Low to medium fire hazard land: can you build on it in Portugal?
Yes, with conditions: land outside the high and very high rural fire hazard classes is not under the APPS ban, though building near forest still has to meet the national fire-defence conditions.
- Answer
- The APPS building ban does not apply.
- Classes
- Rural fire hazard has five classes: very low, low, medium, high and very high.
- Still applies
- The conditions for building in or near forest and the fuel strips.
- Who decides
- The municipality.
- 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 82/2021, articles 41, 42 and 61
- Sources
- files.diariodarepublica.pt/1s/2021/10/19900/0000200047.pdf
files.diariodarepublica.pt/1s/2023/07/13600/0001300021.pdf - Checked
- 2026-11-05
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