Frequently Asked Questions
Municipalities With And Without Registration
Yes. If your property is located in a municipality without a land registry system, you must identify your limits at BUPi.
If your property is located in a municipality with land registry system, the georeferencing of your land is done by DGT (Direção-Geral do Território) by vectoring the existing cadastral elements. However, it also benefits from the free regime that is in force until December 31, 2025.
The registration procedures are also applicable throughout the national territory, regardless of the type of georeferencing envisaged: it is necessary to present the georeferenced graphic representation (RGG) for municipalities without a land registry, and geometric land configuration (CGP) for municipalities with a land registry.
The way to publicly state that a property belongs to you is by registering it with the Land Registry Office.
Properties that are not identified in BUPi or registered with the Land Registry Office are subject to the procedure for recognizing a building without a known owner, being provisionally registered in the name of the State.
Customer Service
Online
To avoid traveling to a service counter, you can identify the limits of your property online, authenticating with the Portuguese Citizen Card or Digital Mobile Key (CMD) and respective PIN numbers.
BUPi Service Counters
If you need the assistance of a Qualified BUPi Technician or do not have electronic authentication, you can choose to identify your properties at a BUPi service counter. Consult the list for the nearest service counter in the municipality where your property is located.
Land Registry Office
After submitting the request for georeferencing of your properties at BUPi, you should go to the Land Registry Office, which will already have all the information about the location and limits of your property, in order to register.
Soon, it will be possible to start the registration request directly through the BUPi’s service counter or online, after the submission of the RGG.
If your municipality has a land registry, go to the Land Registry Office to register and take the land register with you.
Identify the property
To identify the location and limits of your properties, you can go to the BUPi service counter of the municipality where your property is located.
Register the property
To schedule the registration you must contact the local Land Registry Office.
Soon, it will be possible to start the registration request directly through the BUPi service counter or online, after RGG submission
Costs
To identify the properties
The identification of your properties, through BUPi, when done online or at a BUPi service counter, is always free.
To register a property
For properties that have never been registered with the Land Registry Office, or whose registration has not been updated, the registration process is also free.
About the free registration
Law no. 78/2017, of August 17th, created the Simplified Land Digital Registry and extended the possibility for all landowners to register their rural land free of charge, whatever their geographic location.
Exemption from fees associated with registration is ensured until December 31, 2025.
Check here the free registration end date in your municipality.
Data de término
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Documents
Online
To identify the location and limits of your property online, you must authenticate with your Portuguese Citizen Card, having the required PIN codes with you. You can also authenticate with the Digital Mobile Key (CMD), and you must have the associated mobile phone with you. You must also have the caderneta predial (description of the property – issued by the Portuguese Tax Authority) with the property’s record numbers. If you have previously done a GPS survey with the coordinates of your properties, you can load the file on the platform. Otherwise, you must identify your property directly on the map.
Service Desk
When you go to a BUPi service desk, you need to have your Portuguese Citizen Card and Caderneta Predial (description of the property – issued by the Portuguese Tax Authority) with the number of the property’s record numbers. Alternatively, you can indicate the property’s record numbers and your fiscal number (NIF) so that the Qualified BUPi Technician can consult the Caderneta Predial (description of the property – issued by the Portuguese Tax Authority) on the Portal das Finanças (Portuguese Tax and Customs Authority Portal). You should know how to identify your property on the map and, if possible, bring a GPS survey of the limits of your property.
Documents you must take with you
Consult here the documents you need, according to your situation.
Documents proving land ownership
The documents that prove that the property belongs to you:
- Deed of purchase and sale or donation;
- Deed of Qualification of heirs;
- Judicial decision granting the property right;
- Law or other type of legal diploma that gives you that right.
In the municipalities with registration, you will still need the respective caderneta predial (description of the property – issued by the Portuguese Tax Authority).
If you have a property but do not have a document proving that it belongs to you, you can start a special justification procedure to demonstrate that you live or operate the property under conditions that allow you to register it in your name. For more information, contact the Land Registry Office nearest you
Identifying properties
The location of properties can be done by the owner / promoter, online or at a BUPi service desk with a qualified BUPi technician. If you identify the location and limits of your property online, the technician will only validate the information.
- Polygon drawing on a digital map;
- Direct field measurement, commonly referred to as GPS surveying;
- Loading a file in accepted formats (KML, GPX, TopoJSON or Shapefile with the extension *.zip).
Identifying the location and boundaries of your property ensures that your borders can be reset, even in situations where physical identifiers disappear, ensuring effective protection of your property.
- Inform the developer of the area divergence;
- If the promoter confirms the polygon with the difference in area, the RGG is submitted, and the statement of responsibility serves as a declaration that the area indicated is correct (Article 16 of Law 78/2017);
- The RGG form will contain the data from the land registry, namely the area registered.
Given that we are beginning the expansion phase of BUPi, the number of overlapping situations will immediately be relatively small.
