Lost and Found in Portugal in 2026: A Practical Guide to What the Law Says When You Find or Lose Something

Most people have found something on a pavement, a bus seat or a park bench and wondered what they are actually supposed to do with it. In Portugal the answer is not left to good manners alone: the Código Civil (Civil Code) sets out what a finder must do, what they can claim back, and when a found item finally becomes theirs. The Código Penal (Criminal Code) then makes it a crime to simply keep something you know belongs to someone else.

This guide walks through those rules in plain English, for immigrants and anyone else who finds or loses something in Portugal: ordinary objects, pets and other animals, cash, and the rarer case of buried or hidden treasure.

Key points

• If you find something and know whose it is, you must give it back or tell the owner (Civil Code, article 1323).
• If you do not know the owner, you must announce the find in a reasonable way and tell the authorities.
• If a found animal can be identified through a vet (for example by a microchip), you should use that route where possible.
• If nobody claims the item or animal within one year of your announcement or notice, it becomes yours.
• A finder who returns an item can claim back their expenses and any loss, and can hold on to the item until paid.
• Hidden or buried valuables (a "tesouro", treasure) are split half and half between the finder and the owner of the place where they were hidden.
• Keeping a found item or animal that belongs to someone else is a crime punishable by up to one year in prison or a fine of up to 120 days (Criminal Code, article 209).

The legal basis: "ocupação" and "coisas achadas"

The Civil Code deals with found property in its chapter on acquiring ownership by ocupação (occupation, meaning taking possession of something that has no current owner, or whose owner has lost it). Article 1318 says that animals and movable things can be acquired this way if they never had an owner, or were abandoned, lost or hidden by their owners, subject to the restrictions in the articles that follow.

Those restrictions are the heart of the matter. Something that is lost still belongs to its owner. You do not become the owner just by picking it up. Article 1323, headed Animais e coisas móveis perdidas (lost animals and movable things), sets out the steps a finder has to follow before a lost item can ever become theirs, and article 1324 covers tesouros (treasure).

Article 1318 and article 1323 were both amended by Lei n.º 8/2017, the law that changed the legal status of animals in Portugal, which is why animals now appear alongside "things" throughout these rules.

You found something: what the law requires

If you know who owns it

Article 1323(1) is simple: if you find a lost animal or movable thing and you know who it belongs to, you must return it to the owner or let the owner know you have found it. A wallet with an identity card inside, a phone that shows a contact on the lock screen, or a bag with a name tag all fall into this category. The duty is either to hand it back or to tell them; you do not have to deliver it across the country, but you cannot sit on it.

If you do not know who owns it

Under article 1323(2), where the owner is unknown, the finder must do two things:

• Announce the find "by the most convenient means", taking into account the value of the item and what is possible locally; and
• Tell the authorities, following local custom ("os usos da terra") where there is one.

The law deliberately does not prescribe a single method. A cheap umbrella does not call for the same effort as a laptop or a piece of jewellery. A notice where you found the item, or with the shop, venue or transport operator concerned, is a sensible way of announcing it, and the police are the obvious authority to tell. The key is that you can later show you made a genuine, proportionate effort to reach the owner.

Keep a note of what you did and when: where you found the item, who you told, and on what date. That date matters, because it starts the one-year clock described below.

Looking after the item while you hold it

Article 1323(6) gives the finder a direito de retenção (right of retention): you may keep hold of the item until you have been compensated for your expenses. It also limits your liability. If the item is lost or damaged while in your care, you are only responsible if you acted with intent (dolo) or gross negligence (culpa grave). Ordinary bad luck is not your problem, but carelessness on a serious scale is.

You found an animal

Lost pets are treated under the same article, with three extra points added in 2017.

• Check for identification through a vet. Article 1323(3) says that a finder of an animal should, where possible, use the identification methods available through a médico veterinário (veterinary surgeon). In everyday terms, that means taking a dog or cat to a vet to have it scanned for a microchip, which can lead straight to the owner.
• The same announce-and-notify duty applies. If you cannot identify the owner, you must announce the find and tell the authorities, just as with an object.
• You can hold on to an animal you fear will be mistreated. Article 1323(7) allows the finder to keep an animal where there is a well-founded fear that it would suffer ill treatment (maus-tratos) at the hands of its owner. This is a narrow exception: the fear has to be fundado (well-founded), not a vague suspicion.

Wild animals living freely in nature are a separate matter. Article 1319 says that taking wild animals in their natural state is governed by special legislation (hunting and fishing law), so the lost-property rules are not the route for them.

You found money or hidden treasure

Cash and valuables that were simply dropped

The Civil Code does not have a special regime for banknotes or coins that are simply lost: they are movable things, and article 1323 applies in full. A dropped envelope of cash must be announced and reported like any other valuable. Because cash rarely carries a name, the announce-and-notify route is usually the one that applies, and the value of the find means a proportionate effort should be a serious one.

