Understanding Usufruct (Usufruto) in Portugal

Last verified: October 2026.

Who this is for

• You inherited a property where a parent or step-parent keeps the right to live in it.
• You are thinking of buying bare ownership (nua propriedade) of a home at a discount.
• You want to give your home to your children now and keep the right to live in it.

Not for you if: you want to know who inherits under Portuguese law and what heirs pay. Read Making a Will and Handling an Inheritance in Portugal instead.

A usufruct (usufruto) is the right to use someone else's property and keep its income, for a limited time. That is usually for the rest of the holder's life. The owner keeps the bare ownership (nua propriedade) and gets everything back when it ends. The person with the usufruct pays the IMI and the ordinary repairs. For tax, the split in value depends on the holder's age. At 72, the usufruct counts as 25% of the property's value and the bare ownership as 75%. Read the deed first: it can change most of the default rules.

How a usufruct works

Two people hold rights over the same property:

• The usufructuary (usufrutuário) can live in the property, let it out, and keep the rent. They must not change its form, substance, or economic purpose.
• The bare owner (proprietário da raiz) cannot live in it, let it, or collect anything from it. They own the certainty that the property becomes fully theirs when the usufruct ends. They can also act to stop the usufructuary damaging it.

People in Portugal usually meet usufruct in one of three ways:

• After a death. A surviving spouse keeps the usufruct of the family home, and the children inherit the bare ownership.
• In a purchase. A home is sold as bare ownership at a discount, and an older seller stays on.
• In estate planning. Parents give the home to their children and keep the usufruct (reserva de usufruto).

How a usufruct is created

A usufruct can be created by contract, by will, by long possession (usucapião), or by law. Most are created by a deed of sale or gift, or by a will.

• One person or several. It can be granted to several people at once or one after another. Everyone named must be alive when the first holder's right begins.
• Joint holders. If a couple hold a usufruct jointly, it passes to the survivor when one dies. The bare owner gets full ownership only after the last holder dies, unless the deed says otherwise.

How long it lasts

• It can never last longer than the holder's life.
• For a company or other legal entity, the maximum is 30 years.
• It can be set for a shorter fixed term. It then ends at the earlier of that term and the holder's death.

What the usufructuary can do

The deed sets the rights and duties. Where the deed is silent, the Civil Code fills the gaps. Without other terms, the usufructuary can:

• use and manage the property as a careful owner would, respecting its economic purpose;
• let it out and keep the rent;
• make useful or decorative improvements, as long as they do not change the property's form, substance, or purpose;
• sell, transfer, or mortgage the usufruct to someone else, unless the deed or the law forbids it.

That last point surprises many families. A usufruct is a saleable asset. The buyer gets the right only until the original holder dies. The original holder stays liable for damage the new holder causes. If you are giving away a home and keeping the usufruct, write any ban on transfer into the deed.

Company shares. The usufructuary of shares receives the profits paid out during the usufruct and votes at general meetings. Votes on changing the company's statutes or dissolving it belong to the usufructuary and the bare owner together.

What the usufructuary must do

Before taking over:

• Make a list of the assets and their condition, with the owner present or notified.
• Provide a security deposit (caução), if the owner asks for one.

No security can be demanded from someone who sold or gave away the property and kept the usufruct. The deed can also waive it. If security is owed and not given, the owner can ask for measures such as letting the property or placing it under management. A court decides if you cannot agree.

Repairs and costs:

• Ordinary repairs and running costs are the usufructuary's. These are the repairs needed to keep the property in good condition.
• A repair is not ordinary if it costs more than two thirds of that year's net income from the property. It then counts as extraordinary.
• For extraordinary repairs, the usufructuary only has to warn the owner in good time. The owner may then do the work. If the owner does nothing and the work is genuinely useful, the usufructuary can do it and claim the cost back. At the end of the usufruct, the owner repays the cost or the value of the work then, whichever is lower.
• Bad management changes this. If extraordinary repairs were needed because the usufructuary managed the property badly, the usufructuary pays.
• The usufructuary can escape the repair bills by giving up the usufruct.

Other duties:

• Pay the yearly taxes and charges on the property's income that fall due while they hold the usufruct.
• Allow the owner to carry out works, as long as they do not reduce the usufruct's value.
• Warn the owner about anything a third party does that could harm the owner's rights. Otherwise the usufructuary is liable for the loss.

