Now the Properties will have a unique identification number, the NIP – Número de Identificação do Prédio (Building Identification Number). This novelty will start from the second half of 2022 as a pilot project.

This novelty is the result of a working group made up of elements from the Mission Structure for the Expansion of the Simplified Cadastral Information System (eBUPi), the Institute of Registries and Notaries (IRN), the Tax Authority (AT) and the Directorate-General for Territory (DGT), and will reconcile information from Finance and the Registry.

Through the integration of the processes distributed by the main tax and registration entities, the objective is to establish BUPi as a single point of contact in this domain for citizens.

It is a project that will focus primarily on rustic properties, and only later on urban properties.

“Today, each owner has their land registry, but they also have a matrix, which is in the Tax Authority, a registration number, another number if they have any leased property, another number in the General Directorate of Territory, in case they want to make some kind of georeferencing your property, and each municipality has its own numbers associated with each property and its geographic information systems. Being able to do, in the context of property, what was done with the citizen card in the context of civil identity will, perhaps, be the most important part of the work of identifying the owner and locating each property” (Secretary of State for Justice, Anabela Pedroso – 01/03/2022).

The NIP is expected to mark a crucial step towards property reform in Portugal, as it will enable the geographical identification of land that does not have properly identified documentation and ownership.