Page 15 - Expat Living Summer 2016
P. 15
PORTUGAL
Thinking of Settling in Portugal?
Make sure you understate the real estate market first,
says Expat Living’s property expert Christopher Nye.
Portuguese estate agents must be licensed and When you find a property it is quite common to be
qualified, so ask to see their INCI certificate and asked for a modest (less than €3,000) deposit to
AMI licence. With typical agent fees of more than take it off the market. It should be clearly stated to
5%, private sales are common – look out for boards be refundable under certain conditions, such as a
saying vende-se or para venda. legal issue that cannot be resolved, or a survey –
inspecao – that turns up something nasty. It should
Among Portugal’s largest online property portals also be kept in a separate escrow-style account.
are casa.sapo.pt and imovirtual.com, or a specialist
such as meravista.com in the Algarve. Although the Avoid agreeing to under-declare the purchase price
agent is paid out of the sales price, the buyer should to avoid tax: it is quite a common practice but is
budget for an average of 10% extra in fees and taxes. illegal and could cost you extra in capital gains when
you sell, unless you continue the deceit.
Portuguese euro mortgages are available both to
buy and to renovate a property. The maximum loan- You will need to obtain a tax card and identity
to-value is 80% and rental income generally cannot number (Cartão de Contribuinte) and NIF – a simple
be included in your calculations. You will need to pay process of attending the local tax office with your
an arrangement fee of 1.5–2% of the loan value, and passport and the small fee and filling in a few forms.
pay for life assurance cover. Often the estate agent will be only too keen to help
you with this.
Your first step when looking seriously at buying
should be to engage a lawyer – advogado – who is There’s more on buying property in Portugal under
independent of the agent or developer. Being able to Property Buying Guides in the Property section at
communicate with them, of course, is vital and there www.worldofexpats.com
are English-speaking lawyers available in popular
areas and cities.
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