How it ends

A usufruct ends:

1. When the holder dies, or when an agreed term runs out.
2. When the usufruct and ownership come into the same hands, for example if the usufructuary buys the bare ownership.
3. After 20 years of not being used, whatever the reason.
4. If the property is completely lost.
5. If the holder gives it up. The owner does not need to agree.

Misuse does not end a usufruct. If the abuse seriously harms the owner, the owner can ask for the property to be handed over or managed. The owner then pays the usufructuary the yearly net income, less costs and a fee for managing it.

If the building is destroyed, the usufructuary keeps the right to the land and the materials. The owner may rebuild, but must then pay the usufructuary interest on their value. Any compensation the owner receives, including for expropriation, becomes subject to the usufruct.

Insurance. If the usufructuary took out the insurance or paid the premiums, the usufruct moves to the insurance payout. If the owner paid the premiums, the whole payout is the owner's. Say in the deed who insures.

When the usufruct ends, the usufructuary must hand the property back to the owner.

Registering it

A usufruct over property must be registered at the land registry. Until it is registered, it does not count against third parties, such as a later buyer. The duty to register falls on whoever made the deed or certified the document, such as the notary. If no such professional was involved, it falls on the parties. The general deadline is two months from the date of the deed.

Before you buy anything with a usufruct, or agree to one, get the land registry certificate and read what is registered. See Getting a Certidão Permanente (Land Registry Certificate).

Who pays IMI

The usufructuary pays the yearly municipal property tax (IMI), not the bare owner. The tax office treats whoever appears in the tax record (matriz) on 31 December as liable. A bare owner receives no IMI bill until the usufruct ends. See Paying IMI in Portugal and Understanding the Caderneta Predial.

How each half is valued for tax

Buying a usufruct is subject to property transfer tax (IMT). So is buying bare ownership. The tax law sets how much of the property's value each half represents.

For a lifetime usufruct, the bare ownership is the full value minus a percentage that depends on the age of the person whose life the usufruct depends on:

The usufruct is worth the rest. If there are several holders, use the oldest or the youngest. That depends on whether the usufruct ends at the first death or the last.

Example. A flat has a full value of €250,000, and the usufructuary is 72. The deduction is 25%. The bare ownership is worth €187,500 and the usufruct €62,500. If the usufructuary were 58, the deduction would be 40%. The bare ownership would be worth €150,000 and the usufruct €100,000.

A usufruct for a fixed term is valued differently. Deduct 10% for each full or part five-year period still to run, up to the lifetime figure. A usufruct with 15 years left gives a 30% deduction.

IMT is charged on this value, or on the price in the deed if that is higher. See Paying Property Tax in Portugal.

Stamp duty on gifts and inheritances

Stamp duty (Imposto do Selo) uses the same age table:

• 0.8% on buying or receiving as a gift the ownership, or part of the ownership, of property. Close family pay this too.
• 10% on anything received for free, such as a gift or inheritance. A spouse or unmarried partner, children, grandchildren, parents, and grandparents are exempt from the 10%.

So a parent who gives a child the bare ownership of a home pays 0.8% stamp duty on its value. A gift to a niece or friend pays 10.8%.

When the usufruct ends. If you received bare ownership for free, more stamp duty can fall due when the usufruct ends. It is charged on the difference between the property's tax value (VPT) and the value of the bare ownership taxed earlier. Close family remain exempt from the 10%.

Income tax

• Rent goes to the usufructuary, who declares it as rental income. See Declaring Rental Income as a Landlord in Portugal.
• Granting a usufruct for a price is also rental income. If you own a property and create a usufruct over it for someone else in return for payment, the price is taxed as rent. This applies even to a lifetime usufruct.
• Selling bare ownership is a capital gain. Selling a property right, including bare ownership, is taxed under the capital gains rules. See Selling Your House in Portugal.

The right of use and habitation

A narrower cousin of usufruct is the right of use and habitation (uso e habitação). It lets the holder use a property only to meet their own and their family's needs. When it covers a home, it is called a right of habitation.

