The Legal Guarantee on Goods (Garantia Legal de Conformidade) in Portugal in 2026 — A Practical Guide to the Three-Year Warranty, the Two-Year Presumption, the Repair-Replace-Refund Hierarchy and Decreto-Lei 84/2021

When a washing machine dies eighteen months after you bought it, or a phone stops holding a charge in its second year, many newcomers to Portugal assume they are out of luck. They are usually not. Portuguese law gives consumers one of the most generous legal guarantees in the European Union: a three-year warranty on new movable goods, backed by a two-year presumption that any fault was there from the start. This guide explains what that guarantee (garantia legal de conformidade) covers, how the remedies work, and how to enforce it against a seller who would rather you went away.

The law: Decreto-Lei 84/2021

The rules live in Decreto-Lei 84/2021 (Decree-Law 84/2021), which came into force on 1 January 2022 and applies to everything bought from that date onwards. It transposed two European Union directives — Directive 2019/771 on the sale of goods and Directive 2019/770 on digital content and services — and replaced the older regime under Decreto-Lei 67/2003. The headline change was the extension of the guarantee on movable goods from two years to three.

The guarantee applies to consumer purchases (contratos de consumo): a private individual buying from a professional seller (a shop, a chain, an online store, a dealership). It does not cover a private sale between two individuals — if you buy a second-hand sofa from a neighbour, this law is not your remedy. It is the seller who is legally on the hook, not the manufacturer, and that distinction matters when you go to make a claim.

How long the guarantee lasts

The periods run from the moment the good is delivered to you:

• New movable goods (appliances, electronics, furniture, a new car): three years.
• Digital content and digital services (software, apps, subscriptions): two years for a one-off supply; for continuous supply, the guarantee runs for the length of the contract. A physical good with digital elements — a smartwatch, a connected appliance — is treated as a good and carries the full three years.
• Used or refurbished goods (bens usados ou recondicionados): a baseline of three years, though for second-hand items the seller and buyer can agree in writing to reduce the period to a minimum of 18 months.
• Immovable property (imóveis, i.e. buildings): ten years for structural defects.

The two-year presumption — the part that really protects you

The length of the guarantee is only half the story. The more powerful protection is the presumption of non-conformity (presunção de desconformidade). If a defect shows up within the first two years for a movable good, the law presumes it was already present when the item was handed over. In practice that means you do not have to prove anything about the cause: it is the seller who must prove the fault was your doing (misuse, an accident, normal wear) if they want to refuse the claim.

In the third year, the guarantee still applies, but the burden of proof flips: now it is you who must show that the defect existed at delivery, which usually requires a technician's report. So while the cover runs for three years, the easy years — where the shop has to do the explaining — are the first two.

What you can demand: the remedy hierarchy

Unlike the old regime, Decreto-Lei 84/2021 sets out a clear order of remedies (a hierarquia de direitos):

• First 30 days. If the defect appears within 30 days of delivery, you can go straight to the strongest options: an immediate replacement with an identical good, or cancellation of the contract and a full refund (resolução do contrato). You do not have to accept a repair.
• After 30 days. You may choose between repair (reparação) or replacement (substituição), free of charge, unless the option you pick is impossible or clearly disproportionate for the seller compared with the alternative.
• If that fails. Where repair or replacement cannot be done, is not done within a reasonable time, or would cause you serious inconvenience, you can move down to a price reduction (redução do preço) or cancel the contract for a refund. For a refund, the defect must be more than trivial.

Two details work in the consumer's favour. Every repair carried out during the guarantee adds a further six months of cover to the repaired product, up to a limit of four repairs — after which you are entitled to a replacement or a refund. And a replacement good starts a new full guarantee period of its own from the day it is delivered.

The old two-month trap is gone

Under the previous law, a consumer had to formally report (denunciar) a defect within two months of noticing it, or risk losing the guarantee — a deadline that caught many people out. Decreto-Lei 84/2021 removed that two-month reporting requirement. You should still tell the seller as soon as a fault appears, and you must pursue the claim within the guarantee period, but you no longer forfeit your rights simply for taking a few weeks to raise the issue.

Keep your proof of purchase — the receipt (talão) or invoice (fatura), ideally with your NIF (tax number) on it. The guarantee attaches to the transaction, so if you sell or give the item to someone else within the period, the remaining cover generally travels with it.

What is not covered

The legal guarantee is not a promise that nothing will ever break. It does not cover damage you cause through misuse or accident, defects you were clearly told about before buying (a discounted “as-is” item with a known flaw), normal wear and tear, or consumable parts that are expected to run down. It also does not apply to purchases from private individuals or to goods bought for a business use rather than as a consumer.

Legal guarantee versus commercial guarantee

Do not confuse the legal guarantee with a commercial guarantee (garantia comercial or garantia voluntária) — the extra warranty a manufacturer or retailer may offer, sometimes for a fee. A commercial guarantee is optional and sits on top of your legal rights; it can never replace or shorten them. If a shop tells you your two-year manufacturer warranty has expired, remember the three-year legal guarantee still stands regardless.

How to enforce it, step by step

1. Go back to the seller in writing. Set out the defect, the remedy you want (repair, replacement, refund) and the purchase date, and attach the receipt. Email or a dated letter creates a paper trail.
2. Use the Livro de Reclamações. If the seller stalls, ask for the complaints book, which every business must provide in physical or electronic form. Our guide on filing a consumer complaint through the Livro de Reclamações explains how the entry reaches the relevant regulator.
3. Escalate to consumer arbitration. Portugal runs a network of consumer-dispute arbitration centres (centros de arbitragem de conflitos de consumo) that handle these cases for free or at very low cost, and consumer bodies such as DECO offer guidance — the same organisation behind the widely cited essential-food-basket tracker.
4. Small-claims court. For amounts up to €15,000, the Julgados de Paz small-claims courts offer a cheap, lawyer-optional route to a binding decision.

A note on online purchases

If you bought online or otherwise at a distance, you have a second, separate right on top of the guarantee: the 14-day right of withdrawal (direito de livre resolução), which lets you return most goods within 14 days for a refund for any reason, no fault required. That window is about buyer's remorse; the three-year guarantee is about defects. They are different tools, and you can rely on whichever fits your situation.

The practical takeaway is simple: in Portugal, “the warranty ran out” is rarely the end of the conversation. On anything you bought new from a shop in the last three years — and especially in the first two — the law starts from the assumption that a fault is the seller's problem to fix. Keeping the receipt and knowing that one sentence is often all it takes to get a repair, a replacement or your money back.