Yes. Portuguese legal bureaucracy can often be quite complex. It is important to find an independent lawyer to act on your behalf to make this process as straight-forward as possible. We can recommend reputable lawyers that will guide you through this process.

Using several agencies to find you a property can get complicated. Each agency will have their own interests in mind when searching for your perfect property. This can mean that you may end up viewing repeated properties. That being said real estate agencies often collaborate with each other giving you the opportunity to sit back and relax knowing that all properties with your specific requirements will be suggested for you.

Portuguese Golden Visa is a citizenship by investment program and one the most popular Golden Visa Programs worldwide, because of the relatively affordable investment cost. For those who gain access to Portugal’s Golden Visa programs only need to spend 14 days per year in Portugal to maintain the residency. Most common investment considered for the Portuguese Golden Visa would be the purchase of a property for anything above 500,000 Euros. For this purchase to be valid for a Golden Visa, the property must be Onshore (registered in Portugal).

Once an offer is submitted to the Owner/Vendor there are a few possible outcomes:

• No response. This is uncommon, unless the vendor considers the offer to be far too low or offensive.
• Offer is rejected with no counteroffer made by the vendor. You may still submit a revised offer if you wish to do so.
• Counteroffer. The beginning of negotiations – the vendor reduces the sale price closer to your offer.
• Offer accepted

An offer can have a response anywhere from a few hours to several days, it can even take a couple weeks. Generally, this is not the case however there are circumstances that can affect the duration period of an offer, this is up to your agent to inform you of these particular circumstances.

Instruct your lawyer to begin the sales process. Before the completion date there a number of things that need to be completed. This may include a mortgage application, available funds for a deposit payment, a survey if requested and a considerable amount of paperwork to be requested, produced and approved.

The normal amount to be paid with a signature for the promissory contract is 10% of the agreed sale price, in some cases this value may vary depending on agreement between buyer and seller.

Privately Owned

• Legal expenses – 1-2% of purchase price
• IMT – up to 6.5%
• 7.5% for a residential property with a value above 1 Million euros
• Stamp duty – 0.8% purchase price
• Notary – normally between 1000 – 2000 euros
• Registration fees

Corporately owned

• Legal expenses – 1-2% of purchase price
• IMT – Not applicable
• Stamp duty – Not applicable
• Notary – Not applicable
• Registration fees
• Company fees – normally between 1000 – 2000 euros

Capital Gains Tax occurs when you sell something, in this case a property in Portugal, for a higher value than you spent to acquire it. There can be exemptions or deductions to lower your Capital Gains Tax, for example if the property was acquired prior to 1989, it’s not liable to any CGT.