• "Family" means a spouse, unmarried children, other relatives owed maintenance, and household staff.
• The holder cannot sell, let, or mortgage the right.
• If the holder occupies the whole building, they pay the ordinary repairs, running costs, and yearly taxes, as a usufructuary would.
• For tax, it is valued at the usufruct value less 30%, unless it is being given up.

Before you sign or buy, check

• Read the deed. It overrides most default rules. Check who insures, whether the usufruct can be sold, and whether security is waived.
• Get the land registry certificate. Confirm the usufruct is registered, and against whom.
• Do the age arithmetic. If you buy bare ownership, the age table gives the tax office's own view of what the wait is worth.
• Budget for repairs. As usufructuary, ordinary repairs are yours. Big repairs are the owner's, unless poor management caused them.
• Plan for the end. If you inherit or are given bare ownership outside close family, budget for stamp duty when the usufruct ends.
• Take advice on a specific deed. A lawyer or solicitador can draft or check the deed, and a certified accountant (contabilista certificado) can check the tax.

This guide is general information, not legal or tax advice. The deed and your family situation decide how the rules apply; check your own case with a lawyer or accountant before you act.

Sources

This guide is written from official sources and, where relevant, organisations' own websites.

• Procuradoria-Geral Distrital de Lisboa, Código Civil (Decreto-Lei n.º 47344/66), consolidated text: https://www.pgdlisboa.pt/leis/lei_mostra_articulado.php?nid=775&tabela=leis&ficha=1439 (articles 1439 to 1483 on usufruct: definition, creation, joint holders, 30-year cap for legal persons, transfer, deed first, use and improvements, company shares, inventory and security, repairs and the two-thirds rule, taxes and charges, ending causes including 20 years of non-use, destroyed buildings, compensation, insurance, misuse; articles 1484 to 1490 on use and habitation), checked 2 October 2026
• Procuradoria-Geral Distrital de Lisboa, Código do Registo Predial (Decreto-Lei n.º 224/84), consolidated text: https://www.pgdlisboa.pt/leis/lei_mostra_articulado.php?nid=488&tabela=leis (article 2 usufruct subject to registration; article 5 effect against third parties; article 8-B who must register; article 8-C two-month deadline), checked 2 October 2026
• Portal das Finanças, Código do IMI, article 8: https://info.portaldasfinancas.gov.pt/pt/informacao_fiscal/codigos_tributarios/cimi/Pages/cimi8.aspx (usufructuary pays; person in the tax record on 31 December), checked 2 October 2026
• Portal das Finanças, Código do IMT, article 2: https://info.portaldasfinancas.gov.pt/pt/informacao_fiscal/codigos_tributarios/cimt/Pages/cimt2.aspx (IMT on transfers of ownership or partial rights), checked 2 October 2026
• Portal das Finanças, Código do IMT, article 13: https://info.portaldasfinancas.gov.pt/pt/informacao_fiscal/codigos_tributarios/cimt/Pages/cimt13.aspx (age table, several lives, 10% per five-year period, usufruct value, use and habitation less 30%), checked 2 October 2026
• Portal das Finanças, Código do IMT, consolidated text: https://info.portaldasfinancas.gov.pt/pt/informacao_fiscal/codigos_tributarios/Cod_download/Documents/CIMT.pdf (article 12(4), rules 7 and 8: tax on the table value or the deed price if higher), checked 2 October 2026
• Portal das Finanças, Código do Imposto do Selo, consolidated text: https://info.portaldasfinancas.gov.pt/pt/informacao_fiscal/codigos_tributarios/Cod_download/Documents/CIS.pdf (article 6(1)(e) family exemption from item 1.2; article 13(4) and (6) valuation and tax on consolidation; article 21 IMT valuation rules apply; General Table items 1.1 at 0.8% and 1.2 at 10%), checked 2 October 2026
• Portal das Finanças, Código do IRS, consolidated text: https://info.portaldasfinancas.gov.pt/pt/informacao_fiscal/codigos_tributarios/Cod_download/Documents/CIRS.pdf (article 8(1) and 8(2)(f) rental income, including payments for creating temporary or lifetime real rights; article 10(1)(a) gains on selling real rights over property), checked 2 October 2026

Last verified October 2026. Rules and fees change; check the official source before acting.