Can the police remove squatters from my house now?

The occupation is a crime, so you can file a complaint and the police act within the criminal process. A judge may order immediate return of the property. It is faster than the old civil route, but it is not a 48-hour eviction like some other countries promise.

Does the law cover holiday homes?

Yes. The crime covers any property that belongs to someone else. The heavier penalty applies when the house is the owner's permanent home, but the base offence applies to a second home too.

Acquisition of ownership through long, public, uninterrupted possession: between 10 and 20 years depending on title and good faith. Rare, but it is the reason an owner must act on any occupation rather than ignore it.

Will insurance cover damage by squatters?

Often not if the property was unoccupied beyond the period in the policy. Check the unoccupancy clause; 30 to 60 days is common.

Squatters in Portugal: what the 2025 law changed and how to protect an empty house

Until late 2025, an owner who found strangers in an empty house had one real tool: a civil action that could take one to three years. Law 67/2025, published on 24 November 2025, turned the occupation itself into a crime. Here is what changed, what did not, and what I actually do to keep my own empty units off the list.

What the law says

The crime is usurpação de coisa imóvel: invading or occupying someone else's property with the intention of exercising rights of ownership, possession or use that no law, court decision or administrative act gives the occupier.

Situation	Penalty
Base offence	Up to 2 years in prison, or a fine of up to 240 days
With violence, or the owner's permanent home	Up to 3 years
Organised or for profit	Up to 4 years

The law amends the Penal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure. The judge may order the property returned to the owner immediately as part of the criminal process.

What it does not fix

You still have to know. The crime starts when they enter. If nobody visits the house between October and May, the first sign may be a neighbour's message or a utilities bill that goes up instead of down.
"May", not "must". The judge may order immediate return. In practice you need a lawyer, a complaint with proof of title and evidence of the occupation, and a judge with time.
Rented-then-stayed is a different case. A tenant who stops paying is not a squatter. That is an eviction under the lease law, which has its own timelines.
Usucapião is the long tail. Open, peaceful, uninterrupted possession for 10 to 20 years can turn into ownership. Nobody loses a house to it in year one, but ignoring an occupation for years is how it happens to inherited properties with absent heirs.

Why Algarve second homes are targets

Roughly 40 to 50% of dwellings in Algarve coastal municipalities are secondary or seasonal. From a street, an empty house looks like this: shutters down for months, a full letterbox, a garden that stopped being cut in September, a car that never moves or no car at all, lights on a plug-in timer that nobody adjusts for winter. A house that looks maintained and visited is passed over for the one next door that does not.

What I do for my own 15 units

Monthly visit on a fixed day, letterbox emptied, shutters opened for the visit and left in a different position than last time, garden and terrace kept, one neighbour per building with my number who is paid a small amount each year to call me if anything looks wrong. Nothing on the door says "managed property": the sticker tells a passer-by nobody lives there. In 9 years, zero occupations.

If it has already happened

Do not enter or confront. Owners who force the door end up as the accused.
Gather proof of title (land registry certificate) and of the occupation (photos, dates, witness names).
File the criminal complaint with the PSP or GNR and instruct a lawyer the same week. Ask for the immediate return order.
Cut nothing: switching off water or electricity to an occupied house exposes you to a separate complaint.
Tell your insurer in writing.

The short version

The 2025 law gives you a faster route out. The cheaper route is not to need it: a house that is visited, lit, cut and watched by a neighbour. That is the property management routine, and it is what I check first in the free audit.

Sources: Law 67/2025 of 24 November (Diário da República); Penal Code as amended; Civil Code articles 1287 onwards (usucapião). Last checked 2026-10-10. This is general information, not legal advice; instruct a lawyer for your case.