New rules for enforced works

Decree-Law no. 66/2019 of 21 May was published recently to amend the rules on summonses to execute maintenance, rehabilitation or demolition works, and on their enforced execution. This legislation is part of the wider strategy of the New Generation of Housing Policies (NGPH), approved by Resolution of the Council of Ministers in May 2018. In accordance with the introductory text, the aim of the NGPH is to ensure "adequate and appropriate housing, which implies, among other factors, the guarantee of minimum conditions of habitability, in particular of safety, health and comfort". This aim is to be achieved by combating "progressive degradation of the housing stock". This degradation is noted as being "in part a consequence of the administrative constraints imposed on the value of the rents, the lack of financial capacity of owners to complete necessary conservation works, and the lack of significant support for the rehabilitation of the housing stock."