Portugal has around 485,000 vacant homes, and by the government's own census figures more than half of them are in good enough condition to move into. Many sit empty for a frustratingly simple reason: they're stuck in undivided inheritances, where a single disagreeing heir could block the sale of the whole property indefinitely.
That changes with a decree-law approved this week by the government. Under the old Civil Code rules, one heir's objection could freeze an estate forever. Now, after two years without agreement among co-heirs, any single heir can force a sale. As the minister for the presidency, António Leitão Amaro, put it: what one person used to be able to block, one person can now unblock.
The mechanics matter if you're eyeing Portuguese property. Sales will go through an urgent special procedure with independent valuations and electronic auctions, designed to guarantee market value. But heirs aren't shut out — they get six months to reach a private deal before any auction, plus a right of first refusal to keep the property in the family. The family home itself is excluded from forced sale unless a surviving spouse expressly consents, and that protection covers civil partnerships too. Insolvent estates are also off the table.
The law applies retroactively: it covers all estates still open and undivided as of 17 August, when the enabling legislation came into force. A new role, an executor with distribution powers, centralises administration, liquidation and division of estates in a third party, cutting heirs out of the procedural bottlenecks that used to stall everything.
The scale beyond city housing is striking. Portugal counts 3.4 million rural properties tangled in undivided estates — land sitting idle, uncleared and, officials note, adding to wildfire risk. Amaro's framing was blunt: there's barely a street in the country without an abandoned house or an overgrown plot waiting on a family disagreement.
For a government under pressure on housing access, the potential is obvious. Turning even a fraction of those dormant homes into sale or rental stock could shift supply in Lisbon, Porto and the Algarve. For foreign buyers and anyone dreaming of a Portuguese renovation project, it may open up a wave of properties that were legally impossible to touch before. Expect a lag — auctions, valuations and family negotiations take time — but the direction of travel is clear: homes that were frozen for decades are finally coming to market.
This piece is based on reporting by Portugal Resident / LUSA.
