In Guimarães, the question “do I need a permit to fix the roof?” has two answers, and the right one depends on the street the house is on. The Historic Centre has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2001, and the council explains on its website that even conservation has its own rules there. This guide looks at Guimarães: the INE figures, what changes inside and outside the classified area, how to file a request, the certificate the council issues for reduced VAT and the support we found. We do not repair roofs: we give information, with sources.
Updated 3 November 2026. General information, not a substitute for the council or a technician.
The essentials
- Classified area (Historic Centre and Zona de Couros): even conservation needs a licence, according to the council, with consultation of Património Cultural, IP.
- Special protection zone: repairing and cleaning needs no licence, but changing the exterior does.
- Outside those areas, the national rule applies: conservation is exempt. See the permit guide.
- The council has an online form to request the certificate for reduced VAT on conservation of homes.
- We found no council rule on tile colour or material.
What Guimarães’ numbers say
According to the INE 2021 Census, the municipality has 45,223 buildings. The percentages are ours:
| Guimarães | Portugal | |
|---|---|---|
| Buildings from before 1961 | 17.6% | 23.1% |
| Need small repairs | 21.8% | 21.8% |
| Need medium repairs | 7.8% | 9.4% |
| Need deep repair | 3.3% | 4.6% |
| Need no repair | 67.1% | 64.2% |
Together, 14,882 buildings (32.9%) need some repair, against 35.8% nationally. The share needing small repairs equals the national one. The difference lies in the medium and deep classes, rarer than average. The INE measures the whole building, not the roof.
What is different about the old houses
The value statement for the Historic Centre, published in the Diário da República, describes medieval construction with a granite ground floor and, above it, timber and wattle-and-daub. UNESCO delimits 38.2 hectares, with a buffer zone of 129.4. A 2012 dissertation from the Universidade Lusófona describes, in case studies, eaves projecting over the street, held on timber joists, and canudo tile. These are cases, not the rule for every house.
What this means for whoever repairs: lifting tile on such a house means touching old timber. Ask the contractor to check and photograph the eaves joists before closing up. And because the eaves hang over the street, any scaffold or hoarding needs public space: see the fee exemption below.
Climate: the IPMA publishes no normals for Guimarães. The nearest station on the list, Braga / Merelim, gives 1,387.3 mm of rain a year, but those are Braga’s values and serve only as a guide. For frost and tiles, see the tiles and climate guide, based on the APICER and CTCV guide.
Permit: inside and outside the protected area
Guimarães council says, on the Historic Centre page (updated 7 October 2026):
| Where | Conservation (restoration, repair, cleaning) | Exterior change |
|---|---|---|
| Classified area (Historic Centre and Zona de Couros) | licence, with consultation of Património Cultural, IP | licence |
| Special protection zone | no licence | licence |
In the special protection zone, the council warns that conservation that includes alterations may count as an alteration and need a licence. Outside both zones, the national rule applies. The opinion generally comes from the CCDR Norte Culture Unit, and from Património Cultural, IP for the Castle, the Colegiada, São Miguel do Castelo and the Ducal Palace. According to the Diário da República notice, in the 19 protected properties of the centre and Zona de Couros any intervention needs a DGPC opinion.
For changing the material, see repair or replace.
How to apply to the council
The request is made on Urbanismo Digital (ud.cm-guimaraes.pt). The council page explains that:
- you must register again, because old registrations do not carry over;
- there are request forms by type of operation, and those from before 2021 are rejected;
- the form must stay editable, not PDF/A, and files are named with the document code;
- each sheet is at most 500 KB and the final file 30 MB;
- fees are paid by Multibanco reference, sent by e-mail or SMS.
Questions about the platform: [email protected]. General contacts as the council publishes them: 253 421 200, [email protected], Largo Cónego José Maria Gomes, 4804-534 Guimarães. The rehabilitation page also says to report the start of works exempt from prior control through Urbanismo Digital.
Fees, VAT and support
- Fee exemption in the Historic Centre. By a deliberation of 3 April 1997, maintenance, improvement or recovery works on buildings in the Local Technical Office area are exempt from fees, at the owner’s request. It includes scaffolding and hoardings on public space, but not parking spaces occupied on the road. The council still presents it as an incentive.
- VAT certificate. The council has an online form, and a paper model, to request the certificate proving item 2.27 (conservation of homes) or 2.23 (rehabilitation in an ARU). See the VAT guide.
- ARU and ORU. There is an ARU of the Centro Histórico Intramuros e Áreas Adjacentes and several parish civic centres. Four urban rehabilitation operations are in force: Centro da Cidade, S. João de Ponte, S. Jorge de Selho and Centro das Taipas.
- Housing. The Municipal Regulation for Housing Support and Promotion (Edital 731/2024, in force since 30 May 2024) mentions rehabilitation of buildings. We did not read the articles, so we do not know if it pays for roofs.
Storms and emergency
Guimarães is not on the official lists of municipalities in calamity for storm Kristin, and we found no data on damaged roofs. See the aid guide and the first 48 hours. Immediate danger: 112. The municipal Civil Protection page gives no number of its own and describes no storm procedure. The site has a general “Report an occurrence” form, and at our last reading there were no notices in force.
Before you hire
Check the quote and check the contractor. More on the city: Roofs in Guimarães. The roof repair overview links the other guides.
What we could not confirm
- Council rules on tile colour or material in the Historic Centre. We did not find them.
- What the second PDM revision suspends. Urbanismo Digital mentions a suspension of procedures and we could not open the FAQ page.
- Whether the Housing Support and Promotion Regulation pays for roofs.
- A Civil Protection contact of its own.
- The amounts of the fees.
Sources (read on 3 November 2026)
- Câmara de Guimarães, Historic Centre, Urban rehabilitation, ARU, ORU, Urbanismo Digital, Protection and Security and Report an occurrence. Pages updated on 7 October 2026.
- Diário da República, Notice 6035/2024; UNESCO, Historic Centre of Guimarães; Universidade Lusófona, 2012 dissertation.
- Edital 731/2024: we only read the preamble, on a vLex copy (secondary source).
- INE, 2021 Census (percentages calculated by us); IPMA, Braga / Merelim normals.