macliam

It almost certainly means they are "illegal", i.e. have been built or extended without following the planning process. The final step of this process is to get a habitation license from the local Camara - but if the build is illegal, this will cause you many headaches and a wad of cash. Without such a license, you would be liable to a heavy fine and will find it difficult to sell the property. I would advise you to stay well clear....
The fact that they may be repossessions means nothing - if they were the only seizable asset, then the bank will take them and sell them on for whatever they can get.

liveaboard

A house without a habitation license is not a house; it's just a pile of bricks [or whatever].
When legal, the property has a FAR higher sale value; so you can bet that if it was possible to obtain the license, the seller would have done so.

Stephenwonders

It is quite stark how many houses there on on real estate websites stating no current licence. These properties are more of less worthless surely.

Obrigado

macliam

There is (was?) an odd notion in Portuguese law of "usufruir".... that is to enjoy the benefit of something, without "owning" it or to enjoy something on a temporary basis.
Poor people often built on land they did not own and subdivision and leases were strictly controlled, so they owned the building, but not the property.
They might reach an agreement with the owner of the land that they could "enjoy the benefit" of the the house, but could not sell it.
The extension to cover buildings not approved or licensed is a natural progression..... though it seems odd and risky to us.

christmasoompa

If you only want to rent a holiday villa, you don't need a real estate broker. They're for buying property.

Just check out Air BnB or similar.

HTH.