Lands with No Known Owners to be Taken Over by Portuguese State

22 November 2018

Any buildings that are considered as having no known owner will be taken over by the Portuguese state and managed by the government’s Forest Management Company. The initiative by António Costa’s Socialist-led Executive – which will soon issue a decree – will primarily impact rural lands, mostly in the region north of the Tagus, where properties are more fragmented.

In order to make this measure feasible, which is part of the government’s strategy of combatting forest fires, the Portuguese executive has already approved a bill in the Council of Ministers that would regulate the process of identifying and transferring the relevant properties.

“No regulated process would allow us to discover [who the landowners might be], so that [unowned lands] could be considered the property of the State.” The socialist executive approved a draft decree in which “properties with unknown ownership status will be subject to a procedure whereby the Registry and Notary Institute “would identify [the property] and impose a deadline so that” any interested parties may claim the right to that land,” the Deputy Minister of Economy and Economy, Siza Vieira, explained.

“If this does not happen, the land will be temporarily registered as belonging to the state,” the official said, noting that the temporary registration would last for 15 years, during which time the alleged owners can still claim ownership.

In the meantime, the land could be used productively by the Forestry Management Company.

Original Story: Idealista

Translation: Richard Turner