How to Rent an Apartment in Portugal as an American or Briton

To rent an apartment in Portugal as a foreigner, you sign a written lease with the landlord, and the Civil Code and a decree on lease content set the form, the minimum content, the limit on money paid upfront, and the rules on duration and renewal. The landlord must report the lease to the tax authority, and you will need a Portuguese tax number (NIF), because the lease has to record the tax numbers of both parties.

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. It follows the move in order, starting with what a newcomer needs. If you are still choosing a visa, start with our guide to residence routes to Portugal.

What does a newcomer need to rent a home?

You need a Portuguese tax number before you sign. The decree that sets out what a lease must contain says the contract must identify the parties by name, civil identification number and tax identification number. Our guide to the Portuguese NIF explains how a foreigner who is not yet resident can request one.

The lease can also help you once you are in Portugal. The tax authority’s FAQ on registering a NIF says that, for a third-country resident whose documents do not show an address, the address can be set by presenting any of these: the public deed of purchase of a home, a lease on a home, an employment contract, or a document issued by a public entity.

A residence permit is a separate matter. The Foreigners Law lists “Alojamento” (accommodation) among the cumulative conditions for a temporary residence permit and does not define it in that article. What a consulate or AIMA accepts as proof is a question for the visa guides.

The pages we read set no condition of nationality or residence for signing a lease. The Civil Code goes the other way: article 1067-A says nobody may be discriminated against in access to renting on grounds that include nationality and language, and that a rental advertisement may not carry a restriction or preference based on those grounds. What a particular landlord asks for in practice (payslips, a guarantor, a bank statement) is not something these pages cover.

One more point from the Foreigners Law: anyone who provides lodging to foreign citizens for payment must report it within three business days to the GNR or the PSP by means of a lodging form. The article’s wording is broad and the page does not say how it applies to a long residential lease, so ask your landlord whether they handle it.

Nothing in the lease articles, the decree or the stamp duty pages differs between Americans and Britons. What differs is the paperwork around the move: a visa and AIMA for most Americans, and the withdrawal agreement documents for Britons, covered in our guide for British citizens.

Does a lease have to be in writing, and what must it say?

Yes. Article 1069 of the Civil Code says an urban lease must be made in writing. If the missing writing is not the tenant’s fault, the tenant can prove the lease by showing use of the property without opposition from the landlord and the monthly payment of rent for six months.

Decree-Law 160/2006, as amended in 2012, sets the content. The consolidated text on the Diário da República lists what must appear:

The decree adds items to mention when they apply: the private areas, shared areas and annexes included, the landlord’s legal basis if it is a temporary right or an administration of someone else’s property, the property tax registration number, the rent and its update rules, the term, the existence of a condominium regulation, an agreed address for notices, and any other clauses the parties want. The regulation and a document describing the condition of the unit and the building are to be attached and signed by both parties. If there is no such document, article 1043 of the Civil Code presumes the unit was handed over in good maintenance condition, which is why a signed condition report with photographs protects you.

A missing item does not by itself make the lease invalid or ineffective if it can be supplied under the general rules, according to article 4 of the decree.

What about the licence of use?

Article 5 of the decree says only buildings or units whose suitability for the intended use is certified by a licence of use can be let. For a building built before the General Regulation of Urban Buildings of 7 August 1951, a document proving the construction date is attached instead. If the landlord breaks this rule, the decree provides a fine of not less than one year of rent, and the tenant may terminate the lease with compensation under general law. A lease for a purpose other than the licensed one is void. Ask to see the licence, or the proof of its application, before you pay anything.

How long does a lease last, and how does it renew?

A housing lease can be fixed-term or open-ended (article 1094). If the parties say nothing, the lease is taken to be fixed-term for five years. A fixed-term lease can be agreed to become open-ended after the first renewal.

Article 1095 requires the term to be written in the contract and set at no less than one year and no more than 30 years. The one-year minimum does not apply to leases for non-permanent housing or for special transitional purposes, such as professional reasons, education and training, or tourism, when the contract states them. That matters for a newcomer who wants a short first lease while looking for a permanent home. For each unit, only one lease for a transitional tourist purpose can be made per calendar year.

