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On the Spot House
Portuguese Institute of Registries and Notary
Portugal

The Problem

Before the implementation of the “On the Spot House project”, to perform legal transactions on immovable property, such as the purchase and sale or simple loan with mortgage, citizens and companies had to contact with several public entities, among which we highlight the following:
1) Tax authorities;
2) Notaries;
3) Land register office;
4) Municipal services;
5) Entities responsible for the management of the historical and cultural patrimony.
6) Commercial Register Office and civil register office.
In a simple purchase and sale of a property it was necessary, for example:
1) To obtain before the Land register office a certificate of the building before concluding the public deed;
2) To obtain, in the Commercial Register Office, a commercial registry certificate - when the intervening party is a collective person -, because the register office has access to the commercial registry’s database;
3) The civil registry certificate, which was necessary in some situations, because the register office has access to the civil registry’s database;
4) To obtain in the Revenue Office the property’s tax document, because the register office has access to the database of the property’s tax documents;
5) To obtain in the Municipal Council a certificate of the housing licence;
6) To obtain the document supporting the non exercise of the preference right on behalf of the public entities with this right, because the registry service has access to the site where the interested parties can announce the business and the public entities can manifest their intention to exercise or not this right;
7) To perform provisory registries, since at the moment of the business the registry service has access to the property’s legal information through direct access to its database;
8) To conclude a deed in the notary office, because the legal transaction is concluded before the register office, which immediately performs the registry;
9) To request and wait for the registries and the availability of the certificates, since the registries are carried out immediately and the certificates delivered to the interested parties.

Business on immovable property implied, in short, frequent and repeated dislocations to several public services to request and later on to obtain documents, to schedule acts and later on to materialise them, and so on, which had high costs.
This situation represented a major weakness within the Portuguese real estate market and, consequently, within the economic activity in general.

Solution and Key Benefits

 What is the initiative about? (the solution)
The On the Spot House service allows performing, immediately, at a single counter, without unnecessary dislocations, all the formalities necessary to conclude the following acts on immovable property: purchase and sale, simple loan and any other credit and financing contracts concluded by credit institutions, mortgages, with or without guarantee, mortgage and transfer of credits, donation upon payment, transfer, donation and constitution of horizontal property.

With this service it is possible to perform at a single counter, in register offices and other registry services:
a) The deferral and payment of taxes;
b) The conclusion of contracts;
c) Performing the necessary registries;
d) To obtain before the Municipal Councils the property’s plants and respective delivery, by the registry services, to the Tax authorities, together with the statement for updating the urban property in the land registry;
e) The delivery of the request for the alteration of address;
f) The delivery of the request for the payment of the Municipal property tax (IMI).
According to the Report Doing Business of the World Bank of 2010, Portugal now leads the classification of Countries where it is faster to buy and register a property, which is essentially due to the success of the On the Spot House project.

Actors and Stakeholders

 Who proposed the solution, who implemented it and who were the stakeholders?
This project is an initiative of the Portuguese Ministry of Justice, implemented by the Portuguese Institute of Registries and Notary, I.P., through land register offices and registry services in other entities, namely, citizen shops, and with the technological support of the Portuguese Institute of Information technology in Justice, I.P. (ITIJ). Both entities mentioned - Portuguese Institute of Registries and Notary and ITIJ - are public entities, part of the Ministry of Justice.

(a) Strategies

 Describe how and when the initiative was implemented by answering these questions
 a.      What were the strategies used to implement the initiative? In no more than 500 words, provide a summary of the main objectives and strategies of the initiative, how they were established and by whom.
This project was based on the analysis of the then existing situation, evaluating the need of each formality associated with the businesses on immovable property, in order to eliminate useless formalities and to concentrate the ones which were necessary in a single place, avoiding repeated dislocations, saving time and money.
There is a Simplification Commission in the Ministry of Justice, essentially for representatives of all civil society areas, including employees and employers associations, legal practitioners and representatives of several economic activities. This commission identified excessive bureaucracy associated with businesses on immovable property as an important barrier to the economic activity, with costs to citizens and companies.
Once the problem was identified, a work group was created within the Portuguese Ministry of Justice, which included Registrars of the land registry and other experts of the Portuguese Institute of Registries and Notary, and it became the entity responsible for rethinking the process within the land register offices and proceeding to the respective re-engineering, as well as, as a result, preparing the necessary legislative alterations. In the implementation stage, this work group was also integrated by ITIJ technicians, for the design of technological solutions supporting the project.
This service became available on 24 July 2007, at 7 land register offices, 5 Portuguese municipalities, covering only purchase and sale, simple loan and any other credit and financing contracts concluded by credit institutions, mortgage and transfer of credits.
The experience allowed for the safe and successive enlargement, maintaining the service patterns, of the number of services where it was possible to perform On the Spot House services, currently available throughout the country. The businesses able of being performed through the simplified procedure of the On Spot House were equally being increased, gradually, currently being possible to perform through this single service donations upon payment, transfers, donations and constitution of horizontal property, with the intention of continuing the enlargement of the service to other acts on immovable property, as leasing and the division between co-owners.

