The purchase and sale of properties had been effectively suspended in 7 Portuguese municipalities due to the fact that the new land registration IT platform remains inoperative, despite being required by law since last November.

To resolve this issue, the Government has decided to suspend the entry into force of two rules of the new land registry law until August, freeing the purchase and sale of properties from this IT platform.

Last week, the Order of Notaries (ON) warned that thousands of property sales were at a standstill due to the inoperability of the new land registry IT platform, which is required by law and should have been operating since last November.

IT issues were delaying the purchase and sale of properties in 7 municipalities in the country: Loulé, Oliveira do Hospital, Paredes, Penafiel, São Brás de Alportel, Seia and Tavira.

Now, to overcome this situation, the Government decided to suspend the entry into force of two rules of the new land registry law, the application of which depended on the existence of this still inoperative IT platform. This suspension of property standards will last until August 31st and has retroactive effects to November 21st, 2023, so it is expected that it will help to unblock pending real estate deals, writes Jornal de Negócios.

This means that, from now on, purchases and sales of real estate (or other legal transactions) can be registered. “In these seven municipalities, legal transactions can resume with some normality”, Jorge Batista da Silva, president of the ON, told the same newspaper, warning, however, that the “suspension should have covered the entire law, allowing the various entities involved in registration could adjust procedures” and standardize the interpretation of the law. Apparently, from September 1st of this year, land registry registration will once again be dependent on the new platform.