Right of First Refusal on Property in Portugal

Last verified: October 2026.

Who this is for

• You are buying a flat, house, or plot and want to know who could take it before you.
• You are selling and need to know whom you must offer it to first.
• You rent a home, co-own a property, or own rural land next to a plot for sale.

Not for you if: you want the whole buying process, from viewing to deed. Read Buying Property in Portugal instead.

In Portugal, some people have a legal right to buy a property before anyone else, at the price and on the terms a buyer has already agreed. This is the right of first refusal (direito de preferência). It belongs to tenants of more than two years, co-owners, co-heirs, some neighbouring rural owners, and some public bodies.

The seller must send each of them the terms of the deal. Most have 8 days to answer, tenants have 30, and public bodies have 10 working days after a €15 online notice. If a holder is skipped, they can sue within six months and take the property.

What the right is, and what it is not

A holder can step into the buyer's place. They buy on exactly the terms the buyer agreed: same price, same conditions. Only the name on the deed changes.

It is not a veto. If the holder does not want to buy on those terms, the sale goes ahead and they have no further say.

It is not a discount. The holder matches the terms or loses the right.

It applies to sales and to giving a property in payment of a debt (dação em cumprimento). It does not apply to gifts or inheritance.

Who holds the right

Co-owners

If a property is owned in shares and one owner sells their share to an outsider, the other co-owners have first refusal. The law puts co-owners first among all legal holders. If two or more co-owners want to buy, the share is split between them in proportion to their existing shares.

This often affects inherited property. Many homes stay in shared ownership for years after a death, and every co-owner is a holder the moment another tries to sell.

Co-heirs of an undivided estate

If an heir sells their share of an undivided estate (quinhão hereditário) to an outsider, the other heirs have first refusal on the same terms as co-owners. Their deadline is longer: two months from the notice.

Tenants

If you have rented the property for more than two years, you have first refusal when the landlord sells it. This surprises many buyers, because it can attach to a tenant they have never met.

• The seller must send the notice by registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt.
• You have 30 days from receiving it to answer.
• If the flat is sold with other properties for one price, the notice must say what part of the price is for your home.
• If the seller insists you buy the whole package, the notice must show why splitting it would cause real harm. A clause in the sale contract saying the deal cannot be split is not enough.
• If you rent part of a building not divided into separate flats, you can buy the share of the building that matches your home, at a proportional price, with exclusive use of your part.
• Several tenants in such a building can join together and buy the whole building in shared ownership.

The tenant ranks just above the owner of land under a building right (see below). See Signing a Rental Lease in Portugal.

Neighbouring rural owners

If your rural plot borders one that is for sale, and both are smaller than the minimum farming unit (unidade de cultura) for the area, you have first refusal. It applies when the buyer is not a neighbouring owner. The aim is to join small plots into larger farms.

If several neighbours qualify:

1. If the plot for sale is landlocked, the owner whose land carries its right of way comes first. See Rights of Way over Land in Portugal.
2. Otherwise, the neighbour whose total would come closest to the minimum farming unit comes first.
3. If they are equal, they bid against each other, and the extra goes to the seller.

The right does not exist in two cases:

• One of the plots is part of an urban building, or is meant for a use other than farming, such as building.
• The sale covers a group of plots that, though scattered, form a family farm.

The owner of land under a building right

Sometimes one person owns the land and another owns the right to build on it (direito de superfície). If the building right is sold, the landowner has first refusal, but in last place.

Public bodies

Some public bodies have first refusal over property in certain places. Sellers forget these most often, because they attach to the property, not to a person.

• Listed heritage. For a building that is listed, being listed, or inside a listed building's protection zone, co-owners come first, then the state, then the autonomous region, then the council.
• Urban rehabilitation areas. The body managing a designated urban rehabilitation area (área de reabilitação urbana), usually the council, has first refusal on sales between private parties. It may use it only if it decides the building needs rehabilitation work, and it must say what work and by when. It can also use the right without accepting the agreed price; the price is then set under planning rules.
• Historic shops. If a building houses a shop or organisation the council has recognised as of historic, cultural, or social interest, the council has first refusal. A tenant running that shop does too, with 30 days to answer.

Other public bodies have similar rights under other laws.

Who goes first

When several rights clash, the order matters more than any single right.

1. Co-owners (and co-heirs, who follow the co-owner rules).
2. The other legal holders, with the tenant just above the landowner under a building right.
3. The landowner under a building right comes last of the legal holders.

A right of first refusal created by a private contract always loses to a legal one. Unless it was formally recorded at the land registry, it also fails in a court enforcement sale or an insolvency. An unregistered contractual right only lets you claim damages from the person who promised it. A properly formalised and registered one works like a legal right, even against a buyer.

What the seller must send

The seller must send each holder the plan to sell and the terms of the contract. That means the buyer, the price, how it will be paid, and the other conditions. A note that "the flat is for sale" is not enough.

The seller can always give a longer period. A shorter one applies only if the holder agreed to it.

Silence ends the right. A holder who gets a proper notice and does not answer in time loses it. But a notice that leaves out the terms does not start the clock. A buyer who relies on a defective notice may face a lawsuit later.

The €15 notice for public bodies

You do not need to write to each council and heritage body. The seller, or someone acting for them such as an estate agency, can publish one online notice on the Casa Pronta portal.

1. Enter the details: who is applying, the sellers, the buyers, the property and its location, the price, and the expected date of the sale.
2. Pay €15 by Multibanco.
3. Public bodies, including the state, councils, autonomous regions, and the heritage authority, have 10 working days to say they want to buy.
4. If none does, the sale can go ahead.
5. You can check the notice for one year with the request number and the applicant's or seller's tax number.

