Habitation or not

Based on what you're saying, the Caderneta Predial confirms the house proper to be a habitation, but the additional room is classed as storage/agricultural.  This is quite a common pattern for "long" houses - an end room or rooms which look more or less integral from the outside, but which serve as animal housing, equipment storage, an adega, etc. with no internal access.

There is, in practical terms (subject to structural inspection), nothing to stop you integrating it into the house - but for rental and/or resale, you'd almost certainly need the caderneta to reflect the reality of its state at that time.  As you have suggested, it would need a lawyer and/or the câmara to confirm the situation, and the likelihood of getting the licensing changed to include the end room.  It is always sensible to use a lawyer for a property purchase, for this (and perhaps other) issues you may or may not spot.

Hi Genki,

If you are buying for yourself to live in it, there wouldn't be a problem opening internal access. If you want to sell it later, you can always close it again if need be. It is probably not worth updating councils records unless you wish to make external changes to the property. Suppose you are making changes like adding windows or external doors. In that case, you need a planning application for all of the property, which means you need to make sure all existing structures, whether in the council's record or not, follow planning regulations.

We can help you with the process if you ever need,

Best wishes,

Daniyal

Thanks all… we actually lost this property in the end. Just too many unanswered questions. But the silver lining is we have just agreed to buy another property with much less baggage and WE LOVE IT… so hopefully we are on the final few steps to achieving our dream.