Buying or Leaving a Timeshare in Portugal

Last verified: October 2026.

Who this is for

• You are being offered a timeshare week or a holiday club membership in Portugal.
• You already own or have inherited a Portuguese timeshare and want to sell it or give it up.
• Someone is asking you for money to resell your week or to "release" you from it.

Not for you if: you want to buy a whole holiday home. Read Buying Property in Portugal as a Foreigner instead.

Portuguese law knows two kinds of timeshare: a property right recorded at the land registry, and a contract only, such as a holiday club. Both give you 14 days to cancel without a reason or a cost. Nobody may take any money from you before those 14 days end. If you hold the registered kind, you can give it up alone by signing a renunciation. It takes effect six months after you notify the resort owner and the tourism authority, with no buyer needed.

The two kinds of timeshare

The registered timeshare (direito real de habitação periódica). This is a property right over a holiday unit for a fixed period each year. It is recorded at the land registry (registo predial). You receive a paper title called the certificado predial. You can sell it, leave it in a will, or use it as security for a loan, like other property.

It can only exist in three kinds of tourist development:

• hotel-apartments (hotéis-apartamentos)
• tourist villages (aldeamentos turísticos)
• tourist apartment complexes (apartamentos turísticos)

Some key features:

• It lasts forever unless the title sets an end date. Any end date must be at least one year away.
• Every period sold in a development must be the same length.
• The owner keeps seven days in a row each year, for each unit, for repairs and cleaning. That week is never sold.
• At least 30% of the units in tourist use must stay outside timeshare. A narrow exception exists for some five-star resorts.

The contract-only timeshare (direito de habitação turística). This covers any right to stay in a tourist development for limited periods each year that is not a registered right. The law names two common types:

• contracts lasting more than a year that let you use accommodation for more than one period
• long-term holiday products: contracts over a year where you pay for discounts or other accommodation benefits, such as holiday clubs and holiday cards

The law does not cover multiple hotel bookings, ordinary rental contracts, or normal loyalty schemes.

How to tell which one you have

Telling the two apart matters more than anything else. Your rights to sell, inherit, and walk away depend on it.

1. Look for a certificado predial. If you have one, you hold the registered kind.
2. Ask the seller for the land registry description number and the access code to the online property certificate (certidão permanente). A registered timeshare has both.
3. Read the contract. A contract-only right must say clearly that it is not a property right. If it says that, or gives no registry details, you hold the contract kind.

Before you sign: the papers you must get

The standard information form (formulário normalizado de informação pré-contratual). The seller must give it to you free, on paper or another lasting format, before you are bound by anything. That includes a promise to buy. It must cover, among other things:

• who the seller and the owner are, and the seller's legal role
• the development, its registry number, and the access code to the online property certificate
• exactly what right you are buying and which period each year
• the price and every compulsory extra cost
• the yearly charges and how they are set and updated
• what is and is not included in the price
• any exchange scheme and what it costs
• how and by when you can cancel, and who to tell
• a statement that no advance payment is allowed before the cancellation period ends

You can ask for this form in the language of the EU country where you live or of which you are a citizen. It must be an official EU language.

The certificado predial and its supporting document. For the registered kind, the land registry issues this title. It must show your period, the unit's maximum number of guests, and any charges on the property. It is written in Portuguese, and the seller must give you a translation into your language. Just above the signature space, it must state two things:

• you may cancel within 14 days of receiving it, without a reason and without cost
• advance payments of any kind are banned

The cancellation form must be part of the certificate.

For contract-only timeshares, the contract must be in writing, in the language of the country where the property is. The seller must also give you a translation into the language of your country of residence or nationality, at your choice.

Your 14 days to cancel

You have 14 calendar days to cancel, with no reason and no cost. For the registered kind, the clock starts on the later of two dates: the day you sign, or the day you receive the contract or the cancellation form. For a contract-only timeshare, it runs from signing or receiving the contract.

The period gets longer if the seller cuts corners:

• No cancellation form given: you can cancel for up to one year and 14 days.
• Required information missing from the contract: you can cancel for up to three months and 14 days from the day both sides signed.

If the seller supplies what was missing during that time, a fresh 14 days starts from that moment.

To cancel:

1. Fill in the cancellation form, or write a letter saying you are cancelling.
2. Send it to the seller on paper or another lasting format, such as email. Registered post gives you proof.
3. Send it before the deadline. What counts is when you send it.
4. Keep a copy and the proof of sending.

When you cancel, the seller must give back everything you paid. Any loan the seller arranged for the purchase ends automatically, with no penalty. So does any linked contract, such as membership of an exchange scheme. The same right applies to a promise to buy, counted from the day you sign it.

No money before the 14 days end

Nobody may take any payment from you before your 14 days are over. This covers deposits, guarantees, reservation fees, and any other payment linked to the sale. Before you sign, the seller must also tell you about the 14 days and the payment ban. If there is a dispute, the seller must prove they told you.

