Buying a home in Portugal has a moment where a verbal agreement turns into a signed commitment. That moment is the promissory contract, known in Portuguese as the Contrato de Promessa de Compra e Venda, or CPCV. Both sides sign it once the price is agreed, and it sets the terms of the sale that the final deed will later complete.
Sign it and the price is locked, the deposit is paid, and a deadline to complete starts running. The CPCV is the document that decides who pays what if the deal falls apart, so the detail inside it matters more than the number of pages in front of you.
Most guides explain the deposit and stop there. This one covers what the deposit actually buys you, two protections in Portuguese law that many articles get wrong, and a 2024 rule change that now makes the CPCV the place to catch a problem, rather than the deed.
Key takeaways: the CPCV in one minute
1. Agree the price and the completion date with the seller.
2. Your lawyer checks the title, the registry, the licences, and any debts on the property.
3. Sign the CPCV and pay a deposit (sinal), usually 10% of the price.
4. The deposit is held and the price is fixed until the deed.
5. If the seller backs out, you can claim double the deposit, in some cases the property’s increase in value, or ask a court to force the sale.
6. If you back out without a valid reason set out in the contract, you lose the deposit.
7. Pay the transfer tax (IMT) and stamp duty, then sign the deed (escritura) before a notary to become the owner.
Ola Estate guides international buyers through each of these steps, with legal support built into the service, so the contract you sign is checked before your money moves.
What a CPCV actually does
A CPCV is a binding promise. The seller promises to sell, you promise to buy, and both of you agree the price, the deadline, and the conditions in writing. It does not transfer ownership. You become the owner later, at the escritura (the final deed), signed before a notary.
Until that day, the CPCV holds the deal together. The price cannot be raised. The property is committed to you. And if either side walks away, the contract already says what happens next.
For buyers coming from abroad, this is the step that removes the biggest risk in a busy market: agreeing a price, arranging funds or a mortgage, and then losing the property to a higher offer while you wait.
Is the CPCV mandatory in Portugal?
No. Portuguese law does not require a promissory contract. You can go straight to the deed if the seller agrees and you are ready to pay in full.
In practice, almost every purchase uses one. There is usually a gap of weeks between agreeing a price and signing the deed: a mortgage to approve, a valuation to run, documents to gather, funds to move from abroad. The CPCV protects both sides during that gap.
Portugal’s market shows how often this plays out. In 2025, 169,812 homes were sold across the country, worth 41.2 billion euros, with prices up 17.6% over the year. When values move that fast, a signed contract that fixes your price is worth having.
Some sellers suggest skipping the CPCV to save on costs. For a buyer, that usually means giving up protection, not saving money.
The deposit (sinal): how much and where it goes
The deposit is called the sinal. It is the money you pay when you sign the CPCV, and it does two jobs at once: it shows you are serious, and it sets the penalty if either side fails to complete.
The amount is negotiable. 10% of the purchase price is the common figure. Higher-value homes or seller-led negotiations can push it up, and some new-build purchases use staged payments instead.
Reservation deposit is not the sinal. Before the CPCV, an agent may ask for a small reservation fee to hold the property for a short period. That is a separate, usually smaller, and often refundable payment. The sinal is the larger deposit paid at the CPCV, and it carries the penalties described below. Ask in writing which one you are paying.
Where the money sits matters. The normal route is for the deposit to go to a lawyer’s client account, then the balance is paid at the deed. Handing the full price, or the deposit, to an agent’s own account is not standard practice. Confirm the account before you transfer anything.
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What happens if the buyer or seller pulls out
This is where the CPCV earns its place, and where many guides stop at half the story.
If you back out. If you fail to complete for a reason that is your fault and not covered by a condition in the contract, the seller keeps your deposit. That is the cost of walking away.
If the seller backs out. The rule most people know is that the seller must pay you double the deposit. That is correct, and it comes from Article 442 of the Civil Code. It is not your only option, and sometimes not the best one.
Under the same article, if the property had already been handed over to you before completion, for example you were given the keys early, you can claim the property’s increase in value at the date of the breach instead of double the deposit. In a market that has been rising this fast, that figure can be larger than double a 10% deposit. A buyer who has taken possession also gains a right of retention over the property, which is a strong position if the seller runs into financial trouble.
Forcing the sale. If what you want is the house and not a cash payment, Portuguese law lets you ask a court to complete the sale for you. This is called execução específica, a form of specific performance. The court issues a judgment that stands in for the seller’s signature, and the deed goes through even without the seller’s cooperation.
Here is the part many articles get wrong. They say that once a deposit exists, forcing the sale is off the table. That is only the default assumption in the law. For a promise to buy or sell a building or an apartment, Article 830 of the Civil Code states that this right cannot be removed by the parties. So even with a deposit paid, a buyer of property keeps the option to force the sale, unless a court finds the nature of the case prevents it. It is a slower route than taking the money, but it is the only one that ends with you owning the property.
The formalities that make a CPCV valid
A CPCV for property is not just any signed page. Portuguese law sets specific formalities for it, and skipping them has consequences. The rules sit in the Civil Code provisions on the contrato-promessa.
For a promise to sell a building or an apartment, Article 410 requires two things: the signatures must be recognised in person (reconhecimento presencial das assinaturas) by a notary, lawyer, solicitador, or other competent body, and that body must certify that the property has a use or construction licence.
