Obtain approval of project designs from Municipality and other relevant entities
Agency: Municipality
The land-use regime in the area of the site is regulated by a detail plan in force or an approved allotment project. A building notice procedure should then be followed to obtain approval of the building design.
BuildCo submits an application for a building permit to the municipality. The application must comply with a statutory list of submission requirements. The architectural design and liability declarations of the designers are among the elements that must be submitted.
The municipality verifies whether the application complies with the administrative requirements and the architectural design complies with the detail plan or approved allotment project and building regulations.
The municipality also assess if external public entities must be consulted. If that is the case, the municipality forwards the application to the coordination and regional development commission that sends it to the external public entities that have to be consulted. Their appraisals must be sent back to the commission within 20 or 40 days, depending on nature of the external public entity. The applicant may also choose to consult directly with the external public entities for a forehand approval/appraisal of the design and submit their answers together with the application to the municipality, as it is the case with BuildCo.
The municipality must decide on the application within 20 days of its submission, or 60 days if external public entities are consulted.
The cost to obtain the approval of the building design is EUR 378.5.
The legal basis of the above is the following:
- Decree-Law No. 555/99 with amendments (Art 4.4.c, 10.1, 10.2, 11.2. 11.3, 13-B.2, 13-B.3, 34.5, 35.4 and 35.7)
- Ordinance No. 113/2015 (Annex I, no. 1 to 6 and 15)
- Ordinance No. 228/2015 (August 3, 2015)
- Regulation of Permissions, Taxes and Other Revenues of the Municipality of Oeiras, Art 191.1.
- Table of Fees and Other Revenues of the Municipality of Oeiras (2014), Art 16.7
Time and cost: 75 days, EUR 379
Obtain building permit and pay fee
Agency: Municipality
Within one year from the date of notification of final approval of the building design, BuildCo must request the building permit to be issued and pay the relevant taxes. The municipality issues the building permit within 30 days of the date of the request. There are statutory requirements on how to request the building permit certificate and also on the content of the certificate.
BuildCo posts an announcement at the construction site within 10 days after a building permit is obtained. This announcement must follow a standardised format and content established by law and remain visible until the end of the construction works.
The cost to obtain the building permit is EUR 388.58 for building permit issuance plus EUR 1.42 per sq. meter.
The legal basis of the above is the following:
- Decree-Law No. 555/99 with amendments (Art 34.2, 34.3, 35.8, 35.9, 78.5 and 80.2)
- Ordinance 228/215
- Regulation of Permissions, Taxes and Other Revenues of the Municipality of Oeiras, Art 191.1.
- 4.Table of Fees and Other Revenues of the Municipality of Oeiras (2014), Art 5.
This procedure can only be actioned once the building approval has been granted. For that reason it cannot be a simultaneous process with the previous one.
Time and cost: 30 days, EUR 2,235
Inform the Municipality about the beginning of construction
Agency: Municipality
Based on Article 80-A of Decree-Law No. 555/99 with amendments, BuildCo has until five days before the start of the construction works on the site to inform the municipality of his intentions, as well as of the identity of the technical director responsible for the works. This procedure can only be actioned upon the start of the construction, thus it cannot be a simultaneous process with the previous one.
Time and cost: 1 day, no charge
Inform the Labor Conditions Agency about the new construction site
Agency: Labor Conditions Agency
According to Art 15.1, 15.2 and 15.3 of Decree-Law 273/2003, BuildCo must inform the Labor Conditions Agency before starting construction work. This is only necessary if one of the following conditions occur:
- Construction work takes longer than 30 days and have more than 20 workers simultaneously on the site at any moment; or
- Construction work takes more than 500 man days of work.
There are statutory requirements on the content of the notice to the Labor Conditions Agency. Since this procedure can be addressed in the Labor Conditions Agency, it can be a simultaneous one.
Time and cost: 1 day, no charge
Receive inspection from the Labor Conditions Agency
Agency: Labor Conditions Agency
The Labor Conditions Agency may perform on-site inspections during construction. The Agency has been conducting more inspections in recent years. The inspections mainly examine health and safety conditions. The agency will also check for employment contracts and the legal status of workers. A construction site can be inspected more than once during the term of a building permit.
Source: Activity of Labor Conditions Agency: 2015 report, pp. 133-135, Decree-law 273/2003, Art. 15, 29 October.
This procedure can only be actioned once the request to the Labor Conditions Agency has been done. For that reason it cannot be a simultaneous process with the previous one.
Time and cost: 1 day, no charge
Receive inspection from Municipality
Agency: Municipality
According to Art. 93, 94, 95 and 96 of Decree-Law No. 555/99 with amendments, during construction, other public authorities may also carry out unscheduled inspections to the site to accomplish their supervision role. The municipality may carry out site inspections without notifying the developer beforehand. All aspects of the construction works can be checked during inspections, including the construction log book. Construction works are selected randomly, except if complaints have been made. Such cases are more likely to undergo a site inspection by municipal building inspectors. The Real Estate and Construction Institute may also carry out site inspections.
This procedure can only be actioned once the construction has started. For that reason it cannot be a simultaneous process with the previous one.
Time and cost: 1 day, no charge
Receive inspection from Institute of Public Markets, Real Estate and Construction (IMPIC – Instituto dos Mercados Públicos, do Imobiliário e da Construção)
Agency: Institute of Public Markets, Real Estate and Construction (Instituto dos Mercados Públicos, do Imobiliário e da Construção).
