Works and renovation are elements that will be essential in Portugal if you have just acquired a property. Standards are often far from those you are used to in Europe or elsewhere in Europe, although this may be different for newer properties. Many buyers want to carry out as little work as possible and find a property “ready to use” but the reality is often different: insulation, painting, electricity, floors, roof, garden or heating system are some of the things you might need an English speaking renovation company in Lisbon or elsewhere in Portugal to do.
English-speaking renovation company in Portugal
With this in mind and if you have just bought a property in the Lisbon area or elsewhere, I suggest you contact a works and renovation company that speaks perfect English and is based in the Lisbon area. Depending on the building site concerned, the team will be able to travel elsewhere in Portugal to take care of :
- The renovation of houses or apartments in Portugal: whether the renovation is total or partial…
- The creation of outdoor or indoor swimming pools,
- Garden design
- Laying tiles or any other product: travertine, etc…
If you wish to contact this company and obtain a quote or an estimate of the feasibility of your work in Portugal, use the button below and fill in the relative form. You will be contacted as soon as possible. If you would like to know more about the quality of the work carried out, you can also consult the images below which are all from the work carried out by this English speaking company of works and renovation in Portugal.
Specific renovations in Portugal: aid available
Please note that the information provided below is not updated and is for information purposes only. The laws and rules in force change from year to year and some figures may no longer be correct. I strongly recommend to contact an English-speaking lawyer, accountant or tax specialist in Portugal to get the right information about a specific project.
When rehabilitation work is carried out on buildings located in historic areas of Lisbon, there are certain aid programmes that you can apply for. It is therefore important to find out about these aids or to be accompanied by an English-speaking renovation company in Portugal to be properly informed.
IFRRU 2020
Among the various existing programmes is the IFRRU 2020, which is a financial support for urban renewal and is aimed at natural or legal persons, public or private, including co-ownerships. You can apply for it for buildings that are 30 years old or older and which are located in the urban rehabilitation zone of municipalities, historical centres, riverside areas or lifeless industrial areas.
Assuming that there is a degraded building but with rehabilitation potential, it should be at conservation level 1 or 2. To find out the classification level of the property, you should always consult the municipalities.
To apply and obtain funding, you must submit your application on the IFRRU 2020 website.
Reabilitar para Arrendar: “Rehabilitate for Rental.”
There is also the Rehabilitate to Rent for :
- Rehabilitation and use of housing (subsidized rent or rent conditional)
- Use of the public domain (systematic urban rehabilitation)
- Renovation of student residences
- Construction in the old urban fabric provided that the main use is for housing.
In this support programme, financing is by means of a 30-year loan and is also financed at 50% of the total amount for each intervention.
In Lisbon, for example, the municipality has a programme that promotes the rehabilitation of abandoned heritage. It is called Rehabilita Primeiro, Paga Depois. It is a group of properties belonging to the municipality itself and in need of rehabilitation. Whoever buys them has to renovate them but the advantage is that the buyer is allowed to defer the payment of the price until the end of the contractual period, which will take into account the granting of licences, the execution of the renovation work and the marketing of the property”.
You can apply for the Reabilitar para Arrendar program online HERE.
Taxation of renovation works in Portugal
There are a number of tax incentives applicable to rehabilitation and renovation works in Portugal, whether the building is located in the urban rehabilitation area or outside it, namely :
- Exemption from iIMI for a period of 3 years
- Exemption from IMI for a period of 5 years for buildings subject to a rehabilitation action, launched after 1 January 2008 and ending on 31 December 2020, starting from the year including the conclusion of the rehabilitation action.
- IMI exemption for the acquisition of the property to be rehabilitated.
Attention: for the tax authorities, the indicated IMI exemptions cannot be cumulated for the same building, even if after the completion of the rehabilitation works, the building is transferred.)
Depending on the situation, there may also be exemptions and reductions in the following municipal taxes:
- Exemption from the payment of the fee for occupancy of the public domain (TODP)
- Reduction of 50% of the payment of the same fee during the first 4 months, in the case of the execution of conservation works or works subject to authorization in the Urban Plans A of Central and Residential Spaces (Historic Zones)
- Total exemption from the administrative tax for proven rehabilitation work; exemption from the tax for the construction, maintenance and reinforcement of urban infrastructure (TRIU) for extension work or use of the granary.
Urban renewal contracts relating to buildings or public spaces located in an urban rehabilitation area or within the framework of rehabilitation operations of recognised national public interest (as well as rehabilitation contracts directly concluded by the Institute of Housing and Urban Renewal (IHRU) and those carried out within the framework of special financial or fiscal support programmes for the rehabilitation of buildings or programmes financially supported by IHRU) benefit from the reduced VAT rate, around 6%, without including the different rates applicable to services and materials.
In addition, contracts for the improvement, renovation, restoration, repair or conservation of buildings or autonomous parts of buildings used for housing benefit from the application of the reduced VAT rate, with the exception of :
- Cleaning work
- Maintenance work on green spaces
- Work related to real estate contracts covering all or part of the components of swimming pools, saunas, tennis courts, golf or miniature golf courses or similar facilities
However, the materials used in these contracts are taxed at the standard rate of 23%, unless their respective values do not exceed 20% of the total value of the construction services provided.
English renovation company in Portugal and Lisbon
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