The imminent modernisation of private legislation and its impact on housing

The contemporary management of residential and commercial complexes requires managers to pay constant attention not only to the physical demands of maintenance, but also to the legal and legislative developments that govern community life. In the current scenario of 2026, one of the most debated and eagerly awaited topics among property-sector specialists is the proposed structural reform of the country's principal private legislation. The legal text currently in force, which shapes the guidelines for coexistence and the legal certainty of thousands of owners, was originally enacted in the early 2000s and, given the rapid technological and social transformations of the last two decades, has come to require a thorough update to reflect the reality of modern condominiums.

This need for regulatory modernisation has mobilised commissions of jurists, members of parliament and representative bodies of the property market around a broad debate on how to simplify decision-making processes and give greater administrative agility to building governance. For professionals working as property managers, understanding the general outline of these discussions is an essential strategic factor for anticipating trends and planning long-term structural investments. The proposals under way seek to redefine voting rules, relax traditional quorums and formalise digital practices that are already part of daily life but still lack definitive settlement in the text of the Civil Code.

However, managers focused on preventive governance must act with caution and technical responsibility when analysing this transitional legal landscape. It is essential to stress that all the changes debated by jurists and presented in parliamentary committees are part of a legislative reform bill that has not yet been voted on by the National Congress. Therefore, there is no certainty whatsoever that these measures will be implemented or converted into law. Until the full legislative process is completed and signed into law by the Presidency of the Republic, the current rules remain the only mandatory and applicable legal guide for conducting the ordinary and extraordinary business of every condominium in the country.

What is the proposed reform of the Civil Code?

The current proposal to review and update Brazilian private legislation arose from the work of a high-level commission of jurists, set up with the aim of aligning the legal text with the transformations of the digital society, new family arrangements and the demand for less bureaucracy in the business environment. In the housing sphere, the specialists focused on removing longstanding obstacles that constrain building administration and generate excessive litigation over neighbourly disputes. The main focus of the reform, as far as condominiums are concerned, is to give internal by-laws greater regulatory autonomy and to speed up the procedures for collective decision-making.

The process of passing a reform of this magnitude is complex and involves multiple stages of public debate, hearings with productive sectors, and votes in successive rounds in the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies. The jurists sought to create a regulatory ecosystem that recognises the complexity of managing buildings that often function as veritable mini-cities, housing thousands of residents and handling substantial budgets. To provide an informative overview of the main pillars guiding this legal restructuring aimed at the property and housing market, we can list the following broad proposals under discussion in the commission:

• Definitive regulation and expanded use of digital tools and electronic signatures for civil acts within condominiums;

• Relaxation of voting quorums for improvements and structural changes that previously required unanimity under the Civil Code;

• Enhanced legal status and protection for pets within condominium units;

• Formalisation of civil liability criteria and compliance parameters for the work of professional property managers;

• Creation of swift mechanisms for excluding and penalising residents classed as antisocial under the Civil Code.

It is of the utmost importance to remind the entire management board, council members and building administrators periodically that these innovative proposals, although they represent a clear modernising trend, are still at the political and technical debate stage. As the final text of the reform bill has not been voted on and approved by both Houses of the National Congress, there is no guarantee whatsoever that these changes will become binding law. Building management must continue to operate strictly within the clauses and quorums set out in the current, effective text of the Civil Code, avoiding administrative decisions based on legal expectations that may still be amended or rejected during the legislative process.

Electronic meetings and streamlining internal votes

One of the points of greatest practical interest for property managers in the proposed update to private legislation concerns the definitive settlement and expansion of the rules governing general meetings held in electronic or digital format. Although legislation enacted in previous years opened the door to virtual meetings on an emergency basis, the current text of the Civil Code still imposes a series of bureaucratic hurdles and requirements for express provision in the by-laws, which create legal uncertainty and the risk of resolutions being annulled in many condominiums.

The text under discussion in the commission of jurists proposes reversing this restrictive logic, establishing the electronic general meeting as a standard format widely permitted by law, regardless of prior authorisation in the building's internal rules. The proposal aims to endorse the use of asynchronous voting apps, permanent sessions extended over several days, and the use of digital signatures with unquestionable legal validity for signing official minutes. This streamlining seeks to raise the levels of democratic participation among owners who cannot attend traditional in-person condominium meetings.

