The Liberal Party has introduced a bill in parliament aiming to enable courts to order the eviction of illegally occupied properties within 48 hours. This initiative addresses the issue of ‘squatters’ who occupy properties without permission.
The party proposes adding “violation of domicile and usurpation of immovable property” to the list of crimes, like threat, coercion, or stalking, which currently allow a judge to order the removal of offenders from a residence.
Liberals highlight that currently, homeowners of occupied properties face lengthy legal processes that can “take years to resolve the dispute.”
“The goal is to expedite the resolution of a problem that is worsening in Portugal, with squatters taking advantage of the legitimate owner’s absence to settle in homes that do not belong to them,” states the Liberal Party in a note accompanying the bill.
The party, similar to its stance at the end of the previous legislative term, seeks harsher penalties for these crimes, suggesting that illegal occupation should carry a three-year prison sentence (up from the current one year), and if done violently, the punishment should increase from three to five years.
The Liberal Party also wants the police to have the authority to identify anyone “in a private place, in cases of violation of domicile and usurpation of immovable property,” expanding current laws, which only allow for such identification in publicly accessible spaces.