Unless the contract says otherwise, a fixed-term lease renews automatically for successive periods of the same length, or three years if the original period was shorter (article 1096). Leases for non-permanent or transitional purposes do not renew automatically unless the contract says so.

Either party can prevent renewal by notifying the other in time:

The landlord’s objection to the first renewal takes effect only after three years from signing, except where the landlord or a child needs the home to live in. After one third of the term has passed, a tenant can terminate at any time with 120 days’ notice (term of one year or more) or 60 days (shorter term). The termination takes effect at the end of a calendar month. Short notice does not stop the lease from ending, but the tenant owes the rent for the missing notice, except for involuntary unemployment, permanent incapacity for work, or the death of the tenant or of someone living with them for over a year (article 1098).

For an open-ended lease, a tenant can terminate after six months of effective duration with 120 days’ notice (a year or more) or 60 days (up to a year), without giving a reason (article 1100). The landlord can end an open-ended lease only on the grounds in article 1101: need of the home for the landlord or a first-degree descendant, demolition or deep renovation, or five years’ notice. Each ground carries its own conditions, including written notice of at least six months for the first two (article 1103), payment of one year of rent for the housing ground (article 1102) and compensation or rehousing for the works ground.

How much can a landlord ask for upfront?

Article 1076 of the Civil Code gives two limits. Rent can be paid in advance, with a written agreement, for no more than two months. The parties can secure their obligations by any form the law provides, up to the value of two rents. Lei 24-D/2022 of 30 December 2022 is the latest law the page lists as amending this article.

The Civil Code treats the guarantee (caução) and advance rent as two separate items, each with its own cap, and the article does not use the word “deposit”. If a landlord asks for both, read the clause with the article in hand. Unless the contract says otherwise, the first rent falls due when the lease is signed, and each later rent on the first working day of the month before the one it covers (article 1075). Agency fees, which are a separate subject, are not covered by the pages we read.

A bill now in Parliament may change this. See the section on what is changing, below.

Who pays what?

Article 1078 adds that expenses should be contracted in the name of the person responsible for paying them. If the tenant is responsible for an expense contracted in the landlord’s name, the landlord shows proof of payment within a month, and the tenant pays by the end of the month after that, with the next rent. Where the parties agree a fixed monthly amount for these costs, the accounts are settled every six months.

A tenant who has to make an urgent repair the landlord is late on can do so and claim reimbursement (article 1036). A tenant may also make small damages needed for comfort, but must repair them before returning the unit unless the lease says otherwise (article 1073).

Rent updates need to be written into the lease. If they are not, article 1077 allows an annual update using the legal coefficients, with the first one a year after the start, and the landlord must give at least 30 days’ written notice of the coefficient and the new rent.

Decree-Law 97/2026 of 20 May 2026 raises the annual IRS deduction limit for rent paid by tenants in housing leases to 900 euros for 2026 and to 1,000 euros from 2027, according to its preamble and its transitional article. IRS is the personal income tax, so how this applies to you depends on your tax residence, which this guide does not cover. A rectification declaration (Declaração de Retificação n.º 26/2026/1) is listed against the decree, and we did not read it.

Does the lease have to be registered with the tax authority?

The landlord must report the lease. Article 60 of the Stamp Duty Code says lessors and sublessors report leases, promises to lease, and their changes and termination to the tax authority. The report is due by the end of the month after the start of the lease, the change, the termination or, for a promise to lease, the date the property is made available, in the official form. Since Law 56/2023 of 6 October 2023, article 60 also says tenants and subtenants can submit the report if the landlord does not.

The tax authority’s FAQ gives the practical steps:

• The declaration (Modelo 2) is submitted online on the Portal das Finanças. Landlords who have no electronic mailbox and whose property income the year before was not more than twice the IAS (the social support index), and landlords aged 65 or over, may file at a tax office instead.
• When the declaration is submitted, the stamp duty is calculated and a payment document issued, payable by the end of the month after the lease starts.
• A rent update imposed by law does not have to be reported; the FAQ distinguishes it from an increase agreed between the parties.
• Rural leases and loan-for-use contracts (comodato) follow different rules and are not covered here.

