The Friday, May 29 edition of the Diário da República introduced legislative changes with a direct impact on the real estate and construction sectors. On one hand, the Government is moving forward with a new revision of the urban licensing regime to accelerate projects, reduce bureaucracy, and strengthen the legal security of investments. On the other hand, more stringent rules come into effect for the identification and management of asbestos in construction, rehabilitation, and demolition works.
Although they concern different matters, both decrees point in the same direction: simpler administrative processes, but also greater technical accountability of the participants and reinforcement of safety requirements on site.
Urban planning licenses: new phase of the RJUE reform
The main highlight goes to the Decree-Law No. 108/2026, approved under the legislative authorization granted by the Law No. 9-B/2026, which reviews the regime applicable to the licensing of urban operations and amends the Legal Regime of Urbanization and Building (RJUE) and the Legal Regime of Urban Rehabilitation.
More than just a technical update, this review is part of the continuation of the so-called Urban Simplex, whose main goal is to reduce bureaucracy, speed up decisions, and make procedures more predictable for those who invest, build, or rehabilitate.
The decree seeks to correct some application difficulties identified after the changes introduced in 2024, while simultaneously reinforcing the objectives of administrative simplification and increasing housing supply.
Among the planned measures are the flexibilization of procedures, speeding up deadlines, clarifying legal concepts, improving coordination between public entities, and creating mechanisms that provide greater legal certainty in urban processes.
Also noteworthy are the changes related to the processing of cases, procedural sanitation, prior hearings of interested parties, urban offenses, supervision, and mechanisms for restoring urban legality.
Faster processes and greater predictability
One of the legislator's main concerns is to reduce delays that often hinder the development of real estate projects. To this end, the reform strengthens coordination mechanisms between public entities and invests in more uniform and predictable processing.
At the same time, the new framework seeks to ensure more robust and legally stable urban titles, reducing situations of uncertainty that often affect investors, developers, and owners.
Particularly relevant is the continued focus on solutions that limit the administrative blockade of processes, reinforcing the use of prior communication in certain situations and reducing reliance on express administrative acts when urban parameters are already clearly defined.
Less bureaucracy, more responsibility
One of the trends consolidated with this reform is the gradual transfer of responsibility to the technicians and developers involved in the projects.
The model being developed seeks to reduce part of the prior administrative control and reinforce the accountability of the participants through technical declarations, terms of responsibility, and simplified processing mechanisms, while maintaining instruments of supervision and control.
In practice, this means that architects, engineers, project coordinators, site managers, and developers will play an even more relevant role in ensuring compliance with urban and technical standards.
For industry professionals, administrative simplification does not reduce the demand. On the contrary: the faster the process becomes, the more important technical rigor, document quality, and compliance with submitted projects are.
Asbestos: stricter rules for works and rehabilitation
The second relevant legislative change comes through the Decree-Law No. 109/2026, which transposes into Portuguese legislation the Directive (EU) 2023/2668, concerning the protection of workers against the risks of exposure to asbestos during work.
The topic is of particular importance in a country where a significant part of the built environment was constructed during periods when asbestos-containing materials were relatively commonly used.
According to the European Union itself, the risks remain particularly relevant in activities such as building renovations, demolitions, waste management, technical maintenance, and urban rehabilitation.
The new rules follow the latest scientific and technological developments in this field and reinforce the mechanisms of prevention, monitoring, and protection of potentially exposed workers.
The new decree does not merely update general safety principles. The changes directly affect risk assessment, prior identification of materials that may contain asbestos, monitoring of fiber concentration in the air, worker training, and mandatory communications to the competent authorities.
Requirements related to occupational exposure limits and measures to be adopted whenever there are risks to worker health are also reinforced, reflecting the growing European concern with preventing diseases associated with asbestos exposure.
In practice, those involved in older buildings may face stricter procedures in the diagnosis, planning, and execution phases of the work, which may translate into more detailed prior assessments and additional safety measures on site.
What do these changes mean for the market?
Although they operate in different areas, the two decrees end up converging on a common goal: modernizing the sector.
On the urban planning side, the priority is to make processes faster, more predictable, and compatible with the need to increase housing supply and accelerate investment. On the construction and rehabilitation side, the focus is on worker protection and adaptation to the latest European health and safety requirements.
For developers, investors, technical offices, contractors, and owners, the message is clear: simplifying procedures does not eliminate responsibilities. On the contrary, it demands greater technical preparation, greater document rigor, and an increasing focus on rule compliance.
Before proceeding with new projects, it is worth reviewing internal procedures, updating work methodologies, and closely following the regulations that are now starting to take effect.
In real estate, many of the changes shaping the market do not start in construction sites or deeds. They begin in the pages of the Diário da República and end up influencing how projects are conceived, licensed, built, and marketed.