The construction site might also receive unscheduled inspections from the Institute of Construction and Real Estate (Instituto da Construção e do Imobiliário – INCI) to check if BuildCo has the “alvara” and the construction permit.
The legal basis is Decree Law No. 232/2015, October 13, Law No. 41/2015, June 3.
This procedure can only be actioned once the construction has finished. For that reason it cannot be a simultaneous process with the previous one.
Time and cost: 1 day, no charge
Submit application for a water and sewage connection at the Water and Sanitation Authority
Agency: Municipal Water and Sanitation Authority
This procedure can only be actioned once the occupancy permit has been granted. For that reason it cannot be a simultaneous process with the previous one.
Time and cost: 1 day, no charge
Receive inspection by Water and Sanitation Authority
Agency: Municipal Water and Sanitation Authority
This procedure can be done once the request for these services has been submitted. For this reason, it cannot be a simultaneous one with the previous step.
Time and cost: 1 day, EUR 451
Obtain water and sewerage connection
Agency: Municipal Water and Sanitation Authority
The steps for obtaining a water and sewerage connection are as follows:
- BuildCo informs the utility until 5 working days before the beginning of the construction works on the water and sewerage networks.
- During construction, the utility, directly or through a certified entity, can carry out site inspections whenever deemed appropriate and without notifying the developer beforehand.
- BuildCo informs the utility when the construction works on the water and sewerage networks are complete and asks for a final site inspection. Liability declarations of the technicians responsible for construction of the water and sewage networks must then be submitted.
- Within 7 days the utility, or a certified entity on its behalf, carries out a final inspection of the water and sewerage networks. Pipes must not be covered before being inspected.
- If construction was done according to the approved design and the network met the test conditions, the utility considers the construction works on the water and sewerage networks complete.
- BuildCo demands the permanent connection to the public water and sewerage networks. The water connection is carried out by the water utility within 15 days. The sewerage connection is carried out by BuildCo.
- BuildCo and the water utility celebrate a water supply contract and the water meters are installed within 3 days.
Usually these tasks are carried out before the construction of the building is complete. A water and sewerage connection is required to get an occupancy permit.
BuildCo must pay a total of EUR 7,570.50 to obtain water and sewerage connection. The cost breakdown is the following:
- Connection to the water network: For distances until 20 m – no charge; For distances greater than 20 m: 13.29 € / meter
- Connection to the sewerage network: 37.18 € / meter
This procedure can only be actioned once request for these services has been donet. For that reason it cannot be a simultaneous process with the previous one.
Time and cost: 31 days, EUR 7,571
Submit application for occupancy permit
Agency: Municipality
Once the building has been completed, BuildCo requests the municipality to issue an occupancy permit for the building. There is a statutory list of submission requirements to request an occupancy permit. If the actual construction works executed on the site differ from the approved designs, an updated set of design documents must be presented to the municipality with the request for the occupancy permit. The construction log book, and a liability declaration by the construction director must be presented as well. In this declaration, the construction director states that the construction works were carried out according to the approved design, and, where applicable, changes comply with the relevant legal and regulatory requirements.
Within 10 days of the submission of the request the municipality informs BuildCo if the occupancy permit will be granted on the basis of the liability declaration mentioned above. No site inspection is required, unless the municipality has doubts about whether the construction works comply with the approved design. If a site inspection is determined, it takes place within 15 days.
Time and cost: 1 day, no charge
Obtain occupancy permit
Agency: Municipality
Once BuildCo has been notified that the occupancy permit will be issued, it has one year to request it from the City Hall. There are statutory requirements for applying for the occupancy permit and for the content of the permit. The occupancy permit is granted by the City Hall within 5 days of the submission of the request. The building can start being legally used only after the occupancy permit is issued.
According to Article 7 of Fee Schedule (2014) from Oeiras, the occupancy permit costs EUR 88.68 + 11.49 per 50m2 per section.
Time and cost: 10 days, EUR 388
Register the building with the Tax Authority
Agency: Tax Authority
Once the occupancy permit has been granted, BuildCo has 60 days to inform the tax authority. There is an official form for this purpose. The architectural design, updated with any modification carried out during construction, is attached to the official form. The tax authority updates the description of the property in the tax authority registry. A site inspection is only required if there are not enough elements to assess the taxable value of the property.
The legal basis of the above is the following:
- Decree-Law No. 287/2003 with amendments, Art 13.1.d., 13.3, 37.1 and 37.2
- Declaration for enrollment or updating of urban buildings in the array (Model 1)
This procedure can be done in parallel with the registration. For that reason it can be a simultaneous process with the previous one.
Time and cost: 1 day, no charge
Register the building with the Real Estate Registry
Agency: Real Estate Registry
Once the description of the property in the tax authority has been updated, BuildCo requests the update of the description in the Real Estate Registry. The update is done within 5-10 days. If the request is deemed urgent, the registration takes place within 1 day.
The cost to register the building with the Real Estate Registry is EUR 60.
The legal basis is the following:
- Decree-Law No. 224/84 with amendments, Art 75.1
- Decree-Law No. 322-A/2001 with amendments. Art 21.3.1
This procedure can only be actioned once the water and sewage connection have been installed. For that reason it cannot be a simultaneous process with the previous one.
Time and cost: 5 days, EUR 60
