João Tiago Silveira states that there are concrete data that prove it.
The head of the Order of Notaries states that the buying and selling prices of homes that went into effect last Monday have nearly doubled, thereby running counter to the news disclosed by the Government, according to the "Lusa" news agency.
According to João Tiago Silveira, State secretary for Justice, as of this past Monday, the costs involved with buying and selling a home will experience an average decrease of 50 percent.

"What is being said is that prices will be going down, in some cases to half, but no: prices will be increasing, and in some cases, they will double," said Joaquim Barata Lopes, head of the Order of Notaries, to the "Lusa" news agency, with regard to the new land registry-related amounts.

Prices may double, in some cases
He pointed out that that it is not a question of opinion on the part of the Order of Notaries, "but a question of comparing: imagine someone who went to the land registry on Friday to register the purchase of his/her home and who paid, for example, 125 euros, he would be paying 250 if it were registered today.".
"The same thing applies to a mortgage, which cost 130 euros on Friday and now it's 250. This is an objective fact," he points out.
Joaquim Barata Lopes stressed that the so-called "Casa Pronta" (Ready Home) did indeed see a decrease in its cost, from 650 to 600 euros, but he points out that this mode "is not even accessible to the entire population yet."

"Using the traditional method, which is already accessible to practically the entire population, today, when the new price list goes into effect, in objective terms prices go up and, in some cases, they double," he stresses.
The Head of the Order of Notaries also points out that, with the new law, "the prices are included in a package which the customer must pay, whether or not he actually needs to purchase these services."

He also stresses that the home buyer pays for what is included in the package, whether or not he/she needs to cancel the mortgage, whose price, on its own, rose from 72 to 100 euros, whereas this act used to be payable by the selling party.

"It is wrong to compare what is not comparable".
"That is why it is wrong to compare what is not comparable." In objective terms, what is comparable is that the act of purchasing a home used to cost 125 euros , whereas it now costs 250, the mortgage which used to cost 135 is now 250," he stresses.

Furthermore, Joaquim Barata Lopes feels that the possibility of replacing the public deed with a legalized document will foster "a breach in legal assurance," thereby "clearly leading to an increase in legal proceedings as of next year."

"It now becomes possible to draw up duly validated purchase agreements, provided the contractor takes with him his lawyer or solicitor, to whom he shall make an advance payment, and that is bad for the legal assurance people need to feel, since there is no control over whether the person, when signing the agreement, was in a position to freely make the decision to sign or whether that person was being coerced into signing," he stated.

The head of the order of notaries highlights a few positive points in the Government's new measures, namely: that it is now possible to request a register at any land registry anywhere in Portugal; that it is possible, as of January, to carry out the register at any land registry; the computerization of the register; and that it is possible to request registry certificates online.

These new measures, which are included in the government program called SIMPLEX, seek to simplify, de-materialize and do away with land registry procedures at the land registry, and, according to the Government, it aims to reduce administrative costs pertaining to bureaucracy for the purchase of homes and property as well as to reduce costs within the context of real estate operations.

Most of these measures went into effect today, but a few will only be going into effect on 1 January 2009, due to the need for computer-related developments.