Advice for buying a property in Portugal
Deal with estate agents who are government licensed, they must be identified by a number AMI BIP is license nr. AMI 2921.
Deal with lawyers or with solicitors who are fully qualified for their services. You can be charged from 1 to 3% of the value of the transaction. But if you need a lawyer we are happy to provide recommendations of local English speaking lawyers if requested.
BIP will handle all necessary paper work documents for free to our clients. Necessary legal documents
Property Registration Certificate.( Certidão de Teor )
On the local Land Registry ( Conservatória do Registo Perdial )check if the seller as the ownership of the property and no one else has those rights and also if it is free of charges and mortgages. A Registration Certificate should be issue and as a time limit it describes the property's legal history and it is necessary to do the deed in the Notary as proof of ownership and power to sell.  Property Tax document (Caderneta Perdial )
On the local tax office obtain a official tax document which certifies the inscription of the property for fiscal purposes and also identifies the owner and is fiscal NR., the description of the property ( areas, nr. of rooms, area and type of plot, history etc) it also identifies the property with a unique fiscal number. In this document is mentioned how much the owner will pay in local yearly taxes. This certificate is necessary in case of transaction of the property. If the property is new this will be replaced for a form which until the certificate is not issue. License of Use ( Licença de Utilização )
Obtain a copy of the usage license in the Local Town Hall. In this document you can check if the property is approved for the proposes of the original building permission. For residential property it is necessary a habitation license, for non residential it is necessary a commercial or industrial license . This document is also necessary to be present on buying and selling contract signed in the presence of the Notary. Buying and selling contract ( Contrato promessa compra e venda )
This document must obviously be signed by the buyer and seller and as a promissory contract it must indicate the reference to the documents explained before and also the terms in which the transaction will be done and conditions of sale. A deposit must be done and it can vary between 10 and 30% .The Portuguese law protects both intervenients, if the buyer gives up in buying he will loose the deposit, if the seller change his mind he has to return the deposit in double. This contract should be signed in the presence of the Notary. Personal Fiscal Number ( Numero fiscal de contribuinte )
As a future owner of a Portuguese property you will need to have Portuguese Fiscal Number which can be obtained immediately on a Local Tax Office. Transfer Tax ( IMT- IMPOSTO MUNICIPAL sobre TRANSMISSOES)
This tax must be paid before the Final Deed and a document must be issued by the Local Tax Office which proves that it's payment and be present of the Notary on the Deed. The tax to pay depends of the price the property . In the following table you have the tax due for the year 2004 on residential property. rustic property will be charged at a flat rate of 5% and commercial property or land for construction will be charged at a flat rate of 6.5%. Offshore companies pay 15% Updated table of the Property Transfer Tax ( IMT ) for the year 2008
Final Deed ( Escritura )
The title of the property is done on the conveyance signed in a Public Notary. All the mentioned documents are necessary Registration( Registo )
Finally and very important is to register the property in your name in the Land office and also in the Local Tax Office. This procedure should be done with no delay. Mortgages in Portugal
Loans available for the majority of Nationalities for either House Purchase or re-financing for other purposes including Home Improvements.
We hope that with this brief description of the legal procedures we helped you to get information on buying a property in Portugal. If you need any further information do not hesitate to contact us. And don't forget we do all those necessary procedures to our clients for free.
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