Lisbon City Council plans to pay compensation of 1.14 million euros after illegal appropriation of land

The Lisbon City Council is discussing on Wednesday the issue of compensation of 1.14 million euros to victims of the municipality for the misappropriation of a 1,297 square meter plot of land in Lumiara due to a cadastral error.

“Due to a cadastral error, a private building, which was only partially expropriated and which the Municipality of Lisbon began to manage entirely, was classified as municipal property, mistakenly believing that it had legal and sufficient title to the entire territory included in the landfill in question,” – says the proposal, which Lusa’s agency had access to.

The process began in 1970 and the plot of land in question, with an area of ​​1,297 square meters (m2) on Luis de Freitas Branco Street, in Lumiara, was subject to partial expropriation as part of the execution of the Lisbon City Council on the work “Connecting Avenida do Mareshal Carmona (2- th circle) with the border of the municipality of Lisbon, in Calçada do Carres.”

Signed by the Vice-President of the Lisbon Chamber, Filipe Anacoreta Correia (CDS-PP), in charge of finance, the proposal to “authorize the payment of compensation to the affected parties in cash and in the amount of 1.14 million euros” unnamed appropriation of the municipality” will be discussed on Wednesday in closed meeting of the municipal executive power.

According to the proposal, the owner of the land demanded in July 2003 compensation in kind or money for the illegal appropriation of an area of ​​10,100 m2 “by the municipality of Lisbon and for a simple supervision that would in the meantime alienate part of such territory to third parties for construction.”

In March 2006, the Real Estate Department concluded that “the part of the building not subject to expropriation was only 1,297 m2 and not 10,100 m2 as claimed by the applicant, due to the apparent discrepancy between the area indicated in the relevant matrix description and the reality” .

“A plot of land wrongfully appropriated by the Municipality of Lisbon was partly allocated for a public road (section of Luis de Freitas Branco Street) and to form the then designated sections 1742 and 1743 with the current police number 34./34E and 36/36C respectively of the same artery ( Rua Luís de Freitas Branco), meanwhile sold to third parties,” he explained.

In addition to the cadastral error, the sale to third parties of lots 1742 and 1743 occurred due to “legal errors of a cadastral nature,” the Department of Real Estate said in its conclusion.

The recognition of the appropriation of this plot of land to the owner by the Lisbon City Council was reported in April 2006, but the procedure was only resumed in May 2019 by “the legal representative of the undivided inheritance of the original applicant, who in this capacity demanded fair compensation to those affected for the loss of the plot of land” , proposing to consider a cost of 1.5 million euros.

A market valuation requested by the owner’s heirs “ultimately set the market value of the land in question at €1.303 million, with the Municipal Directorate of Property Management (DMGP) analyzing the claim and reporting in January 2020 that the value compensation amounted to €976.” thousand euros in accordance with the provisions of the Expropriation Code.

For the purposes of the negotiations, the DMGP proposed an “interim compensation amount of €1.14 million” for which “explicit consent was obtained from the parties concerned” in October 2020, although this is subject to municipal approval.

Currently, the council’s 17-member executive body includes seven elected members of the Novos Tempos coalition (SDP/CDS-PP/MPT/PPM/Alliance) – the only ones with responsibilities – three from the PS, two from the PCP , three from CPL, one from Livre and one from BE.