Buying Land in Portugal: BUPi, the Land Registry and Rural Plots

In much of Portugal, the map of who owns what has never been drawn.

Buying land in Portugal, whether a quinta, an olive grove or a ruin with a few hectares, often means buying a property whose boundaries live in old deeds and in the memory of neighbours. Since 2017 the State has asked owners to draw them, through the Balcão Único do Prédio, or BUPi. In 2026 the rules tightened: the drawing now goes into the deed itself, and the years of free registration are over. This guide explains what BUPi is, what changed, and what to check before buying rural land.

A country without a complete map

Portugal's geometric cadastre of rural property advanced from south to north, starting with the large estates of the south. According to a 2013 study for the Fundação Francisco Manuel dos Santos, it covered the southern half of the country and a handful of municipalities further north. Money and time ran out before the small, steep plots of the north and centre. The tax registers list some 11.6 million rural articles. The eBUPi mission counts 153 municipalities with no cadastre of rural property at all.

In those municipalities, the area and boundaries of a plot on the caderneta predial and in the land registry are often declarations rather than measurements. The law accepts a difference of up to 20% between the two records for rural land outside the cadastre. A buyer should assume that the paper and the ground may not agree.

Houses, walls and fields: boundaries that were rarely measured.

What BUPi is

BUPi was created by Lei 78/2017 and opened on 1 November 2017 as a pilot in ten municipalities of the centre and north, among them Pedrógão Grande, Figueiró dos Vinhos and Castanheira de Pêra, struck by the fires of that June. Lei 65/2019 extended it to the municipalities without cadastre. It is run by the eBUPi mission with the land registry (IRN), the tax authority (AT) and the Direção-Geral do Território.

The owner identifies each rural or mixed property and draws its georeferenced graphic representation, the RGG: a map of its location and boundaries, which can be restored even if the boundary stones disappear. This can be done online at bupi.gov.pt, with the BUPi app while walking the land, or with a qualified technician at a municipal counter. Registration then follows at the land registry. In municipalities that already have a cadastre, BUPi does not apply: the property's geometric configuration is consulted in the viewer of the Direção-Geral do Território.

The identification can be made by the owner in the tax register or the land registry, and by interested parties: buyers and sellers, co-owners, heirs of an undivided estate, lawyers, solicitors, notaries, attorneys. It requires the caderneta predial, the tax number and a document proving the right to the land.

What changed in 2026

Decreto-Lei 87/2026, of 15 April, in force since 16 April, made the RGG part of the transaction. Its number must now appear in deeds that transfer rural or mixed property, and in the registration of acquisitions. The exceptions are properties already in the cadastre, cases where the information can be obtained directly from BUPi, acquisitions in enforcement or insolvency proceedings, and prior declarations of public utility. Applications for public or European funding on rural or mixed land must also include the RGG.

The same decree extended free registration for properties of up to 50 hectares until 30 September 2026. That period has ended. Since 1 October, as published, an RGG prepared by a qualified technician costs €15 each up to the ninth and €10 from the tenth; a justification procedure costs €200 and the special registration procedure €250. On 28 September, 44% of the rural articles in mainland municipalities without cadastre had been identified, covering 46% of their area.

A boundary stone can be moved. Coordinates cannot.

The Tagus from Casal Riba Tejo, near Abrantes.

Land without a known owner

The law also deals with land nobody claims. The tax authority flags rural or mixed properties without registered owners and the State first tries to reach the person in the tax register. If no one is found, public notices run for 180 days. If no one comes forward, the land is registered provisionally in the State's name for fifteen years and managed by public entities. The true owner can claim it at any time during that period. After it, the registration becomes definitive. For heirs living abroad, an unregistered family plot is no longer a matter that can wait indefinitely.

Inheritance, omitted plots and mixed properties

Heirs of an undivided estate can identify the land in BUPi with the estate's tax number or the declaration of heirs. When there is no title at all, ownership can be established through a justification procedure at the land registry or a notary. A rural property missing from the tax register can now only be entered with an RGG signed by at least two neighbouring owners. Selling an inherited property raises its own questions: see our guide to selling an inherited house.

Under the IMI code, a property with both rural and urban parts is classified by its main part, or as mixed when neither prevails. BUPi covers rural and mixed properties. A quinta is often several articles at once: an urban one for the house, rural ones for the land. Each must be checked, and the house has its own questions of licensing, set out in our guide to the use licence and pre-1951 buildings.

An old quarry on a monastery estate in the north.

Before buying a quinta or a plot

Ask first whether the municipality has a cadastre. Gather the caderneta and the certidão permanente of every article, and check whether an RGG exists and where its lines run. Walk the boundaries with someone who knows them, ideally with the neighbours. Compare the areas on paper with the land. Remember that rural in the tax register is a tax classification: what can be built depends on the municipal master plan, the PDM, and the municipality is the place to ask. Then check water, access and easements before the promissory contract. The rest of the process is set out in our guides to buying property in Portugal and to buying a village; rural estates in the Alentejo have their own guide, on quintas and montes.

A house and its land: two kinds of article, one estate.

Wiseguys Properties represents rural estates such as Casal Riba Tejo, above the Tagus, and a 33-hectare plot at Alqueva. For a question about a particular piece of land, contact us.

Frequently asked questions

Can foreigners buy land in Portugal?

Yes. Portugal does not restrict the purchase of property, rural land included, by foreigners. A Portuguese tax number (NIF) is required.

Is BUPi mandatory?

In municipalities without cadastre, rural and mixed properties must be identified before registration, and since April 2026 the RGG number must appear in the deed of sale, save for the exceptions in the law.

Is BUPi still free?

No. Free registration ended on 30 September 2026. Since 1 October, an RGG by a qualified technician costs €15, or €10 from the tenth.

Can you build on rustic land in Portugal?

It depends on the municipal master plan, not on the tax classification. Ask the municipality before buying.

Does BUPi apply everywhere in Portugal?

No. Where the municipality has a cadastre, which is the case in much of the south, the property's geometric configuration is checked with the Direção-Geral do Território instead.

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This article is general information and does not replace legal advice. Sources: Lei 78/2017; Lei 65/2019; Decreto-Lei 87/2026; Decreto-Lei 72/2023; Código do IMI (article 5); BUPi and eBUPi; Lusa; R. Sarmento de Beires et al., O Cadastro e a Propriedade Rústica em Portugal (FFMS, 2013). Photographs: Wiseguys Properties.