Portugal

Portugal is a country that has a variety of different landscapes and environments, vibrant cities with a thousand-year history, sandy beaches as far as the eye can reach, golden plains and mountains. Portugal has a lot to offer, here you can practice water sports such as kite surfing, surfing, sailing, or playing golf on the best courses in the world. If you are fascinated by history, you can experience the most well-preserved Roman remains or experience the country’s rich cultural heritage, good wines and fantastic food.

The country is divided into seven regions, the Algarve, Lisbon with Estoril and Cascais, Central Portugal with the Silver Coast and Northern Portugal with Porto are the most sought-after regions among Swedes.

Buying Real Estate in Portugal

Buying property in Portugal whether being a house or owner’s apartment is fairly simple as there are no restrictions for foreigners to own property in Portugal. The range of houses consists of traditional Portuguese country houses in the countryside with often white plaster with ocher-colored plinth and ocher-colored frames around all windows and doors. The houses along the coasts consist of either modern function-inspired villas or more modern villas in a more traditional style with saddle roofs covered with tiled tiles and plastered facade with brick frame or lightweight concrete frame.

When a buyer has found a suitable property and agreed on the price with the seller, the next action is to contact a lawyer who will guide and assist the buyer through the process.

Process

When one has found a home, it is the lawyer’s job to write agreements and initiate the process of controlling the property’s courtyard and that the deed is clean from mortgages and mortgages. The control of the title will take place in the property register, so-called ”Conservatoria de Registo Predial”, which is located at the local municipality and then a new search is carried out on the Ministry of Finance, ”Repartição de Finanças” to ensure tax registration on the property and that there are no unpaid fees.

Then you make a purchase contract, a so-called ”Contrato de Promessa de Compra e Venda”, which contains information about the terms of sale and other agreements for the transfer. Once this has been signed, both parties are legally bound to the purchase. A deposit of 10% of the purchase price is filed at this stage and the parties must agree with the notary about a date of entry. Your task as a buyer is then to pay the municipal property tax, ”Imposto Municipal Sobre Transamissões – IMT”.

The purchase is terminated with access and law enforcement signed before a notary and officially registered in ”Escritura Publica de Compra e Venda”. Then the remainder of the purchase price and the notary fee, registration fee, stamp duty and transfer tax are also paid.

 Investing in properties in Portugal as a non-european

 The portuguese government offers every non-european that wishes to purches real estate in Portugal a ”Portuguese Golden Visa”. The ”Portuguese Golden Visa” intails a residents permit card for the owner and their family.

With this visa it will be alot easier to travel within Europe and also the rest of the world.

Expenses when buying a property in Portugal

Purchase fees are charged with a fixed fee up to 6.5% and go for a stepladder after the selling price or current market value, the one of the two that is highest on the purchased property, house, plot or ownership apartment. Registration fees, including notary fees, are around 0.20% to 1.20% of the property value. Stamp duty is charged with a fixed fee of 0.80%. Lawyer costs about 1500 Euro plus VAT at 23%.

 Expenses as owner of a property in Portugal

The following are costs that must be paid, according to consumption: Electricity, water, garbage collection, cohabitation fee for owner-occupied apartment and house with joint facility are paid monthly.

One must also pay property tax and when renting the property one must tax 25% on the net income for those who are not permanent residents. Permanent residents pay according to the rental income level between 12% (income up to 4,100 Euro) and 40% (income above 51 251 Euro).