Not everyone wants a brand new house or apartment. Some people choose to find something more typically Portuguese, with more character, which may need a certain amount of renovation or decoration. Others may decide to find a plot of land in a location of their choice, and have a house built to their own specification, even doing a lot of the work themselves.
Anything is possible, and in the Algarve you will find no shortage of trades-people to help you (many foreign). Even in other parts of Portugal you should find enough local help to sort you out, although you may have to be more flexible with your deadlines!
Finding The Place You Want
If you are looking for a piece of land, or older property, it
is probable that you will be searching in a totally different area to the densely-populated tourist complexes of the central Algarve. Although it seems at times like the whole of the southern coast is just a seething mass of modern villas and apartment blocks, only a couple of miles or so away from the beaches gets you into more rural areas. This means that you can still benefit in many cases from local amenities and infrastructure, whilst being located slightly away from the melé. Further afield still, and the choice is even wider, although bear in mind what we said in the previous chapter about inheritance problems sometimes rendering an older house virtually unsaleable.
Estate agents do have plots of land and some older houses for sale, so they are often one port of call. Use all the means mentioned in
Chapter 4 to look for places, but expect to drive around a bit more. The Portuguese often just paint signs on the side of their property, with a phone number whilst foreigners are more likely to put ads in the local ex-patriot papers.
Be open-minded about what is on offer, and its potential. Try to be visionary in your approach! What at first glance appears to be a ramshackle shed, may actually be a wonderful rustic house in the making. On the other hand, be realistic too. Older houses as projects can eat into your finances, and are often more expensive to heat. You may be able to compromise, you may be happy to live in more humble surroundings, you may have enough cash and time to undertake a superb renovation job; be shrewd in your judgements and be clear about what you (a) would love and (b) could live with.
Mr and Mrs W., from Huddersfield, advise caution:
But with caution in hand, how can you proceed without too much pain?
Renovating
The recent frenzy of DIY programmes on our TVs has given all but a very few the penchant for going in, ripping out, and launching into re-model and modernise mode. Sales at DIY stores are at their highest ever, and as a nation, we have become obsessed with making our own homes more beautiful. Now, there’s nothing wrong with making improvements, but, as someone with a father in the building trade, I have to admit that it seems almost carnivorous to go into a property and start pulling walls down and ripping out existing features. Not to say shortsighted and in some cases downright dicey.
If you are buying a property to renovate, think about the current space it offers and how that space is divided up. Are the rooms and their layout practical for your own purposes? If it is old property, the rooms are likely to be much smaller than their modern equivalent, but they may have their own character to compensate. If you are considering knocking through rooms, you must be sure the remaining walls are supporting ones and can take the strain of the rest of the building. You will almost
inevitably need to insert supports. This is work best left to professional building firms.
What else may you need to look at in terms of renovation?
- The roof – is it sound? Does it need new tiles or replacements?
- The roof joists, especially if there is any suspicion the old ones are rotten or infested.
- Window frames – try to replace like with like, i.e. don’t spoil an old house by putting in plastic windows, they never retain their original character. Unfortunately, the climate in southern Europe leads to much more damage to wood features, so many people do choose to replace with PVC or aluminium.
- New wiring and plumbing systems?
- Heating – the house may not have had any form of heating before. Now you can consider central heating, underfloor, solar-powered, natural fuel-burning fires or stoves.
- Adequate insulation and draught prevention?
- Water system – depends very much on local availability of mains, but you may be able to modernise what already exists.
- Floors – replace rotten boards.
- Interior work such as plastering ready for decorating.
If the work you are intending to carry out is fairly minimal, and will not alter the structure or external appearance of the property, it is not usual to require planning permission, or a building licence. However, for more substantial works, you will have to present certain documentation to the Council (Câmara Municipal) and seek their approval for the project. In any case, it is best to check with them whatever your plans might be, rather than get part-way through the work and find you do not have permission.