The consolidation of this digital model promises to transform decision-making dynamics, speeding up the approval of ordinary accounts and the planning of extra levies for infrastructure improvements. To detail the benefits and conveniences envisaged by jurists through the modernisation of voting procedures, the commission is debating the consolidation of the following digital deliberation tools for day-to-day building administration:

• Holding synchronous virtual meetings with live streaming and digital recording of residents' discussions;

• Use of asynchronous voting platforms that allow votes to be collected over extended periods within the condominium;

• Legal validation of simple and advanced electronic signatures for drawing up official minutes under the Civil Code;

• Automated meeting-notice mechanisms via institutional emails and app notifications for condominiums;

• The possibility of extending the meeting into a permanent session to reach the complex quorums required by the Civil Code.

Given the enthusiasm that digital streamlining generates among condominium managers, the principle of administrative prudence demands a continual reminder. The proposals to facilitate virtual meetings described in the Civil Code reform bill have not yet been voted on by the Legislature and therefore have no legal effect at present. Property managers and council members must be fully aware that holding electronic meetings without strictly complying with the formal requirements set out in the current law — such as provision in the by-laws or guaranteeing every owner's right to participate and vote — remains a risk factor for judicial annulment in condominiums.

Facade alterations and flexible quorums: what could change?

The discussion around the rules for facade alterations and the relaxation of quorums for carrying out major works in shared leisure areas is one of the most controversial and complex topics, and one that chronically generates disputes among neighbours. At present, the current text of the Civil Code imposes a rule of unanimity or extremely high qualified majorities (such as two-thirds of all owners) to approve aesthetic changes to the exterior of a building or to carry out non-essential improvements, a level of rigour that frequently stalls modernisation projects in thousands of condominiums.

The proposed legislative reform under debate seeks to bring greater rationality and flexibility to these rules, allowing exterior facade alterations that do not devalue the overall architecture, or that aim to install ecological sustainability equipment, to be approved by reduced quorums, such as a majority of those present at the meeting. This flexibility aims to unlock important civil engineering investments, such as the standardised glazing of balconies, the installation of air-conditioning systems and the aesthetic modernisation of condominium towers, bringing buildings in line with market demands.

The jurists' intention is to prevent the isolated opposition or lack of interest of a minority of absent owners from blocking the structural progress and asset appreciation of the shared property. To guide managers on the main quorum-flexibility trends contained in the text of the reform bill under way, the proposed regulatory changes seek to facilitate approval of the following infrastructure items under the Civil Code:

• Standardisation and enclosure works for gourmet balconies with glass curtains on condominium facades;

• Installation of solar panels, electric-vehicle charging stations and energy-efficiency improvements under the Civil Code;

• Useful works to modernise guard posts and architectural accessibility in condominium common areas;

• Aesthetic changes to the paintwork or external cladding of towers approved by more flexible qualified majorities;

• Repurposing of obsolete common areas for new leisure uses demanded by condominium residents.

Although the relaxation of quorums reflects the desire of many building managers who face absenteeism at meetings, legal compliance imposes a dose of realism. It is essential to warn periodically that these proposed changes to majority requirements contained in the Civil Code reform have not yet been voted on by the National Congress, and it would be a serious error to apply reduced quorums to approve facade changes or non-essential works under the present scenario. Proceeding with projects without reaching the majorities required by current law exposes management to injunction lawsuits and heavy financial losses for condominium accounts.

Pet rights under the lens of the new legislation

Coexistence with pets in vertical and horizontal collective housing is one of the most traditional and recurring sources of friction, heated discussions and legal queries in the day-to-day running of condominiums. The original text of the Civil Code, enacted in 2002, contained no explicit mentions or rules governing the presence of pets in individual units, leaving it to internal by-laws and court rulings to draw the boundaries between property rights and the peace and quiet of neighbours. The reform under debate seeks to fill this gap once and for all.

The major conceptual innovation brought about by the proposed Civil Code reform is the elevation of the legal status of animals, which will be formally recognised under Brazilian law as sentient beings — that is, endowed with sensitivity, feelings and fundamental rights to life and well-being — ceasing to be technically classified as mere "things" or movable property. This shift in legal paradigm limits the power of condominium by-laws to impose restrictions, which will be strictly prohibited from banning dogs and cats generally from owners' private units.

