Renting out

It should identify the parties and the property, the purpose, the term, the rent and the payment date. Notifying the tax office triggers stamp duty. 10% of one month's rent, paid by the landlord.

The term chosen is not only legal: it sets the income-tax rate on the rent, and the gap between a 2-year and a 10-year lease is 15 points.

It replaced the previous regime and introduced freedom to agree the term, with special rules for pre-1990 contracts.

Article 24 carries the annual update by the INE coefficient; renewal and opposition sit in articles 1096 and following of the Civil Code.

It covers unpaid rent and damage beyond fair wear. It is not rent paid in advance: the tenant cannot use it to skip the last month unless agreed.

Returned at the end, less what is owed. An inventory of condition at the start is what avoids the argument at the end.

Computed from the average change in the price index excluding housing over the 12 months to August. Announced that month and published in the official gazette by 30 October.

It is not always what applies: in 2023 the law held the increase to 2%, below the published coefficient, and in 2021 the coefficient was below 1.

A tenant may terminate on notice, its length depending on how long the lease has run. A landlord may only do so on statutory grounds (needing the home, or major works) and with compensation.

Not to be confused with opposing renewal, which is the mechanism for fixed-term leases.

The notice period depends on the lease's length: from 30 days on short leases to 240 days on leases of six years or more, counted back from the end of the current term.

Missing it by a day means another full renewal period. It is the most expensive mistake in Portuguese tenancy law.

They answer for rent and damage, and the guarantee survives renewals unless otherwise agreed. A point many guarantors do not realise.

The alternatives are rent-guarantee insurance and enlarged deposits, which solve the same problem without involving a third person.