The rule is stricter still for resale. A company helping you sell your week may take no deposit, guarantee, or any other payment until the sale is complete or the resale contract ends. A resale agent who asks for money up front to advertise your week is breaking the law.

Holiday clubs and long-term holiday products

Holiday clubs and similar products have extra rules on payment:

• You pay the price, including membership fees, in equal yearly instalments on a payment calendar.
• Any payment outside that calendar is banned.
• The seller must send you a written payment request at least 14 days before each instalment is due.
• From the second instalment, you can end the contract without penalty. You must tell the seller within 14 days of receiving each payment request.
• From the second year, the two sides can agree to update the instalment in line with consumer prices.

For any contract-only timeshare, the contract cannot make you pay future years' charges in advance.

What you pay each year

If you hold a registered timeshare, you pay a yearly charge (prestação periódica) set in the resort's founding title. The law limits how it is used:

• It may only cover running costs, taxes on the property, other costs named in the title, and the owner's management fee.
• It can vary by season, but must stay in proportion to your use.
• The management fee cannot be more than 20% of the total.
• At least 4% must go into a reserve fund (fundo de reserva) for repairs. The fund must sit in its own bank account.

You cannot be made to pay the property taxes and other yearly charges on the ownership of the building. Those belong to the owner.

The charge can only change if the auditor proposes it, because it is too high or too low for the costs. A majority of the holders present at a meeting called for the purpose must then approve it.

If you do not pay. If the charge is still unpaid two months before your period starts, the owner can refuse to let you use it. The owner can then let the unit to tourists for that period. In that case your charge for the year counts as paid. Unpaid charges also give the owner a claim over your timeshare.

Your say in how the resort is run

All holders of registered timeshares form a general assembly (assembleia geral). Its powers include:

• electing its own president (the resort owner cannot be president)
• giving its opinion on the management report and accounts
• reviewing next year's maintenance plan
• choosing the auditor
• approving any change to the yearly charge

The assembly must be called in the first three months of each year, with at least 30 days' notice. Notice goes by registered letter, or by email with a read receipt plus a notice on the company's website. Holders with 5% of the votes can ask the president to call a meeting.

Your votes match the value of your right in the founding title. Nobody may represent more than a tenth of the votes, unless one holder owns them all. The owner must attend to answer questions, cannot act as a holder's proxy, and cannot vote on a change to the yearly charge.

Removing poor management. Holders can start removing the manager by a two-thirds majority of the votes of rights already sold. The removal takes effect only after a panel of three arbitrators decides. If the panel is not set up within 60 days, holders can ask the local court to appoint an administrator instead.

Two guarantees protect your money. The owner must provide a guarantee for each buyer. It covers the start of use on the agreed date, clearing any mortgages that affect you, and refunds if the resort never opens or you cancel. A second guarantee of good management protects all holders. It must equal at least one year of all holders' charges and be lodged with Turismo de Portugal, the national tourism authority.

Selling or inheriting a timeshare

To sell a registered timeshare, you and the buyer sign a declaration on the certificado predial. Your signature must be recognised in person. A notary, lawyer, solicitor (solicitador), or registry office can do this. The sale is then registered at the land registry. If it is a sale for money, the price must be stated. See Using a Notary and Certifying Documents in Portugal.

You do not need the resort owner's agreement to sell. Any contract clause that says otherwise does not count.

If you inherit one, the transfer is written on the certificate. Your signature is recognised in person after you show the notary proof that you are an heir. For the wider inheritance process, see Making a Will and Handling an Inheritance in Portugal.

Property transfer tax. The timeshare law exempts the transfer of a registered timeshare from the old property transfer tax. That exemption now applies to its replacement, the IMT. Confirm with the tax office (Finanças) before you rely on it.

How to give up a timeshare

If you hold a registered timeshare, you can end it on your own. This is called a renunciation (renúncia).

1. Write a declaration of renunciation on your certificado predial.
2. Sign it with in-person recognition of your signature, at a notary, lawyer, solicitor, or registry office.
3. Notify the resort owner. Use registered post with proof of receipt.
4. Notify the national tourism authority, Turismo de Portugal.
5. Register the renunciation at the land registry.
6. Your right, and with it the yearly charge, ends six months after the notifications.

The law does not make this depend on the owner's agreement, on finding a buyer, or on paying the owner anything. You pay only the usual recognition and registry fees. The law does not say what happens to charges you already owe, so settle or dispute those separately.

Before paying a company thousands of euros to "release" you, read this section. Get independent legal advice, not advice from the company asking for the money.

This route is only for the registered kind. A contract-only timeshare, holiday club, or long-term holiday product ends under its own contract and the rules above.

