Government regulates condo management companies

The Portuguese government is putting the finishing touches to a new law which will regulate companies that manage condominiums.

The goal is to demand and ensure legal guarantees on professional honesty and integrity and make management companies responsible for undertaking the contract agreements with owners and tenants according to the terms of the management contract.
It will force such companies to be open to public scrutiny, take out insurance and ensure that their staff and teams have the correct training. In other words it is forcing professionalisation of the sector.
There are around five million people living under a condominium regime and countless property management companies in Portugal.
According to Jornal de Negócios, the new law will be ready to roll out in the coming months and is based on the Basic Housing Law of 2019. It is being designed by the Portuguese Institute of Public Markets, Real Estate and Construction (IMPIC).
Vítor Amaral, President of the Portuguese Association of Condominium Administration and Management Companies (APEGAC) says: “The new legislation is necessary partly because the actual numbers of companies managing condominiums isn’t known.”
“Anybody under the existing legislation can currently undertake such an activity without having to meet any legal requirements, have insurance, or even be under any public scrutiny”, says Vítor Amaral who points out that the APEGAC has “received lots of complaints”.