Buying Property in Portugal as a Foreigner: Americans, Britons

A foreigner buys a home in Portugal through the same steps as anyone else: check the property’s papers, sign a promissory contract if you use one, sign the deed of sale, then register the purchase. The pages we read draw no distinction by nationality, and the Casa Pronta page of the registry institute says anyone can use its one-counter service.

This guide is an overview of what the official pages say on the day we read them (18 October 2026). It is not legal advice, and a lawyer or notary can tell you what applies to your property. The most recent change in it is Decree-Law 108/2026, which changed the articles on use titles and came into force on 1 October 2026; the most recent dated page is the registry institute’s page on property registration, updated on 14 August 2026. The taxes on a purchase are a separate subject and are not covered here. If you plan to buy as part of an investment residence route, our guide to the Golden Visa and investment residence is the place to start, and this article makes no claim about it. If you are still choosing between buying and renting, see our guide to renting a home in Portugal.

Do foreigners need anything special to buy a property?

The pages we read do not set any condition of nationality or residence for buying. What they do ask for is identification. The Casa Pronta page lists “the civil and tax identification documents of the sellers, buyers and, if any, other parties” among the documents to bring. Plan to have a Portuguese tax number (NIF) before the deed, since the identification documents asked for include tax ones. Our guide to the Portuguese NIF explains how a person who does not live in Portugal can request one.

The NIF can bring one more duty. The tax authority’s leaflet on the NIF for foreign non-residents, dated July 2025, says a fiscal representative is not required when the number is issued. If the person then creates a tax relationship, they have 15 days to name a fiscal representative in Portugal or to join an electronic notification channel (the electronic notifications system on the Portal das Finanças, or the ViaCTT electronic mailbox). The leaflet’s footnote gives examples of a tax relationship, and one of them is being the owner of real estate in Portugal. It says the choice is optional for residents of an EU country, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein, and for Andorran citizens living in Andorra. The United States and the United Kingdom are not on that list, so an American or a Briton living outside the EU should read the leaflet and ask the tax office or a tax adviser how it applies to them before the purchase.

Otherwise the pages we read treat Americans and Britons like every other buyer. A bank account is a separate question: our guide to opening a bank account in Portugal covers it, and the Banco de Portugal’s mortgage rules are in a later section.

What are the steps to buy a property in Portugal?

The table below follows the order of the official pages. It is a map, not a promise that every sale runs this way.

Which papers should you check before you commit?

The Ordem dos Notários lists the documents for a sale of a home: identification of the people, the property registry certificate (certidão do registo predial), the urban property booklet (caderneta predial urbana), the licence of use (licença de utilização), the energy certificate and the housing technical file (ficha técnica de habitação) “if applicable”. The Casa Pronta page asks for a similar set: the identification documents, the property’s technical file if one exists, a deed that mentions the licence of use or its exemption, and the energy certificate.

Here is what the official pages say about each one.

• Registry certificate. The registry institute says the document that proves a property registration was made is the permanent property certificate (certidão permanente predial), that it can be consulted on the internet and that it is always up to date. The registry institute says the property registry gives information such as the property’s composition, its ownership and the charges attached to it.
• Urban property booklet. The Portal das Finanças says the caderneta predial identifies the property, its location and characteristics, the owners and the taxable asset value, and that it is valid for 12 months. It is requested on the Portal das Finanças under Imóveis, Consultar Património predial.
• Licence of use. The notaries say it can be dispensed with or replaced by the building licence for buildings constructed before 7 August 1951, so it becomes mandatory only for buildings put up after that date. The Casa Pronta page uses the same date and asks for a deed that mentions the licence or its exemption for buildings put up after that date, or before it but altered later. The rules on use titles changed recently: the consolidated Decree-Law 555/99 on the Diário da República shows that Decree-Law 108/2026 of 29 May 2026 reinstated article 62 with new wording, amended articles 62-A and 62-B and revoked 62-C, in force from 1 October 2026 (rectified on 27 July 2026). Article 62-A says use of a building after works depends on a prior communication to the municipality with a statement of conformity of the works, and that the building can be used immediately after that communication is submitted. Article 62-B covers use or change of use not preceded by works. The page’s text of article 62 itself was not visible to us, so ask the seller and the notary what title the property has and what it must show.
• Energy certificate. The ADENE page says an energy certificate is mandatory for buildings at the moment of sale, and that any owner can request one.
• Housing technical file. The notaries say it applies where it is required for buildings built, or rebuilt, extended or altered, after 30 March 2004.

If you buy with a mortgage, the notaries add one document to the list: the title for the cancellation of the existing mortgage.

Do you have to sign a promissory contract first?

The pages we read do not make it a required step. The Ordem dos Notários describes the promissory contract (contrato-promessa) as a written document signed by the person who promises to sell and the person who promises to buy, as a phase before the definitive contract, which is the public deed of sale. Both parties attend.

The Civil Code sets the rules.

• Form. Article 410 says a promise to enter a contract for which the law requires a document is valid only if it is in a document signed by the party bound, or by both if the promise binds both.
• Buildings. For a promise to transfer a right over a building, article 410(3) says the document must contain a notarial recognition of the signatures in person and a certification of the existence of the licence of use or construction. The party who promises to transfer can invoke the missing requirements only if the other party caused them through fault.
• The deposit (sinal). Article 442 says that when there is a sinal, the thing delivered counts toward the price or is returned. If the party who gave it fails to perform through their own fault, the other may keep it. If the party who received it fails, the giver may demand double what was delivered, or, if the property was delivered, its objectively determined value on the day of the breach, less the agreed price, and must also get back the sinal and the part of the price paid. The article also lets the party who did not fail ask a court for specific performance instead.
• Effect against third parties. Article 413 lets the parties give a promise real effect by express statement and registration, in which case it must be in a public deed or an authenticated private document.