In any case, the implementation of mechanisms that may mitigate the number of situations is planned, namely through the entry into operation of artificial intelligence algorithms and the improvement of mechanisms currently existing in the BUPi for compliance with the rules of the legal framework in force on adjustments of boundaries and confrontations.
To promote the registration in the land register of a rustic property, located in municipalities that are not controlled by the Land Registry Office and where the Simplified Cadastral Information System is already in force, you will have to go to a BUPi counter to confirm the RGG of the property, after completing, at the BUPI counter, a form for instruction in the registration procedure for an omissive property (ANNEX I – PT only). Once the RGG has been controlled, you must go to the finance service, with the RGG, the instruction for the registration procedure for a missing property (ANNEX I – PT only), the application for registration of a lost property in the land register (ANNEX II – PT only) and the declaration of receipt by at least one of the neighboring owners. When assigned the land register article, you will have to return to the BUPi counter again to finish the RGG and promote the registration at the Land Registry Office.
To rectify/update the area of a rural property, located in municipalities that do not have a cadastral land register and where the Simplified Cadastral Information System is already in force, you should start by promoting the RGG procedure with the correct area of the property. After the RGG procedure is completed, you should go to a Land Registry Office and request the rectification/update of the area of the rural property, declaring that you want the RGG area to be considered for registration purposes, as this is the area correct. You will not have to go to the finance service to promote the rectification of the area in the land register, since this is done unofficially between services (Technical Guidance 2 – PT only).
Land Registry
To find out if your properties are registered with the Land Registry Office, you can:
- Check if you have a certificate of land registration in your possession;
- Go to a Land Registry Office and indicate your name and property record number.
Your rights as landowner are only really guaranteed when your property is registered with the Land Registry, as this is the only way to guarantee, without a doubt, who the owner is.
Registration with the Land Registry Office is mandatory when you:
- Buy or sell land;
- Establish rights and charges on the property (usufruct, lease, mortgage, among others);
- Intend to attach or detach properties, exchange land and establish other forms of land structuring.
The biggest advantage for the owner in registering a land until 2025 is that there is no cost associated with this procedure.
If you have properties not yet registered or whose information is not up to date at the Land Registry Office, you can take advantage of the special registration procedures, which are free of charge within the term provided by law.
Now, to register your property, it is necessary to previously make your identification on the online platform or with a qualified BUPi technician. This identification must be duly validated by a qualified technician in the municipalities without registration, or be vectored by DGT (Direção-Geral do Território) in the remaining municipalities.
If the property is duly registered at the Land Registry Office, you must identify it at BUPi so that there is no doubt about its location and limits. The georeferenced identification of your property is associated with your registration. This process can be done free of charge, through the online platform or at the nearest BUPi counter.
Legitimacy
The RGG is prepared by the promoter who claims to be the owner of the property, and in this situation he must subscribe to the declaration model in which he invokes the adverse possession and the need to carry out the RGG to initiate the special registration procedure for justification and the request rectification of the building property number. You can see the model-type below.
- Declaração Usucapião.pdf (PT only)
The RGG is prepared by the developer, and in this situation the data to be rectified must be included in the RGG process (e.g. in the case of rectification of the area it is the one resulting from the RGG). The RGG process is instructive for the registration request and for the request for rectification of the property record number.
The RGG is prepared by the promoting heir, and one of the following information must be submitted:
- NIF of the estate (as a rule it appears in the passbook), or
- Stamp duty participation, or
- Proof of inheritance
The promoter should identify, if known, the remaining heirs.
The RGG is prepared by the promoting joint-owner, and the remaining joint-owners on the land register must be identified.
The RGG is prepared by the promoting spouse, registering the situation by filling in the data that appear in the property record number, and the ownership is dealt with in the registration.
In addition to the indication of the NIPC:
- In the case of an entity subject to commercial registration, the access key of the permanent certificate;
- If the entity is not subject to commercial registration, the bylaws + appointment of corporate bodies and term of office.
When the promoter intervenes as a representative, he must submit a power of attorney granting him powers to draft the RGG issued by the holder registered in the land register. These powers of attorney have no special form and only require the signature and mention of the identification document of the principal/titleholder of the land register. The standard model of the simplified power of attorney contained in BUPi only grants powers of attorney for the RGG procedure, without prejudice of the registration procedure having a procedural follow-up where it will be necessary to submit a power of attorney with a special form. The simplified power of attorney model may be presented during the drafting process, or in a face-to-face meeting, and, in the case of the professional associations, the respective professional card must be indicated. If the principal does not know/cannot sign, the documentation necessary to instruct the RGG procedure must be signed by someone else at his/her request and the signature thus made must be recognized by means of recognition, made before the registration service, notary, or, other entities and professionals who can recognize signatures (lawyers and solicitors). If recognition is carried out in any registration service, it will be free of charge.
You may consult the standard models below.
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Modelo_Tipo_Procuração_Simplificada.pdf (PT only)
BUPi's User Manual (PT only)
Download BUPi's User Manual for more information about the Online Outline and other frequently asked questions.
