Container on a rustic land from more than 10 years

Good evening.

We bought a rustic land in Portugal more than ten years ago, and we put a container and an “office container” on it the same year.

We just come in Portugal about 2 month per year, and we sleep in the office container ( we made a little bedroom in it).

When we bought the land, electricity and water were legally installed, and it's still the case.

About 5 years ago, two policemen and a man from environment came to see the land (and the neighbors lands too, and they said it's ok.

But now, the mayor of the town changed, and we received a paper that says that we have to legalize or to put the containers off the land.

A neighbor said to us that when you have a container or more on your land until more than 5 years, they have to legalize it for free.

Is somebody know if it's true and how to do?

Thank you for your help!

Hi Audeline,


Please check this decision by Albufeira or Silves Municipal Councils. It seems to me that, regardless of how long these houses remain in a given place, if they have an effective incorporation in the soil or connection to infrastructures, they are considered urbanistic operations and, as such, are subject to council prior control. In other words, mobile homes, containers, etc, are subject to the same licensing rules as normal buildings. I suggest that you ask a lawyer for advice, but apparently the legal support is the one mentioned in these links:


https://www.cm-silves.pt/pt/noticias/57 … afins.aspx


https://www.cm-albufeira.pt/content/cas … -municipal


Best Regards

so after looking at the regulations, If you had a container home mounted on concrete blocks a few inches off the ground with no fixation to the blocks and had solar panels on the roof and a compostable toilet and shower with a grey water tank and a large water tank on the roof then it shouldn´t be subject to planning regulations.

I´m interested to know what you think.

best regards

I suggest that you ask a lawyer for advice. JohnnyPT was definitely right in this aspect.

@TGCampo I couldn't agree more,

I wouldn't bet on it.  Naturally a qualified lawyer would be the only one to say with some certainty, but I note that the first item applies to a structure "only resting on wheels", which seems to me about equivalent.


These are not legal documents as I understand it, but rather public statements of intent, and I think I'm reading that intent as "you aren't going to play games with us and pretend that something that serves as a house isn't really a house."

Prefabricated buildings, wooden houses, mobile homes, containers or caravans, tents, bungalows, igloos and other similar solutions, regardless of their demountable or removable nature, provided they are intended for human use, are considered to be urban development operations subject to licensing under the terms and for the purposes of the provisions of Article 2(a), (b), (j) and (m). Article 2(a), (b), (j) and (m) and Article 4(2) of the Legal Framework for Urbanisation and Building, approved by Decree-Law 555/99 of 16 December.



So what is the lawyer for? All this type of construction, no matter how "creative" they are, must be authorised beforehand...