What does deferimento tácito mean in Portugal?
Deferimento tácito means the council's silence counts as approval once a legal deadline passes. For a licence application the final decision deadline is 20 days for building works, 30 for urbanisation works and 45 for subdivisions.
- Rests on
- RJUE, art. 23.º n.º 1, art. 111.º c)
- Law
- Decreto-Lei n.º 555/99 (RJUE), as republished by Decreto-Lei n.º 108/2026
- Version
- In force since 1 October 2026 (Decreto-Lei n.º 155-B/2026)
- Official text
- data.dre.pt/eli/dec-lei/108/2026/05/29/p/dre/pt/pdf
- Sources
- data.dre.pt/eli/dec-lei/108/2026/05/29/p/dre/pt/pdf
data.dre.pt/eli/dec-lei/155-b/2026/07/31/p/dre/pt/pdf
data.dre.pt/eli/declretif/29-a/2026/07/27/p/dre/pt/pdf - Checked
- 2026-11-05
What it means for the owner
- For building works the 20 days run from the specialist projects, or from approval of the architecture project if the specialist projects came with the application (art. 23.º n.º 2).
- For subdivisions and urbanisation works the deadline runs from the end of the initial screening or the last outside opinion, and can be extended once in complex cases (art. 23.º n.º 3 and n.º 8).
- When approval is tacit, the proof of submission forms part of the licence title (art. 4.º-A n.º 2 b)).
- Article 111.º c) points to the certification of tacit approvals under Decreto-Lei n.º 135/99, art. 28.º-B.
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