On the other hand, the text of the proposal under discussion seeks to balance this guarantee of coexistence with strict civil liability duties imposed on pet owners. Internal by-laws will retain legal authority to require compliance with hygiene rules, the use of leads in service lifts, and control of excessive noise that disturbs the night-time quiet of common areas. The law will seek to protect animal welfare without giving up the collective safety and peace that must prevail in housing and in the day-to-day management of every condominium.

It is imperative, however, that property managers exercise their leadership grounded in the factual reality of current law and remind residents that this change to the legal status of pets is part of a reform bill that has not yet been voted on and approved by the Legislature. There is therefore no certainty whatsoever of its implementation or conversion into binding law in the short term. At present, prohibitions or restrictions imposed by condominium by-laws continue to be assessed case by case by the Judiciary on the basis of the three pillars of safety, peace and health, and management must apply the updated by-laws in accordance with the current Civil Code.

The professional property manager and administrative compliance

The building management market has undergone a rapid process of professionalisation in recent years, driven by the legal, financial and labour-related complexity involved in managing modern residential complexes. The figure of the volunteer resident manager, although still present in small buildings, has increasingly given way to the hiring of highly qualified professional managers and outsourced management firms. The original text of the Civil Code, however, was drafted predominantly with the classic model of voluntary management in mind, requiring an update to regulate this new economic reality of condominiums.

The proposed legislative reform under debate in the commission of jurists seeks to explicitly formalise the activity of the professional property manager in the text of the Civil Code, establishing strict administrative compliance parameters, digital accountability duties and mandatory professional liability insurance requirements for outsourced managers. The intention of the new regulation is to give owners who hire these services greater legal certainty, clearly defining the boundaries between excusable management errors and acts of administrative misconduct or negligent omission within condominiums.

The professionalisation of building management goes hand in hand with the demand for greater accounting transparency and periodic independent audits of monthly financial statements. To illustrate the compliance and corporate governance guidelines that jurists are seeking to consolidate in the reform text to qualify the work of the modern property manager, the commission is debating the following pillars of responsibility under the Civil Code:

• Mandatory hiring of professional liability insurance with coverage for management errors within the condominium;

• Periodic presentation of tax, civil and criminal clearance certificates as a requirement for holding the position of professional property manager;

• Implementation of independent accounting audit systems for condominiums with high annual budgets under the Civil Code;

• Standardisation of service contracts and clear rules for termination for cause by resident meeting resolution;

• Duty to securely maintain and digitally archive all labour and tax documents that form the historical record of condominiums.

Given the progress of debates on corporate governance in the residential environment, an essential reminder is owed to industry professionals. These proposals to formalise and introduce new compliance requirements for professional property managers, described in the Civil Code reform bill, have not yet been voted on by the National Congress, and remain market trends rather than legal obligations at present. Contractual relationships between management service providers and resident general meetings continue to be governed by the parties' freedom of contract and by the clauses contained in each condominium's current by-laws.

NewSun Energy: clean-energy subscription and budget predictability

While professional property managers, advisory council members and building administrators devote their intellectual and technical efforts to closely following the evolution of legal issues, organising digital meetings with informative transparency and debating future trends in quorum flexibility for facade alterations, day-to-day governance also demands rigorous, unrelenting attention to the financial intelligence behind common-area running costs. The uninterrupted operation of a modern residential complex requires massive electricity consumption around the clock to power high-speed lifts, hydraulic booster pumping systems, automatic electronic gates, continuous LED security lighting along the perimeter walls, and integrated sensor-based monitoring networks. All this demand for electricity represents one of the biggest drains on the shared monthly budget, currently accounting for around 21% of all fixed administrative costs. To achieve maximum budgetary efficiency and bring financial stability to the building's accounts during this period of legal transition, NewSun Energy Group offers an innovative clean-energy subscription model designed specifically for the property market and high-performance condominiums.