Many “standard” contracts handed over quickly by an agent skip the in-person recognition. If they do, the contract can be legally null. There is an important twist that favours buyers: the courts treat this as an atypical nullity that, as a rule, only the buyer can raise, and not in bad faith. The formality exists to make the buyer pause and take the commitment seriously, so the law gives the buyer, not the seller, the power to rely on its absence.
Recognising the signatures is also the step that unlocks the extra protection in the next section, so it is worth doing rather than waiving.
Giving your CPCV real effects (eficácia real)
A standard CPCV binds the seller to you, but it does not stop the seller from selling the same property to someone else and leaving you to chase compensation. There is a way to close that gap.
You can register the CPCV at the Land Registry (Conservatória do Registo Predial) to give it real effects, known as eficácia real. Once registered, your promise takes effect against third parties, which makes it far harder for the property to be sold out from under you before the deed. Registration requires the in-person signature recognition described above.
Most buyers never hear this option from the other side of the table. For a high-value purchase, or where completion is months away, ask your lawyer whether to register.
The 2024 licence change that now lands on your CPCV
Portugal simplified its property rules in 2024. Under the Simplex Urbanístico package, buyers no longer have to present the property’s use licence at the deed. On paper, that speeds things up.
The catch is that the licence still matters, and the CPCV is now the natural place to deal with it. The rule for promissory contracts on buildings, Article 410, still calls for the licence to be certified, even though the deed no longer checks it. Legal commentators have flagged this mismatch directly: the licence requirement was dropped at the deed but left in place for the promissory contract.
What this means in practice: the notary at your deed will not confirm that the property is legally habitable. If you buy a home with unlicensed works or missing paperwork, you may only discover it when you try to get a mortgage, rent the place out, or sell it later. The CPCV stage, backed by proper due diligence, is where this gets caught. Do not treat the licence as a formality just because the deed no longer asks for it.
What a CPCV must contain
A well-drafted CPCV pins down every variable so nothing is left to argue about later. Expect it to include:
- Full identification of the buyer and seller, including NIF (Portuguese tax number), address, and marital status.
- Full identification of the property: the address, the Land Registry entry (registo predial), and the tax record (caderneta predial).
- The agreed price, the deposit amount, and the account it is paid to.
- The completion deadline, meaning the date for the deed.
- Any conditions that must be met, such as mortgage approval or specific repairs.
- What happens if either side fails to complete.
One quiet trap: a single home can carry more than one tax and registry record, especially older rural properties where each building and plot has its own entry. The CPCV must match the actual paperwork exactly. Any mismatch between the contract and the registry is a reason to pause.
The financing clause, if you are using a mortgage
If you need a mortgage, the single most important clause is the one that covers what happens if the bank does not approve your loan in time.
A properly worded financing condition lets you withdraw and recover your deposit if the mortgage falls through for reasons outside your control. Without it, a bank refusal can cost you the deposit, because from the contract’s point of view you simply failed to complete.
Portuguese banks typically lend less to non-residents, often around 60% to 70% of the price, compared with up to 90% for residents. That figure is bank policy, not a fixed legal limit, and it varies by bank and by profile. Build the mortgage timeline, and the fallback, into the CPCV before you sign.
From CPCV to escritura: the timeline
The CPCV sets the clock for the deed. The gap between the two is negotiable and usually runs somewhere between 30 and 90 days. Ninety days is common when a mortgage is involved, because the bank needs time to value the property and issue a binding offer.
Use the window to complete financing, gather documents, and clear anything your lawyer flagged. If you are financing, the bank usually runs its valuation and issues the binding mortgage offer around this stage, and the loan funds are released on the day of the deed.
If either side needs more time, the deadline can be extended by mutual agreement, in writing. Do not let it lapse informally.
Common mistakes buyers make
- Signing an agent’s “standard” template without independent review. The template protects the seller. The clauses you need are the ones added for you.
- Treating the reservation fee and the sinal as the same payment.
- Transferring the deposit to an agent’s account instead of a lawyer’s client account.
- Skipping the in-person signature recognition, which weakens the contract and blocks registration.
- Assuming the deed will catch a licensing problem. Since 2024, it will not.
- Leaving out or under-writing the financing clause.
Frequently asked questions
Is a CPCV legally binding in Portugal?
Yes. Once signed, it commits both the buyer and the seller to complete the sale on the agreed terms. If either side fails without a valid reason, the contract sets the penalty.
How much deposit do I pay on a CPCV?
The deposit (sinal) is negotiable. 10% of the price is the common figure, though it can be higher for prime properties or lower for staged new-build payments.
What happens to my deposit if the sale falls through?
If you fail to complete for a reason that is your fault, the seller keeps the deposit. If the seller fails, you can usually claim double the deposit, in some cases more, or ask a court to force the sale.
Do I need a notary for the CPCV?
The CPCV itself is a private contract and does not need a notary to be signed. For property, though, the law requires the signatures to be recognised in person and the licence to be certified, which is done by a notary, lawyer, or solicitador. That step also lets you register the contract for extra protection.
Can I get out of a CPCV?
Only for a reason the contract allows, such as a failed mortgage under a financing clause. Walking away without a valid reason means losing your deposit.
Does signing a CPCV make me the owner?
No. Ownership passes at the deed (escritura), signed before a notary, after the transfer tax (IMT) and stamp duty are paid.
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Before you sign
The CPCV is the point where a Portuguese purchase becomes real, and where the right clauses protect your money and your timeline. Ola Estate works with international buyers across Portugal, coordinating the checks, the contract, and the legal support so you sign knowing exactly what you are committing to. If you are approaching this stage, talk to the team before the deposit leaves your account.
