Portugal is set to introduce new rules designed to speed up the sale of inherited properties, after Parliament approved legislation allowing the Government to create a special regime for undivided inheritances, idealista reports.

The measure is intended to address long-running disputes that have left thousands of inherited properties unused, delaying their sale or rehabilitation and limiting housing availability.

Housing Minister Miguel Pinto Luz said the changes would create “fewer impasses” by allowing a single heir to initiate the sale process, even when there is no agreement among all heirs.

In a statement, the minister said the reforms aim to end situations that have prevented inherited properties from being used for years while helping reduce inheritance disputes.

Faster process with safeguards

The legislation establishes a special and urgent procedure for selling properties that form part of an undivided inheritance when heirs cannot agree on a sale.

The new regime will apply to all open and undivided inheritances when the law comes into force.

However, important exceptions remain. Family homes can not be sold under the special procedure without the express consent of the surviving spouse or partner in a recognised common-law union. Inheritances involving insolvency proceedings are also excluded.

New role to manage inheritances

The legislation also introduces an executor with powers to administer, liquidate and divide an inheritance, centralising responsibilities that would otherwise fall to the heirs. The Government says the change is intended to simplify and speed up succession proceedings.

Another provision allows responsibility for administering an undivided inheritance to be transferred to another person through a simple majority decision among heirs, except where the surviving spouse serves as the head of the inheritance or where an executor with partition powers has already been appointed.