The clean-energy subscription provided by NewSun works as a modern, sustainable solution that stabilises the electricity bill for the building's common areas, comfortably absorbing the weight of electricity expenses without the building management having to call complex meetings to approve abusive extraordinary levies for infrastructure investment. By joining this supply system with a 100% renewable matrix, the building starts consuming electricity generated from ecological sources at partner power plants, obtaining direct, guaranteed discounts on its standard energy bill in an entirely hassle-free way, with no need to carry out invasive civil works, demolition or install costly solar panels on the building's rooftops or slabs. The major strategic advantage of this intelligent solution is that it fully shields the ordinary bill against the severe financial impact of fluctuations in the yellow or red tariff bands during prolonged drought periods, delivering progressive savings throughout the whole contract term, fully aligned with the financial planning of smart condominiums.

In addition to the real economic and ecological advantages guaranteed by the brand's clean-energy subscription, NewSun Energy Group stands out in the national market by offering genuinely human, close, agile and personalised service focused on making the daily work of property managers and administrators' accounting teams easier. The condominium also gains exclusive access to the NewSun Energy Club digital platform, a modern analytical monitoring tool designed for detailed, transparent, real-time tracking of the entire electricity consumption and spending profile of shared facilities. Through the transparent technology of NewSun Energy Club, managers control electricity indicators right from their smartphone, combining digital innovation with sustainability to boost the financial health of ordinary running accounts, building up valuable free resources in the reserve fund for ongoing investment in modernising pedestrian access points, staff training, and appropriate legal preparation for the future regulatory changes and shifts in the Civil Code that affect life in condominiums.

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Short-term rentals and digital platforms: new rules under debate

The global popularisation and consolidation of digital app-based hosting platforms, with Airbnb standing out above all, has turned short-term letting into one of the most complex topics, widely debated and a generator of internal conflicts in contemporary property governance. The original text of the Civil Code in force, drafted in an era before the rise of smartphones and the sharing economy, contains no specific clauses to regulate this rotating-occupancy model, forcing the Judiciary to rule on neighbourhood disputes case by case, creating legal uncertainty for residents and investors across many condominiums.

The proposed legislative reform under discussion in the Senate's commission of jurists seeks to tackle this challenge head-on, inserting nationwide rules into the text of the Civil Code to govern very short-term letting in residential buildings. The bill seeks to strike a balance between the legitimate property rights of investors seeking rental income from their own property, and the inalienable right to peace, privacy and perimeter security of families who reside permanently in the towers that make up condominiums.

The proposals under debate suggest granting express autonomy for buildings' internal by-laws to regulate the activity, setting occupancy limits per flat and requiring guests' identification documents to be submitted to the front desk in advance. Jurists are discussing establishing that, in the absence of explicit rules in the by-laws, very short-term letting would depend on approval by specific quorums at a general resident meeting, reducing the potential for friction among residents and bringing regulatory clarity to overall condominium management.

It is essential to stress, for everyone involved in property management, that these new nationwide rules on short-term letting described in the Civil Code reform bill have not yet been voted on by the National Congress and therefore have no force of law at present. Until the reform bill is definitively voted on by the Legislature, the applicable legal understanding for resolving Airbnb disputes remains the case law settled by the Superior Court of Justice (STJ), which grants full authority to resident general meetings to independently prohibit or regulate short-term letting activity within condominiums.

Penalties and fines for breaching rules of coexistence

Managing interpersonal conflicts arising from the inappropriate behaviour of residents legally classified as antisocial condominium members is one of the most exhausting, wearing and delicate tasks faced by property managers in their day-to-day leadership. The current text of the Civil Code sets out mechanisms for punishing residents who breach rules on noise, hygiene or safety, but requires extremely high voting quorums (such as three-quarters of the remaining owners) to impose severe fines or exclude the offender, hampering the work of administrations in many condominiums.

The proposed legislative reform under debate seeks to streamline and speed up the process of penalising residents who repeatedly disturb the peace and social harmony of the building. The Civil Code review bill proposes allowing fines for repeated breaches of the internal rules to be decided directly by the property manager together with the advisory council, guaranteeing the accused resident the right to a defence at a simple meeting, and eliminating the requirement for qualified quorums that are almost impossible to reach at condominium meetings.