Treasure: things hidden or buried

Article 1324 covers a different situation: finding a movable thing "of some value" that was hidden or buried, where you cannot establish who owns it. In that case:

• the finder becomes owner of half of the find; and
• the other half belongs to the owner of the property (movable or immovable) where it was hidden or buried.

So if you dig up a tin of old coins in a friend's garden, the law splits it between you and your friend. If you find it on your own land, both halves are yours.

There is still a duty to report. Under article 1324(2), the finder must announce the find or tell the authorities, unless it is evident that the treasure was hidden or buried more than twenty years ago.

The penalty for not playing fair is set out in article 1324(3). A finder who fails to announce or report as required, who keeps the find or part of it knowing who the owner is, or who hides it from the owner of the place where it was found, loses their half to the State. They keep only whatever rights they may have as the owner of that place.

What happens after a year

Article 1323(4) is the rule most people are hoping to hear about. Once you have announced the find, the animal or item becomes yours if the owner has not claimed it within one year, counted from the announcement or notice.

• The year only starts once you have announced the find or told the authorities. If you simply kept the item quietly, the clock never started, and the item never becomes yours by this route.
• If the owner does turn up within the year, the item or animal goes back to them.

What you can claim when you return it

Under article 1323(5), once the animal or item is returned, the finder is entitled to be compensated for any loss suffered and any expenses incurred. That might cover vet bills for a found dog, transport costs, or the cost of placing a notice. The Civil Code wording is about compensation for losses and expenses; it does not set a fixed percentage reward for the finder. Any reward on top of that is a matter for the owner's goodwill.

The crime of keeping it

Keeping something you have found is not just a civil matter. Article 209 of the Criminal Code, headed Apropriação ilegítima em caso de acessão ou de coisa ou animal achados (unlawful appropriation in cases of accession or of a found thing or animal), makes two situations a crime:

• unlawfully appropriating someone else's thing or animal that came into your possession through a natural force, a mistake, chance, or in any way independent of your will (article 209(1)); and
• unlawfully appropriating someone else's thing or animal that you have found (article 209(2)).

The penalty in both cases is imprisonment of up to one year or a fine of up to 120 days.

Some procedural points matter here:

• It needs a complaint. Under article 209(3), criminal proceedings depend on a queixa (complaint) by the victim.
• Returning the item helps. Article 209(3) applies articles 206 and 207 of the Criminal Code. Article 206 provides that where the thing or animal is returned, or the loss is fully repaired, without unlawful harm to third parties, before the start of the trial at first instance, the penalty is specially reduced; partial return or repair may also lead to a reduced penalty.
• Family cases are treated differently. Article 207 sets out circumstances, such as close family relationships between the person accused and the victim, in which certain property offences can only be prosecuted by private accusation.

The practical lesson is that following the Civil Code steps (return it, or announce it and tell the authorities) is also what keeps you on the right side of the criminal law.

You lost something: what to do

The same rules work in your favour if you are the one who has lost something. The finder is legally required to return it to you or tell you if they know it is yours, and otherwise to announce the find and notify the authorities. For a full year after that notice, you remain entitled to claim it back.

Some practical steps help the system work:

• Report the loss to the police. Because finders are required to tell the authorities, the police are one of the places a found item may end up. A report also helps if you later need to show when and where something went missing.
• Contact the place where you lost it. Shops, restaurants, venues, airports and transport operators often keep items left on their premises or vehicles. Ask them directly and give a clear description.
• Look for notices. The law asks finders to announce a find "by the most convenient means" and in keeping with local custom, so check noticeboards near where you lost the item and local community channels.
• Keep your pet's identification up to date. The Civil Code specifically points finders towards identification through a vet, so a microchip with current contact details is the fastest way for a found animal to get back to you.
• Be ready to pay costs. If a finder has looked after your item or animal, they can claim their expenses and losses, and can hold on to it until that is settled.
• Act within the year. After one year from the finder's announcement or notice, the item or animal can become theirs.

If you believe someone has found your property and is simply keeping it, the Criminal Code offence of unlawful appropriation of a found thing applies, but remember that it only proceeds if you make a complaint.

This guide explains the general legal framework. For a dispute over a valuable find, or if you have been accused of keeping something that is not yours, take advice from a lawyer (advogado).

Sources

This guide is written from official Portuguese and EU sources.

• Procuradoria-Geral Distrital de Lisboa, Código Civil, articles 1318 to 1324 (ocupação, animais e coisas móveis perdidas, tesouros), consolidated text (Portuguese only)
• Procuradoria-Geral Distrital de Lisboa, Código Penal, articles 206, 207 and 209 (apropriação ilegítima de coisa ou animal achados), consolidated text (Portuguese only)