Decree-Law 10/2024, published on 8^th January, reforms and simplifies licensing in the fields of urban planning, land use planning and industry. 

It also implements one of the fundamental bases of the "More Housing" programme, responding to the need to make more land available for affordable housing by simplifying procedures. In this way, the costs of creating housing and the time it takes to realise real estate projects will be reduced.

In the area of urban planning, new cases of prior communication and exemption and waiver of prior checking are created, eliminating the need to obtain urban planning licences.

In this sense, the allotment licence will no longer be required and it will be possible to make it feasible by means of prior communication when there is a detailed plan or an implementation unit with certain attributes. Furthermore, it is no longer possible to choose to follow the licence regime when it is legally possible to follow the simplified prior communication procedure.

The Decree-Law also establishes new situations of exemption, where there is no administrative procedure of prior checking, as well as new cases in which urban planning licences or other acts of prior checking are not required and only a non-binding opinion is issued by the competent municipality.

As part of the simplification of administrative procedures, a system of tacit approval for building licences, which provides for the possibility of the individual being able to carry out the desired project if the decisions are not adopted within the due time limits, has been approved. On the other hand, the requirement of an opinion from the competent cultural heritage authority is eliminated in several situations.

Additionally, the validity period of a favourable prior information has been extended from one to two years (without the need to request extensions) and the deadline for carrying out the works can now be extended without the current limits. 

Measures have also been adopted with the aim of standardising urban planning procedures and avoiding the existence of different procedures in various municipalities, in order to prevent unjustified and asymmetrical treatment.

An Electronic Platform for Urban Planning Procedures which allows to:

• Submit requests online
• Consult the status of processes and deadlines
• Receive electronic notifications
• Obtain certificates of exemption from urban planning procedures
• Standardise procedures and documents required by municipalities
• Submit applications in "Building Information Modelling" (BIM) format, with automated verification of compliance with applicable plans.

This Platform will be compulsory to use for municipalities from 5^th January 2026 and it will not be possible to adopt procedural steps or request documents which are not provided for in it. However, municipalities will be able to use their IT systems in interoperability with the Platform.

The legislation also clarifies the powers of municipalities regarding prior checking, especially in relation to issuing licences. This limitation on the powers of municipalities does not affect their supervisory powers concerning urban planning, under their respective competences.

Regarding land-use planning procedures, the procedure for reclassifying rural land as urban land for industrial, storage or logistics purposes has been simplified. Under the terms of the simplified procedure, only one public consultation is held and the respective approval is the responsibility of the municipal assembly.

However, this procedure does not apply to sensitive areas or areas of the national ecological reserve or national agricultural reserve. 

Decree-Law 10/2024 comes into force on 4^th March, except for a few provisions.