The purchase process is a fairly standard procedure… pitfalls of buying property in Portugal

The purchase process is a fairly standard procedure…

Well, not quite.

One might feel it, but in fact, it's not like that at all.

Although there some similarities there are lot is different things between your home country and Portugal, and not knowing them and safeguarding yourself from them might be a big headache in the future.

One thing is what you see – beautiful piece of land, lovely house, either finished or needing to be restored.

Another is what the paperwork tells about that property.

Some issues you can face are:

➡️ Many sellers are not yet, legally, owners of the property, despite advertising the property for sale;

➡️ There might be pre-emption rights from neighbours:

➡️ Sheppard’s renting the land (They tend to be difficult to leave peacefully)

➡️ There are illegal enlargements of buildings (illegal kitchens or storage rooms, swimming pools and support buildings, and other).

➡️ There are licensing problems.

➡️ There are missing infrastructures that you were counting on;

➡️ There might be debts over the property that pass on to the you.

➡️ Deposits paid without a promissory contract signed.

➡️ A promissory contract written in Portuguese, and signed in good faith (with many legal implications and consequences in case of default).

➡️ Not having a proper survey to determine the correct boundaries.

➡️ Accepting to pay a part “under the table”, having in the future, in case of sale, a higher cost in capital gains.

And so on.

To avoid all of this and more, you need proper legal help.

A lawyer that can make due diligence and check many things, draft you a promissory contract in Portuguese and English (don’t accept anything less), so you can evaluate how things are, and define how they should be, when the purchase really happens.

Otherwise, you might end:

➡️ stuck with a property, and in the future if you want to sell, you’ll have problems,

➡️ with problems to legalize the entire land and/or buildings(sometimes its really impossible due to the rules)

➡️ with problems to build or rebuild.

➡️ with disputes in court, that will take you years in Portuguese courts, with an uncertain outcome (with a lot of extra costs to defend yourself).

So, having a tax office document and a registration document, is not a guarantee of safety.

We tell our clients that when one buys a property, he/she should be able to sell it the day after, no questions asked.

Of course, many times the intention is not to sell, but we never know how life goes.

We´ve had clients that had no intention to sell, but life made them change their plans.

When they bought, they thought it was a fairly standard procedure… and had no proper legal advice, in English.

And when life turned around and they tried to sell, the potential buyers raised a lot of questions about things that were not correct in in the paperwork, in comparison with what was on site.

So they were stuck: needed to sell quickly, but they couldn’t without solving the problems, problems they didn’t even know they had, until then…

And let me give you a word of advice: proper legal advice is given by lawyers. It’s not given by google translator, nor real estate agents (they are forbidden to do so, and are working for the seller).

Think about your area of expertise: would you trust an opinion of any person, or would you look for an expert in that field of action?

Well, in legal matters is the same.

And give it a thought: what will be the real cost of legal help, if it avoids you trouble, worries, struggles and future problems!!!

I say, it’s worth a while thinking about it.

Our clients have thought about it and they can speack for us (Check it out here)

See you next time.

Nuno de Almeida e Silva

(Lawyer)

(Disclaimer: The information referred in this post is generic and cannot be considered has legal advice nor binds the author to any responsibility if anyone takes action upon it. Please, if you have any legal doubts our questions, contact a lawyer to analyze your case, and give you legal advice to your specific situation.)