Purchasing procedure in Portugal

1. Property Search and Viewing Program

To save you from long and uncertain searches on real estate websites, we help you define your selection criteria:

Purpose of acquisition (retirement, primary or secondary residence for holidays, rental investment…)
Location (cities, neighborhoods, city center, seaside…)
Type of property (apartment, house, new or old, with or without renovation required…)
Budget constraints (full self-financing, need for a loan, down payment, choice of banking institutions…)

Once these criteria are defined together, we target suitable listings and prepare a personalized viewing program that fits your availability during your stay in Lisbon. A minimum of fifteen visits is planned over a period of 2 to 4 days.

2. Reservation

Once you find your ideal property, you must make a purchase offer. In return, the seller may make a counter-offer, starting a negotiation process that could lead to an agreement on the purchase price.

If an agreement is reached, you will need to validate your decision through a reservation. An initial deposit (between 0.5% and 2% of the price) will be negotiated with the seller. A two-week period will be granted, during which the seller commits not to sell the property to another buyer. This timeframe allows preparation for the next step: signing the promise of sale.

3. Tax Registration and Bank Account

The buyer must obtain a Portuguese taxpayer identification number (NIF), which is essential for purchasing property.

We will assist you in obtaining this number at the tax office, ensuring the process is smooth and translation issues are avoided.

Regarding opening a bank account, there are two possibilities:

Open the account during your stay in Portugal. We can direct you to banking agencies where bilingual advisors are available to assist you.
If financing is arranged through a Portuguese bank operating in France, the French branch will handle the account opening and send your documents and bank card directly to your home.

Promise of Sale

As in France, a promise of sale, called “Contrato Promessa de Compra e Venda,” must be drafted before the final deed is signed before a notary.

The promise of sale outlines the rights and obligations of each party, the conditions during the transitional period (before final signature), and includes the payment of part of the price. For the contract to be enforceable, it must be registered at the “Conservatória de Registo Predial do imóvel” (approximate cost: €260).

Signatures must be authenticated by a notary or a lawyer.

A second complementary deposit will need to be paid to the seller, representing about 10% to 20% of the total acquisition price, corresponding to the minimum required down payment (depending on mortgage conditions).

Our Advice:

In Portugal, a mortgage contingency clause is not automatically included. It is crucial to insert such a clause when drafting the promise of sale.

This clause must foresee the granting of financing within a negotiated timeframe with the seller.

In case of financing through a Portuguese bank in France, we recommend negotiating a minimum period between 75 and 90 days.

At the end of this period:

If the loan is refused, you must immediately inform the seller to recover your deposit within 10 days.
If the loan approval is delayed for administrative reasons, you must negotiate an additional timeframe with the seller.

4. Signing of the Public Deed

The property is officially transferred only when the public deed is signed, either before a private notary or through a lawyer (certified private document).

Before signing, all legal documents are checked by the notary, the deed is read aloud, and finally signed by all parties. The contract can be read and translated into French if needed.

Before the final signature, and depending on the lender’s requirements, a Portuguese bank account may be opened. The transfer of funds should be made a few days prior to the final sale.

5. Administrative Registrations and Taxes

After signing the deed, the notary will proceed with registering the property under the new owner’s name at the land registry office.

Finally, the buyer must pay the IMT (Imposto sobre Transmissões Onerosas de Imóveis), a tax based on the higher of the sale price or the taxable value of the property assessed by the tax authorities.

A reduction is applied depending on the property’s location (mainland or islands) and its intended use (primary or secondary residence).