The following is a step-by-step guide to registering a long-term rental contract in the Finanças portal. This applies to all rentals which are not covered by a short-term rental booking, or Alojamento Local, and are therefore implemented according to the NRAU (Novo Regime de Arrendamento Urbano) legislation. This process is absolutely obligatory if the property is, for example, advertised on platforms such as Airbnb with no licence number.
Rentals like this must be registered before the end of the month following that of the start date of the contract, according to Article 60 of the Stamp Duty Code (Artigo 60.º do Código do Imposto do Selo). For example, if the contract starts on 1st March, the registration must be done before the end of April. Contracts can also be registered during the two months before the start date.
1. Go to www.portaldasfinancas.gov.pt, and write “Contratos” in the search field:
2. Go to the option called “Comunicar Início” and click “Aceder” at the end of that line:
3. On the next screen, fill in your fiscal number (NIF) and Finanças password, and click the “Autenticar” button to log on to the portal. Click on the button “COMUNICAR INÍCIO CONTRATO“:
4. You are now presented with a long form to fill in with the details of the contract. An explanation of each field follows, and a sample declaration, with some details redacted for privacy reasons, can be seen here.
- Referência: Any name you wish to give, for your own reference
- Tipo: Arrendamento
- Finalidade: Habitacional (Permanente) for contracts of 1 year or more. Or, Habitacional (Não Permanente) for contracts of less than 1 year.
- Data de Início: Start date of the contract
- Data de Termo: End date of contract
- Renovável: Select only if renewable contract
- Indique o imóvel que pretende adicionar: Click on the drop-down list and select the property the contract applies to. All necessary property details will be automatically filled in, but may be edited if necessary
- Parte Comum: leave blank
- Descritivo da parte arrendada do imóvel: Any name you want to give to identify the particular part or section of the house if you are not renting the entire property.
- Bloco: May be left blank
- 1º Locador / Sujeito Passivo: Your details should be filled in automatically
- NIF: Owner’s fiscal number
- Quota-Parte na Renda: If there is only one owner, it should be 1/1. If there are two owners with 50% each, you will need to specify 1/2, and so on.
- Isenção/Benefício: leave as “Sem benefício“, except for very special cases.
- ADICIONAR OUTRO LOCADOR (Button): Click only if there is more than one registered owner. This will allow you to complete a second person’s (or entity’s) details, with name, NIF, etc. Do this for as many times as there are owners.
- Indique os Locatários (Inquilinos): Here we specify the details of the tenant or tenants, as follows:
- País: If the tenant has a Portuguese fiscal number (NIF), then this field should ALWAYS be Portugal, otherwise specify the tenant’s country of residence.
- NIF/Documento de Identificação: If you specified Portugal as the country, this field will be NIF, otherwise it will be Documento de Identificação. As we’ve discussed before, it is possible to register a rental contract when the tenant has no Portuguese NIF. If the tenant resides in a EU country, then it is necessary to specify the fiscal number from that county. If from outside the EU, an ID number may be used (e.g. passport number)
- Retenção na Fonte: If the tenant is a company, a withholding tax is required, and the option is: À taxa de 25%. Otherwise: Sem retenção
- ADICIONAR OUTRO LOCATÁRIO (Button): Click here if you need to add more than one tenant
- Valor da Renda: The amount of 1 month’s rent, if the contract is for 1 month or more. If less than 1 month, specify the total amount.
- Valor das Despesas: There are some costs that, as a rule, are paid by the owner: condominium fees; property tax (IM), etc. It’s possible, but not at all the norm, to specify in the contract that the tenant pays these costs. In that case, the costs should be specified in this field.
- Valor da Renda Máxima: Normally not used, but a maximum rent can be specified, if included in the contract
- Período de Renda: “Mensal” if the contract is 1 month or more. “Inferior a um mês” if less than 1 month.
- Observações: If the “Documento de Identificação” field has been used, you might want to explain here that the number is, for example, a British Passport number
- NIF do terceiro autorizado: Optionally, you can specify here the NIF of the “fiador” or guarantor, if there is one.
5. With all the above details completed, click the green button at the top right called GUARDAR RASCUNHO (Save draft):
6. The next screen gives you 3 options: APAGAR (Delete), CORREGIR (Edit) or SUBMETER (Submit). Click SUBMETER to register the contract
The contract has now been registered, and you will now be prompted to pay the stamp tax, which is 10% of the first month’s rent, or 10% of the total amount if the rental is for less than one month.
