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European property law

Squatters' rights in Portugal: how long usucapião takes

A squatter in Portugal, with no title and no registration, needs twenty years of possession under article 1296 of the Civil Code. The shorter periods, down to five years, only reach possessors who registered a title or their possession.

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Statutory period
5 to 20 years
What's different here
non-violent occupation became a crime in november 2025
Statute
Código Civil, arts. 1294 to 1297

Portugal ties the length of usucapião to the land register. With a registered title, possession gives ownership after ten years in good faith or fifteen in bad faith, counted from registration (article 1294). Where only the possession itself has been registered, the periods are five and ten years (article 1295). With nothing registered at all, they are fifteen years in good faith and twenty in bad faith (article 1296), which is the ordinary position of a squatter.

The clock does not start while possession is violent or hidden. Article 1297 says that where possession was taken by force or in secret, the periods only begin to run once the violence ends or the possession becomes public. A person who broke in and kept out of sight has not started counting.

Law 67/2025 of 24 November 2025 rewrote article 215 of the Criminal Code, usurpation of immovable property. Occupying another's property without a right to do so is now an offence punishable by up to two years in prison or a fine without any need for violence, rising to three years where there is violence or serious threat or the property is someone's primary home. The same law lets a judge order the property returned at once where the evidence is strong. Outside those routes, the Civil Code allows an owner to act directly only in narrow cases where the courts or police cannot be reached in time (article 336).

Where Portugal sits against the rest of Europe, in years

Of 31 places in Europe on these pages, 0 have a shorter clock and 28 a longer one or none at all.

Sources checked

How it unfolds

From the day someone moves in to the day a claim is possible

The same three stages in most places. The exact rule, and whether the last stage exists at all, is on each place's own page.

  1. Day oneMoving inCaught in the act, it is usually a matter for the police: a trespass, not a tenancy.
  2. Weeks to yearsSettled inOnce someone lives there, removing them usually takes a court order, the same route as for a tenant.
  3. After 5 to 20 yearsA claim becomes possibleOnly if every test held, without a break, for the whole period. Where the law allows no such claim, this stage never comes.

Not yours to do, once they have moved inChanging the locks, cutting the water or power, or removing belongings yourself. It is illegal in every US state and most places on these pages forbid it too. Each page says how removal works there.

Before it is ever a court case

The record a court asks for, kept as you go

Wherever your property stands, removing an occupant usually comes down to showing who had the right to be there, and since when. Dardaris files every lease, message and document for a building by date, so that record already exists on the day you need it.

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  • Every lease, with who signed it and when
  • Every message with a tenant, on the thread it was sent in
  • Every document, filed against the building it concerns

Frequently asked questions

How long is usucapião in Portugal?

From five to twenty years. With a registered title: 10 years in good faith, 15 in bad faith. With registered possession only: 5 or 10. With no registration: 15 in good faith, 20 in bad faith. Civil Code articles 1294 to 1296.

Do squatters in Portugal gain rights while they hide?

Not towards ownership. Under article 1297, possession taken by violence or in secret only starts the usucapião clock once the violence stops or the possession becomes public.

Is squatting a crime under Portugal law?

Yes. Since Law 67/2025 of 24 November 2025, article 215 of the Criminal Code punishes occupying another's property without a right to it, with or without violence. It carries up to two years, or up to three where there is violence, serious threat or the property is a primary home.

Can an owner simply remove occupants in Portugal?

Only within the narrow limits of direct action in article 336 of the Civil Code, which applies where the courts or police cannot act in time. Otherwise recovery goes through a criminal complaint or a court order.

Elsewhere in Europe

The same question, on a different clock. Every place sets its own period and its own shortcuts.

This is general information, not legal advice.Laws change, and a county or a city can add its own wrinkle on top of the state rule, the way New York City does. Confirm the current rule for your address before acting on it, and talk to a local attorney before relying on any of it in a real dispute.

The scenario this is really about: an occupant who does not match a signed leaseA squatter is the nightmare version of a much more common problem, an occupancy a hands-off owner finds out about too late. Dardaris tracks every lease against reality, flags an occupant who does not match a signed tenancy, and keeps the dated paper trail, notices, messages, photos, an owner needs before ever going to court, rather than after.See how

Know who is actually in your property, before it becomes a court case.

Hand over one building and see every lease checked against what is actually happening on the ground.

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14 days before the first charge · Nothing is switched on until you say so