This notice covers public bodies only. Tenants, co-owners, co-heirs, and neighbours must still be told individually. The notice also saves you checking whether the property is in a heritage zone or a rehabilitation area.

The notice is separate from the Casa Pronta counter that handles the sale itself. See Using Casa Pronta to Buy or Sell a Home in Portugal.

Four traps

Selling several properties together. If the seller sells the property with others for one total price, the holder can buy just their one at a proportional price. But the seller can insist the holder take all of them if they cannot be split without real harm. For tenants, the rules above limit this. For others, a right over one flat can become a duty to buy a building.

A side promise the holder cannot match. If the buyer promises the seller something extra that the holder cannot give, it is paid in money instead. If it cannot be valued in money, the right is lost. But not if the sale would have happened anyway, or if the promise was added to defeat the right. If it was added to defeat the right, the holder can ignore it even when it has a money value.

Several holders of one right. If a right belongs to several people at once, they must all use it together. If one drops out, their part passes to the others.

You cannot sell the right. A right of first refusal cannot be passed on, during your life or at death, unless the contract says so.

If you were skipped

If you were never told about the sale, you can go to court and take the property for yourself. Two conditions apply:

• You must sue within six months of learning the main terms of the sale. The clock runs from when you found out, not from the sale date.
• You must deposit the full price with the court within 15 days of filing.

The deposit is the hard part. A tenant who was never told about the sale of their building has a real right to take it, but must find the whole price within 15 days.

Buyer and seller cannot escape by cancelling or changing the sale once you sue. The right survives even if they unwind the deal by agreement or in court.

What this means for you

If you are buying. Before you sign, ask three questions. Is the property rented, and for how long? Is it owned in shares? Is it in a heritage zone, a rehabilitation area, or a historic shop? Then ask for proof that each holder was told, and for the Casa Pronta notice number. A promissory contract signed before the notices go out is not wrong, but it is exposed. See Signing a Promissory Contract (CPCV) in Portugal.

If you are selling. Make the €15 notice routine. Separately, send a registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt to every tenant of more than two years, every co-owner, and, for rural land, every qualifying neighbour. Send the full terms, not a summary, and keep the proof. See Selling Your House in Portugal.

If you are a tenant. After two years, the sale waits on your answer, and you have 30 days. A landlord who fails to tell you properly gives you a claim that survives the sale.

If you own a share of an inherited property. You are first in line, ahead of the tenant and the council. Arrange your finance before a sibling's notice arrives, because the deposit rule leaves little time.

If you own rural land. Check the minimum farming unit for your area before you assume the neighbour rule applies. A plot meant for building, or a scattered family farm, is outside it.

If you own a flat in a building with a condominium. Owning a flat gives you no first refusal over your neighbour's flat. See Living in a Condominium in Portugal.

This guide is general information, not legal advice. Rules change; check the official source, or ask a lawyer or solicitador, before you act.

Sources

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

• Procuradoria-Geral Regional de Lisboa, Código Civil (Decreto-Lei n.º 47344/66), consolidated: https://www.pgdlisboa.pt/leis/lei_mostra_articulado.php?nid=775&tabela=leis (articles 414 to 422 definition, notice of the terms, 8 days, joint sale, side promises, several holders, not transferable, registered contractual right, contractual right loses to legal rights; 1091 tenant after more than two years, 30 days, registered letter, joint sale price, harm, undivided buildings, joint purchase, rank, last amended by Lei n.º 64/2018; 1380 and 1381 neighbouring rural owners, order, bidding, exclusions; 1409 and 1410 co-owners first, proportional split, six months from knowledge, deposit within 15 days, unwinding does not defeat the right; 1423 no first refusal between flat owners; 1535 building-right landowner last; 2130 co-heirs, two months), checked 2 October 2026
• Procuradoria-Geral Regional de Lisboa, Lei n.º 107/2001, de 8 de setembro (cultural heritage), article 37: https://www.pgdlisboa.pt/leis/lei_mostra_articulado.php?nid=844&tabela=leis (co-owners, state, autonomous regions, and councils, in that order, for listed buildings and protection zones), checked 2 October 2026
• Procuradoria-Geral Regional de Lisboa, Decreto-Lei n.º 307/2009, de 23 de outubro (urban rehabilitation), article 58: https://www.pgdlisboa.pt/leis/lei_mostra_articulado.php?nid=1197&tabela=leis (managing body's first refusal in rehabilitation areas, only where work is needed, work and deadline stated, may use it without accepting the agreed price), checked 2 October 2026
• Procuradoria-Geral Regional de Lisboa, Lei n.º 42/2017, de 14 de junho (shops of historic interest), article 7: https://www.pgdlisboa.pt/leis/lei_mostra_articulado.php?nid=2694&tabela=leis (tenant and council first refusal, tenant's 30 days), checked 2 October 2026
• Justiça, place a notice for the legal right of first refusal: https://justica.gov.pt/Servicos/Colocar-anuncio-para-o-exercicio-do-direito-legal-de-preferencia (who may publish, details required, €15 by Multibanco, 10 working days, public bodies covered, one year to consult with request number and tax number; page updated 12 August 2025), checked 2 October 2026
• Casa Pronta, right of first refusal notices: https://www.casapronta.pt/CasaPronta/preferencias/ServicosOnline.jsp (new notice and status check), checked 2 October 2026

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