The stamp duty is item 2 of the General Table: 10% on the rent, or the agreed increase, for one month. For leases of less than a month with no renewal, it is charged on the rent for the whole period.

What rights does a tenant have?

The Civil Code spreads a tenant’s rights over many articles. The ones that matter most to a newcomer are these:

Late payment is where a tenant is most exposed. Unless the landlord ends the lease for non-payment, the landlord can claim 20% of the amount owed on top of the arrears, but the right lapses if the tenant ends the delay within eight days (article 1041). Termination for non-payment can operate by notice when the delay is three months or more, or when rent is more than eight days late more than four times in 12 months (article 1083, paragraphs 3 and 4); for the second case the landlord may terminate only after warning the tenant by registered letter once the third late payment has happened (paragraph 6). For the first case, the termination is void if the tenant pays within a month, a facility that can be used once per lease (article 1084). Other grounds for termination by the landlord must be decided in court under article 1084, paragraph 1. After a termination, the unit must be vacated after one month unless a court or the parties set another period (article 1087).

Finally, during the three months before you leave, you must show the unit to people who want to rent it at times agreed with the landlord, and failing agreement on working days from 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm and on weekends from 3 pm to 7 pm (article 1081).

What is changing?

The Civil Code’s lease articles we read show their latest amendment as Law 82/2023 of 29 December 2023 (article 1095). The Novo Regime do Arrendamento Urbano (NRAU, Law 6/2006) lists Law 56/2023 of 6 October 2023 as its most recent version. The Portal da Habitação page on the NRAU says Law 31/2012, in force since 12 November 2012, revised the regime, and highlights the negotiation mechanism for rents agreed before 1990.

The 2026 development is in Parliament. The record of Proposta de Lei 103/XVII/1 shows that the Government asked Parliament, on 12 August 2026, for an authorization to amend the NRAU, the Civil Code, the Code of Civil Procedure and the decree on works in rented buildings. The bill was approved in general terms on 30 September 2026 (PSD, IL and CDS-PP for, Chega abstaining, PS, Livre, PCP, BE, PAN and JPP against) and went to the committee for detailed examination. It is not law. It would authorize a later decree-law, and we did not read the content of the authorization, so we do not say here what it would change. Until a decree-law is published in the Diário da República, the rules above are the ones the pages show.

The latest date this guide relies on is therefore 30 September 2026, the vote on the bill.

What to do, in order

1. Request your NIF from the tax authority before you search seriously.
2. Ask the landlord for the licence of use (or proof it is not required) and read the lease against the table above.
3. Keep upfront money within the two limits in article 1076 and get a written receipt.
4. Sign a condition report and photographs of the unit as an annex.
5. Check that the lease has been reported on the Portal das Finanças by the end of the month after it starts; if it has not, you can report it yourself.
6. Keep the lease: it is a document that shows your address when you update your NIF. Once you have a home, the next step of the move is health cover, covered in our guide to healthcare access for newcomers.

If you are applying for the retiree route, see our guide to the retirement and passive income visa; for the remote work route, our guide to the remote work visa.

Official pages read for this guide, all on 18 October 2026: the consolidated Civil Code on the Procuradoria-Geral Distrital de Lisboa site (lease articles 1022 to 1107), Decree-Law 160/2006 on the Diário da República (consolidated version), the Stamp Duty Code articles 3 and 60 and the General Table of Stamp Duty on the Portal das Finanças, the Portal das Finanças FAQ on lease stamp duty and on the NIF, the Foreigners Law (articles 16 and 77) on the Procuradoria-Geral Distrital de Lisboa site, the Portal da Habitação NRAU page, the NRAU (Law 6/2006) version list, Decree-Law 97/2026 on the Diário da República, and the parliamentary record of Proposta de Lei 103/XVII/1. Not read: agency fee rules, landlord requirements in practice, and the content of the bill.