may still be involved.

According to the same document, preparatory work is underway for an “institutional reorganisation of the management of public real estate assets” to enable the efficient allocation of public services and bodies and a more efficient commercial management of real estate through the sale, leasing and other forms of monetisation.”

Given the dispersion the state’s assets throughout the country, “the creation of focal points for interaction with municipalities is also being considered by the government”.

The need for a legislative review is still being considered to improve the efficiency of the management of public property assets.

The Portuguese government is promoting the creation of the Public Real Estate Portal, an electronic platform that “will streamline requests regarding the installation of public services in or bodies in state-owned real estate, as well as serve as an interface and point of contact between the state and potential investors.”

Original Story: Diário Imobiliário

Translation: Richard Turner