(b) Implementation

 b.      What were the key development and implementation steps and the chronology? No more than 500 words
This project’s success is essentially due to the strategy of promoting the exchange of information between public services rather than the intermediation of citizens, who thus no longer had to request information before a public service to deliver to another service. Concentrating in a single place all the acts necessary for the transfer of property represents a huge benefit for citizens and companies, saving time and money. In addition, the key factor for this “On the Spot House” project and its success was the establishment of a truly competitive rate for the provision of service and which intended to benchmark for all entities which continued to be able to provide formal businesses on immovable property, as, for example, notaries.
The costs for the service, when compared to other encumbrance and registry methods of acts on immovable property, are significantly lower, for example: - € 300 (plus taxes), in case of a single registry – instead of € 900 which can cost the traditional method, with deed and posterior registry.
The whole process is supported by the intensive use of information technologies and communication, either in obtaining documents necessary to perform acts, carried out by direct consultation of several public databases by the registrar, either by performing the registry pertaining the property’s ownership immediately and based on a nationwide computer database, or also in the communication to other public entities, as the tax authorities.

(c) Overcoming Obstacles

 c.      What were the main obstacles encountered? How were they overcome? No more than 500 words
The main obstacles were, on the one hand, the need to promote the communication between different public administration entity and, on the other one, the corporative resistance of professions associated with the traditional method of encumbrance, who promoted distrust to citizens and companies towards this new procedure.
These obstacles were overcame with a strong policy towards administrative modernisation and reduction of bureaucracy, associated with a clear commitment to the quality of the service, based on the intensive training of human resources providing this service and continuous refinement of technological tools. In addition, the team monitoring the project assured a permanent helpdesk and advised on the implementation in situ, promoting continuous sessions clarifying citizens and companies, succeeding in generating trust and demonstrating the true value represented.

(d) Use of Resources

 d.      What resources were used for the initiative and what were its key benefits? In no more than 500 words, specify what were the financial, technical and human resources’ costs associated with this initiative. Describe how resources were mobilized
Financially and technologically, the implementation of the project involved an initial expense of nearly 150.000€, for software development supporting the project, supported by the Portuguese Institute of Registries and Notary budget which is financed by the State’s budget, and which meets the expenses of the general operating costs and further improvements.
The human resources used are all public, essentially registrars and land registry officers, without needing to hire new people, using the staff of the land registry services and granting them with new duties, by means of training and re-engineering the internal work procedures in Register offices.

Sustainability and Transferability

  Is the initiative sustainable and transferable?
The time elapsed and the awards obtained allowed us to answer without a doubt to this question, declaring that the On the Spot House is a sustainable initiative and is able to be transferable.
This project received in 2009 a distinction as a good practise (Good Practise Label) in the competition “European Enterprise Awards”, promoted by the European Commission.
In addition, internally, the On the Spot House received an Award for Cost reduction to Citizens, which rewards projects that reduce global costs to citizens (private and collective persons), namely in the price (or cost) and time between the access and provision of services, an Award promoted by Deloitte with the cooperation of the Diário Económico (Newspaper), the National Institute of Public Administration (INA) and the Luso-American Foundation for the Development (FLAD).

Lessons Learned

 What are the impact of your initiative and the lessons learned?
The On the Spot House project had a positive impact in the establishment of a new standard for the Public Administration’s role, which radically modified the way it is now seen by citizens and companies, who decisively joined this project.
This single counter service demonstrated the ability to renew public entities in order to provide a fast and efficient service to citizens, maintaining the safety that the registry system provides, and assuring that the information arrives to public entities without burdening the citizens.
With this project it was possible to learn, among others, the following lessons:
- The Public Administration is capable of acting in a concerted way, abandoning its traditional islands and meeting the citizens’ needs and expectations, providing a quality service, without additional operating costs, through the reorganisation and improvement of the exploitation of technical and human resources.
- It is possible to reduce bureaucracy by rethinking information flows, establishing interoperability and intensively using new technologies, reducing costs and promoting economic activity through performance improvements of public services.

Contact Information

Institution Name:   Portuguese Institute of Registries and Notary
Institution Type:   Public Agency  
Contact Person:   Filomena Rosa
Title:   Regirtrar / Advisor  
Telephone/ Fax:   00 351 217 985 500
Institution's / Project's Website:   00 351 217 817 693
E-mail:   filomena.s.rosa@irn.mj.pt  
Address:   Av. D. João II, nº 1.8.01D Edifício H 8.º Piso Campus da Justiça Apartado 8295
Postal Code:   1803-001 Lisboa
City:   Lisbon
State/Province:  
Country:   Portugal

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