Today, for a condominium to be able to request bank financing it needs to obtain the green light unanimously at the Condominium Assembly, which becomes very difficult, especially in buildings with several floors and dozens of residents. This is why the majority of management companies, which participated in a study by UCI Portugal, argue that there must be a legislative change so that condominiums can finance themselves to carry out the necessary works in the buildings.

Almost all of the 200 companies participating in the UCI study say that conservation work is needed in the condominiums they manage, but the works are not progressing due to the condominium owners' lack of financial resources. And, for this reason, three out of four management companies agree that there should be a legislative change so that condominiums can request bank credit directly so that works on the buildings can advance, reads Dinheiro Vivo.

“We are focusing on a generalized discussion on this topic so that the competent authorities effectively understand the difficulties inherent to the fact that there is no specific legal regime in the Portuguese legal system that provides condominiums, which do not have legal personality, the possibility of financed”, says Greg Delloye, CEO of UCI Portugal, to the same newspaper.

Today, “possible financing for condominiums would imply, taking into account the onerous nature of such a decision, a unanimous deliberation in the Condominium Assembly”, being something “extremely complex” to achieve, adds Greg Delloye. This also makes it difficult to carry out works to improve the energy efficiency of the building stock.

The first steps in this direction have already been taken with the Support Program for Residential Condominiums launched last year and financed by the Environmental Fund. But there is still a lot to do, especially because this support focuses on fractions, not looking at residential buildings as a whole. For the CEO of UCI Portugal, this is “particularly worrying when we realize that around half of the Portuguese population lives in condominiums, according to data from APEGAC”, cites the same publication.