What sellers may not do

• Every advert must say clearly how and where you can get the standard information form.
• No advert may present a timeshare as a financial investment.
• If you are invited in person to a promotion or sales event, the invitation must state clearly that it is for selling and what kind of event it is. A "free lunch" invitation that hides the sales purpose breaks the law.
• Sales may only take place on the premises of the owner, the operator, or the agent.
• A registered timeshare cannot be advertised before the official notice to Turismo de Portugal is complete.
• Nobody may call you an "owner" (proprietário), or suggest you will co-own the resort.

Rights you cannot sign away

Your rights as a buyer cannot be waived. Any agreement that removes or limits them is void. So is any clause that limits the seller's duties.

If the contract is governed by the law of an EU country, any clause where you give up these rights does not count. If the contract chooses the law of a non-EU country, you still keep this protection when the property is in the EU. You also keep it when the seller works in, or targets customers in, an EU country.

How to complain

The Food and Economic Safety Authority (ASAE) investigates breaches and imposes fines. Taking money before the 14 days end, failing to refund after you cancel, missing guarantees, and misleading adverts are all very serious offences. Failing to give you the information form, or blocking your right to cancel, are serious offences.

Fines depend on who breaks the rule. For a very serious offence, they range from €2,000 to €7,500 for an individual, and up to €24,000 to €90,000 for a large company. A two-year ban on trading is also possible.

Your options:

1. Write to the seller or the resort owner first, and keep copies.
2. Use the official complaints book. See How to File a Consumer Complaint in Portugal.
3. Ask about consumer arbitration. The law asks the authorities to promote out-of-court settlement of these disputes.
4. For a large sum or a complex contract, see a lawyer.

Timeshare resorts are licensed tourist developments. They are not holiday lets, which have their own rules in Registering a Holiday Let (Alojamento Local) in Portugal. The holders' assembly is also not the same as a building's owners' meeting, covered in How a Condominium (Condomínio) Works in Portugal.

A short checklist

• Ask in writing whether the right is registered or contract-only. Ask for the registry number and the online certificate code.
• Get the standard information form, in your language, before you sign anything.
• Check that the certificate or contract states the 14 days and the payment ban above the signatures, and includes the cancellation form.
• Pay nothing, of any kind, until the 14 days are over.
• Read the yearly charge clause. A management share above 20% is unlawful.
• Pay no resale agent anything until your week is sold.
• If you hold a registered timeshare and want out, look at renunciation before you pay anyone.
• Older timeshares created under earlier laws have transition rules. Have a lawyer check them.

This guide is general information, not legal advice. For advice on a particular contract, speak to a lawyer or solicitor.

Sources

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

• Procuradoria-Geral Regional de Lisboa, timeshare law (Decreto-Lei n.º 275/93, consolidated with seven amendments to Decreto-Lei n.º 9/2021): https://www.pgdlisboa.pt/leis/lei_mostra_articulado.php?nid=648&tabela=leis (two kinds of timeshare, development types, duration, seven-day reserve, 30% rule, information form and language, certificate contents and statements, 14-day cancellation and extensions, credit and linked contracts, promise contracts, payment ban, duty to inform, guarantees, yearly charge limits, 20% management cap, 4% reserve fund, property taxes, non-payment, assembly, voting, removal of management, transfer and inheritance, renunciation, advertising rules, holiday club instalments, resale payment ban, offences, ASAE, rights that cannot be waived, non-EU law, out-of-court settlement, transfer tax exemption), checked 2 October 2026
• Procuradoria-Geral Regional de Lisboa, economic offences regime (Decreto-Lei n.º 9/2021), article 18: https://www.pgdlisboa.pt/leis/lei_mostra_articulado.php?nid=3420&tabela=leis (fine bands for serious and very serious offences by company size), checked 2 October 2026
• Procuradoria-Geral Regional de Lisboa, Decreto-Lei n.º 287/2003, articles 28 and 31: https://www.pgdlisboa.pt/leis/lei_mostra_articulado.php?nid=474&tabela=leis (references to sisa read as IMT; sisa exemptions in other laws kept and applied to IMT), checked 2 October 2026
• European Commission, Your Europe, timeshare and long-term holiday contracts: https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/travel/holidays/timeshare/index_en.htm (14 days, one year and 14 days, three months and 14 days, no advance payment, holiday club instalments and termination from the second instalment, no resale payment until sold, own-language information), checked 2 October 2026
• EUR-Lex, Directive 2008/122/EC on timeshare, long-term holiday products, resale, and exchange: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32008L0122 (the EU rules the Portuguese law applies)
• Diário da República, Decreto-Lei n.º 76-A/2006, article 38: https://files.diariodarepublica.pt/1s/2006/03/063a01/00020190.pdf (lawyers, solicitadores, registry officers, and chambers of commerce may recognise signatures with the same force as a notary), carried from verified guide W2B-31, checked 1 October 2026

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