Buying a plot in a subdivision in Cape Verde: what the law requires of the developer, what you check

Buying a plot inside a subdivision is not the same operation as buying raw land. The plot comes out of a loteamento: an approved administrative operation with its plans, its alvará, its urbanisation works and the parcels it hands to the municipal domain. That difference is your main protection — it gives you precise documents to demand, and it lets a court annul a sale made outside the rules. This guide replaces neither your notary nor your municipality's planning department.

What the law means by a loteamento operation

Article 2 of the legal regime for urban development operations (Lei n.º 60/VIII/2014, de 23 de abril) defines “operações de loteamento” as “as acções que tenham por objecto ou por efeito a constituição de um ou mais lotes destinados imediata ou subsequentemente à edificação urbana, e que resulte da divisão de um ou vários prédios, ou do seu emparcelamento ou reparcelamento”. The same article defines “obras de urbanização” as “as obras de criação e remodelação de infra-estruturas destinadas a servirem directamente os espaços urbanos ou as edificações”, listing roads, drainage and water networks, electricity, gas, electronic communications, green areas and other collectively used spaces. That regime was amended by the Lei n.º 42/IX/2018, de 5 de dezembro, and then by the Lei n.º 57/X/2025, de 05 de agosto.

Where a subdivision operation can be approved

Article 36, paragraph 1, as amended by the Lei n.º 42/IX/2018, leaves little room: the operations “só podem realizar-se nas áreas edificáveis e em terrenos infraestruturados”. Outside an area covered by a detailed plan, licensing “está sujeito a aprovação da Assembleia Municipal” (paragraph 3): the prior opinion of the government department and its two-year lapse, which stood in the 2014 wording, were removed by the 2018 reform. And in urban expansion areas, the operation must demonstrate its economic, environmental and financial sustainability through demographic indicators and the levels of supply and demand for urban land (paragraph 2).

The basic urbanisation works come first

Paragraph 4 is decisive for a buyer: subdivision operations on land not served by infrastructure (“terrenos não infraestruturados”), whether led by private or public promoters, including municipalities, “ficam condicionadas à prévia realização das respectivas obras básicas de urbanização”. Paragraph 5 lists those basic works for commercially intended subdivisions: earthworks; building and compacting roads; marking out the plots; marking out public spaces such as squares, gardens and parks; storm-water drainage and torrent correction; protection and retaining walls; paved carriageways; and water, drainage, energy and telecommunications networks. For subdivisions intended for social-interest housing, paragraph 6 limits the requirement to the works in points a) to f).

The sanction that protects the buyer

Paragraph 7 provides that breaching paragraph 4 “constitui fundamento de anulação dos contratos de compra e venda dos lotes celebrados entre terceiros e o promotor”, with the promoter then liable to compensate the resulting damage and, in addition, bound by the “obrigação de restituição dos valores e impostos pagos”. In other words: selling a plot before the basic works exist exposes the sale to annulment and the seller to restitution, taxes included. That is the point not to overlook when a plot is offered to you as “to be serviced”.

What the alvará contains — and who it binds

Article 66, paragraph 1, requires the alvará for the subdivision licence or authorisation to state, as applicable: the holder's identity; the property concerned; the municipal decisions on the licensing; the operation's place within a current urban plan; “o número de lotes e indicação da área, localização, finalidade, área de implantação, área de construção, número de pisos e número de fogos de cada um dos lotes”; the mandatory handovers, their purpose and the parcels to be integrated into the municipal domain; the deadline for completing the urbanisation works; the amount of the caução and the identification of its instrument; and the plans for points e) and f) as annexes. Paragraph 2 draws the consequence: those specifications “vinculam a Câmara Municipal, o proprietário do prédio, bem como os adquirentes dos lotes”. They therefore bind you as the future acquirer too — and you can set them against both the municipality and the promoter.

Handovers to the municipal domain and shared spaces

Article 38 requires the owner and other holders of rights in rem to hand over free of charge to the municipality the parcels intended for public green areas, collectively used facilities and the infrastructure that, under the law and the licence or authorisation, must join the municipal domain; those parcels “integram-se no domínio municipal com a emissão do alvará”. Where the land is already served by adequate infrastructure, or where no handover is justified, the law instead requires compensation, in cash or in kind, as set by municipal regulation. The transferor keeps a right of reversion if the parcels are put to a different use, with compensation as an alternative; that right may be exercised by the owners of at least one third of the plots (paragraph 8). On the private side, article 37, paragraph 4, treats private green and collectively used areas, roads and facilities as “partes comuns dos lotes” and of the buildings later erected on them, governed by the Código Civil.

Before you sign: the documents to demand

The alvará number, its date of issue, its expiry date and the land registry certificate: these must appear in the instruments relating to acts or legal transactions that create plots or transfer lawfully created plots (art. 41, paragraph 1).
For a first transfer of a building erected on the plot, or of its autonomous fractions: the municipal certificate attesting the “recepção provisória das obras de urbanização”, or one attesting that the caução under article 44 is sufficient to guarantee proper completion of the works; where the holder was not bound to carry out urbanisation works, a negative certificate (art. 41, paragraphs 2 and 3).
Any advertising for the sale of plots must state the alvará number, its date of issue and its validity period (art. 42): an advert that omits them deserves a question.
The georeferenced Planta de Localização for each plot, issued by the territorially competent Câmara Municipal (art. 36, paragraph 8).
The legal individualisation of the plots at the land registry: registering urban development operations “dá lugar à descrição dos lotes ou parcelas que já se encontrem juridicamente individualizados” (Código do Registo Predial, art. 93, paragraph 3, as amended by the Lei n.º 57/X/2025).
The deadline for completing the urbanisation works and the amount of the caução appear in the alvará (art. 66). The caução is based on the budgets for executing the projects, and a variable amount of 1.5% to 5% of that value may be added to remunerate administrative costs (art. 44, paragraph 3). The provisional and then definitive reception of the works is decided by the municipality after a site inspection, and the guarantee period for urbanisation works is five years (arts. 77 and 78).

If the subdivision was never approved

Not every built-up area comes out of an approved loteamento. The Decreto-Lei n.º 57/2015, de 20 de outubro, establishes a “regime jurídico excecional de reconversão e legalização das Áreas Urbanas de Génese Ilegal (AUGI)”: unlawful subdivisions born of spontaneous occupation, without building licences for the dwellings or municipal authorisation, and marked by a lack of infrastructure and facilities. A plot in such an area does not fall under the regime described above: it falls under an urban reconversion process. Have its status checked before committing to anything.