Renting in Portugal: two months' deposit, a five-year contract and a notice period you control
As a Dutch national you rent in Portugal without restriction, with your NIF as the only paper that really matters. The law caps the deposit and the rent paid in advance at two months each, gives a contract without an agreed term five years, and lets you leave after a third of the term — with 120 days' notice. What belongs in the contract, who reports it to the Finanças, and the question to ask before you sign.
Yes, as a Dutch national you rent in Portugal without any restriction; the only paper a landlord really needs from you is your NIF. What it costs at signing is set by law: a deposit of at most two months' rent and at most two months' rent in advance, so count on two to four months in one go. The find is in the Código Civil itself: if you agree no term, the contract runs for five years, and as tenant you may leave at any time after a third of the term — with 120 days' notice. The trap is a landlord who does not report the contract to the Finanças: then you have no registered contract, and that is exactly the document the municipality wants to see for your CRUE.
What do you pay at signing?
Article 1076 of the Código Civil is short. Rent may be paid in advance only with a written agreement and for at most two months. In addition, the parties may provide security — the caução, the deposit — up to the amount of two rents. A landlord may not ask for more than those two items; whoever invents a third is outside the law.
What surprises here is that the deposit does not have to sit on a blocked account. The law speaks of "any legally permitted form", and in practice that is a transfer to the landlord. So put in writing what happens on departure, and take photos at the handover of the keys: without a written inventory on leaving, the refund is a conversation, not a right.
How long are you tied in — and how do you get out?
This is the part almost nobody knows, and it determines how much freedom you have in the year you are still discovering Portugal.
| Rule | What the law says | Article |
|---|---|---|
| No term agreed | the contract runs for five years | 1094 |
| Renewal | automatic, each time for the same duration, or three years if the duration was shorter | 1096 |
| Landlord does not want to renew | 120 days' notice for a term of one to six years; 240 days from six years; 60 days for six months to a year | 1097 |
| Landlord wants to stop after the first term | that only takes effect three years after signing, unless he needs the house for himself or his children | 1097 |
| You do not want to renew | 90 days' notice for one to six years; 120 days from six years; 60 days for six months to a year | 1098 |
| You want to leave early | after a third of the term, at any time: 120 days' notice on a contract of a year or longer, 60 days below that | 1098 |
Two things stand out. A landlord who wants rid of you after the first year can only do so after three years, so whoever signs a one-year contract sits more firmly than it seems. And you have the other side of that coin: on a one-year contract you may give notice after four months, and on a five-year contract after twenty. The notice takes effect at the end of a calendar month, counted from your letter.
What belongs in the contract?
The contract must be in writing, and the property must have a use licence — the licença de utilização. The contract must contain at least: who the parties are, which property it is, the number of that licence (or why it is not required), the rent and the date of signing. If you agree nothing about the annual increase, the statutory indexation applies: a coefficient the statistics office INE publishes every year before the end of October.
If you pay no rent for two months or longer, or are more than eight days late four times within twelve months, the landlord may terminate the contract. That is the hard side; the soft side is that termination for other reasons must be invoked within a year of the fact.
Who reports the contract to the tax authority?
The landlord. Since 1 April 2015 every new rental contract, and every change and termination of it, must be reported through the Portal das Finanças. That report triggers the stamp duty, which the landlord pays by the end of the month following the start of the tenancy. For you the report is no one else's formality: the registered contract is the proof that you live somewhere, and the municipality may ask for it at your registration after three months.
Ask the question before you sign. Ask every serious landlord whether it will be a regular contract, reported to the Finanças, with which you can register. Whoever is evasive about that is letting on the black market — and it is you who gets stuck at the câmara, not him.
Where does this sit in your journey?
In Portugal, renting comes before everything you hang on an address: the registration with the municipality, the NISS and your health number, the bank account on a Portuguese address. So first book something furnished for the first weeks, look for the real home on the spot, and buy nothing in your first year. The whole roadmap, with the order and the deadlines, is at /portugal.
In Vertrekklaar this is phase 4 of 5 of the journey, step 4.1: the same steps, but for your situation — in your order, tickable, and with the deadlines watched. See the whole journey to Portugal or go straight to step 4.1 in the open plan.
What this rests on
The facts in this article come from these official pages. Rules change — when in doubt the source is leading, not this article.
- Código Civil, article 1076 (PGDL) — rent in advance at most two months, deposit at most two rents — pgdlisboa.pt
- Código Civil, article 1094 (PGDL) — without an agreed term the contract runs for five years — pgdlisboa.pt
- Código Civil, article 1097 (PGDL) — the landlord's notice periods, and the first three years — pgdlisboa.pt
- Código Civil, article 1098 (PGDL) — the tenant's notice periods, and leaving after a third of the term — pgdlisboa.pt
- Portal das Comunidades (MNE) — what a rental contract must contain, the annual indexation and the grounds for termination — portaldascomunidades.mne.gov.pt
- Portal das Finanças — since 1 April 2015 the landlord reports the contract to the tax authority and pays the stamp duty — info.portaldasfinancas.gov.pt
- gov.pt — no NIF, no contract and no bank account — gov.pt
Read on
- PortugalRegistration in Portugal5 min
Bank account in Portugal: with your NIF at any bank, and the basic account of at most € 5 a year
You open a Portuguese account with your NIF and your passport, and as an EU resident no bank may refuse you because you have only just arrived. What surprises Dutch people are the monthly charges on an ordinary account. The answer is in the law: the serviços mínimos bancários, a basic account with card, direct debits and transfers, whose annual cost is capped at one per cent of the IAS — a few euros a year.
Updated 26 September 2026
- PortugalRegistration in Portugal5 min
The CRUE: the registration at the câmara that's mandatory after three months
After three months in Portugal you have 30 days to register — not with an immigration service, but at the town hall. What it costs, what you bring, which condition you have to meet, and the fine almost nobody knows about.
Updated 26 September 2026
- PortugalRegistration in Portugal5 min
Your first weeks in Portugal: the six clocks that run, and the order that makes them feasible
Nobody stops you, and so nobody tells you what has to happen now. Six deadlines start running on the day you arrive: sixty days for your driving licence, three months plus thirty days for your registration with the municipality, 120 days for your dog or cat, twelve months for the car — and before that the NIF and the bank account, because without those two everything stands still.
Updated 26 September 2026