Cork oak and holm oak stands: can you build on it in Portugal?
Not without authorisation: cutting down or uprooting cork oaks (sobreiros) and holm oaks (azinheiras), in stands or isolated, needs authorisation, which affects where you can clear land to build.
- Answer
- Clearing these trees needs prior authorisation.
- Exceptions
- Defined cases, such as thinning under an approved forest plan, which needs only prior notice.
- Who decides
- The agriculture and forestry authorities; in Natura 2000 sites the nature authority (ICNF) must give a favourable opinion.
- Council rules
- The municipal plan (PDM) sets the detail for your plot; ask the council for a planning certificate (certidão) and the plan maps.
- Legal basis
- Decreto-Lei 169/2001, article 3, as amended by Decreto-Lei 11/2023
- Sources
- files.diariodarepublica.pt/1s/2001/05/121a00/30533059.pdf
files.diariodarepublica.pt/1s/2023/02/03000/0000300192.pdf - Checked
- 2026-11-05
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