Beyond simplifying the imposition of financial fines, jurists are discussing the formalisation of the procedural process for excluding antisocial residents from physical access to shared facilities in cases of extreme severity, such as physical assaults on front-desk staff, armed threats against neighbours or chronic vandalism against the building's shared property. The proposal under debate seeks to speed up urgent judicial protection, allowing a dangerous resident to be removed from residential towers by court order, preserving internal harmony and ensuring the collective safety that should prevail in the daily life and governance of every condominium.

The prudent property manager must, however, keep both feet firmly on the ground of current legal reality and remind the community of residents that these procedural facilities for punishing antisocial condominium members are part of a Civil Code reform bill that has not yet been voted on and approved by the country's Legislative Houses. There is no certainty whatsoever that these measures will become binding law. In the current 2026 scenario, attempting to impose severe sanctions or restrict rights without meeting the strict quorums and prior right of defence set out in the current wording of the law remains a factor that generates judicial annulment of fines and heavy compensation claims against condominiums.

The property market and legal certainty for new developments

The possible structural updates under debate in Brazilian private legislation will not limit their practical impact to the daily routine of front desks and guardhouses in already-occupied buildings; they promise to redraw business guidelines, property-development contracts and construction guarantees that govern the launch of new residential and commercial developments across the country. For construction firms, developers and property investment funds, monitoring the evolution of this legal text under debate is a critical factor for mitigating long-term legal risks in condominiums.

The commission of jurists proposes updating the Civil Code to bring greater regulatory clarity and legal certainty to off-plan property purchase and sale contracts, formalising rules on contract rescission, tolerance periods for the handover of keys, and the extent of developers' liability for hidden defects or finishing flaws in the masonry of shared common areas of buildings. This regulation seeks to reduce the volume of litigation that tends to pit newly formed owners' committees against construction firms in new condominiums.

Another innovative aspect under discussion concerns the possibility of formalising the creation of ring-fenced assets and specific rules for mixed-use property developments, which combine ground-floor shops with residential towers above. The proposed reform seeks to define, with mathematical precision, the division of ordinary expenses, the rules for using shared car parks and the governance boundaries between the commercial wing and the residential sector of the building, a corporate advance long demanded by the property market to drive the launch of modern, smart projects in line with the Civil Code.

Given the strategic impact that these new contractual guidelines promise to bring to the construction and development sector, an essential reminder is owed to investors and industry managers. These proposed contractual changes and property guarantees, described in the Civil Code review bill, have not yet been voted on by the Brazilian National Congress, and stand as proposals in the legislative pipeline rather than rules currently in force. Property contracts for new developments must continue to be drawn up and executed in strict alignment with the Real Estate Development Law (Law No. 4,591/64) and with the current, effective text of civil law governing condominiums.

Strategic planning and legislative vigilance in management

Successfully completing a forward-looking analysis of the possible, far-reaching regulatory changes under debate in Brazilian private law represents a definitive milestone of administrative maturity, civil liability and intelligent governance led by the modern property manager. Approaching the challenges and future legislative trends of the legal reform with the necessary journalistic and informative rigour shows that resolving the impasses of urban coexistence and market asset appreciation requires a perfect balance between continuous monitoring of developments in the Legislature, training front-desk staff teams, and strict compliance with current law, restoring order across the whole condominium.

By harmonising preventive regulatory vigilance with the accounting and corporate intelligence of adopting innovative renewable-transition and tariff-efficiency solutions for the building's shared electricity bills — such as the smart clean and renewable energy subscription model provided by NewSun Energy Group and monitored in real time through the NewSun Energy Club digital analytics platform — the condominium manager creates a sustainable, high-performing administrative ecosystem, freeing up valuable resources from the ordinary budget for ongoing investment in modernising access points, legal advice for updating by-laws, and new technical inspections focused on preparing building infrastructure for future scenarios without blowing the condominium's budget.

Taking on the role of proactive leader in this technological and regulatory transition at general meetings and advisory councils leaves a lasting legacy of legal stability, social peace and community reassurance that will directly benefit all resident families. Enjoying a modern building, whose internal rules keep pace with legal compliance, knowing that the building's finances are shielded against abusive tariff bands through a sustainable renewable-energy subscription, is the ideal scenario for a prosperous, law-abiding community life, perfectly attuned to the demands of modern urban living.