Read the promise with a lawyer or notary before you pay a sinal. This guide does not say how much a sinal usually is, because the pages do not.

How is the sale signed, and where?

Article 875 of the Civil Code says that, without prejudice to special law, a contract of sale of real estate is valid only if made by public deed (escritura pública) or by authenticated private document. The Ordem dos Notários says the buyer and seller attend, with the seller’s spouse if they are married under the general community or acquisitions community property regimes.

The Casa Pronta service of the registry institute offers a second route. The page says you can handle several procedures linked to buying and registering a property “at one time and at one counter”, and lists among them sale contracts, mortgage contracts and mortgages. It adds that anyone can use it, that you can book an in-person appointment online through the Siga portal or the sigaApp, and that the service is used in person, by appointment, at any Casa Pronta counter.

The costs on that page, as updated on 22 October 2025, depend on the type of process and the number of properties. For one property, a single registry act, such as the purchase or a mortgage, costs 375 euros, and more than one registry act, such as a sale with bank financing, costs 700 euros. Each extra property costs 50 euros. We did not find an official page that compares this to the fees of a notary, so we do not compare them.

One more step can apply. The registry institute says that if you want to sell a property that is classified, in the process of being classified, or located in a protected area or an urban rehabilitation area, an online notice for the exercise of the legal right of pre-emption must be placed. The Casa Pronta portal says the notice costs 15 euros. The registry institute’s page puts it on the person who wants to sell, so ask the seller whether it applies to your property.

How does a mortgage fit in?

The taxes and stamp duty that come with a purchase are in our guide to IMI, IMT and stamp duty.

The Banco de Portugal’s customer portal says customers must follow administrative procedures before submitting the loan application, and refers readers to the Casa Pronta site. The rest of its guidance concerns the bank.

• Information. The bank must give you the European standardized information sheet (ESIS) when it simulates a loan for you. When it approves the loan, it must give you a new sheet with the agreed conditions and a draft agreement.
• Time to decide. The bank stays bound by its offer for at least 30 days, and you and any guarantor have a reflection period of at least seven days during which the agreement cannot be entered into.
• Creditworthiness. The bank must assess your ability to meet the loan. The elements include age, professional situation, regular income and expenses, and data from the Banco de Portugal’s Central Credit Register. The page gives as an example that the bank may ask for documents proving income in the last three months. Even with a positive assessment, the bank is not obliged to lend.
• Limits. New agreements must respect limits set by the Banco de Portugal on the loan against the property’s value, the debt service against income, the maturity and the repayment method. The page says the maximum maturity cannot exceed 40 years for borrowers aged 30 or under, 37 years for those over 30 and up to 35, and 35 years for those over 35.
• Other products. The bank may not make the loan depend on other products, with exceptions: it may require a current account, and it must accept one opened at another institution, and it may require appropriate insurance, and must accept an equivalent policy from any provider.
• Costs. The page says that besides the interest rate, there are fees and other charges. It also says that stamp duty is levied on the amount financed and on fees charged. The rates are on that page and belong in the article on property taxes.

The pages we read do not describe special rules for lending to people who live outside Portugal, or to Americans or Britons as such. Ask each bank what it requires.

What happens after you sign the deed?

Registration. The registry institute says you must register a property if you buy a property, and that you can register through the Registo Predial Online site or through Casa Pronta, where you can also pay the property transfer tax (IMT) and the stamp duty (IS).

The Registry Code, in the consolidated version on the Diário da República (last amended on 15 April 2026 by Decree-Law 87/2026), sets the rules.

• Article 2 lists facts subject to registration, including those that establish or transfer ownership and mortgages.
• Article 5 says facts subject to registration take effect against third parties only from the date of registration. For registration purposes, third parties are those who acquired, from a common author, rights that are incompatible with each other.
• Article 7 says a definitive registration is a presumption that the right exists and belongs to the registered holder.
• Article 8-A makes registration mandatory for most of these facts, though a mortgage is among the exceptions to the obligation to register it.
• Article 8-B says the entities that make the deed or authenticate the documents must promote the registration.
• Article 8-C says registration must be requested within two months of the date the facts were documented.

The tax authority’s FAQ on the IMI Modelo 1 declaration says the registration of a property in the tax roll, or its update, is made on a declaration filed by the holder within 60 days of listed events, such as works being completed or a change of use. Whether a change of owner has to be declared in that way is not stated in the FAQ’s list, so we do not say. The tax authority’s page on certificates and receipts says the receipt of the IMT Modelo 1 declaration filed on the Portal can be obtained from the “Consultar declaração” function. The taxes, the declarations and the deadlines are the subject of our next article, on IMI, IMT and stamp duty.

What did we read, and what did we not?

We read the pages listed below on 18 October 2026. We did not read the answers in the Casa Pronta FAQ, which load by script, the Portal da Habitação (it had nothing on buying), any official page on lending to non-residents, or the text of article 62 of the urban planning regime. If one of those matters to your purchase, ask the notary, the bank or a lawyer.

Official pages read for this guide: the Casa Pronta page of the registry institute (IRN), its pages on property registration and on the documents of registration, the Casa Pronta portal, the Civil Code on the Procuradoria-Geral Distrital de Lisboa site (articles 410, 413, 442 and 875), the consolidated Registry Code and the consolidated Decree-Law 555/99 on the Diário da República, the Ordem dos Notários pages on the sale of a home, the promissory contract and the sale with a mortgage, the Portal das Finanças pages on certificates and on the IMI Modelo 1 declaration, the tax authority’s leaflet on the NIF for foreign non-residents, three pages of the Banco de Portugal customer portal on home loans, and the ADENE energy certification page. All were read on 18 October 2026.