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When a Debt Expires in Portugal

Researched and written with AI tools from official sources. How we make our guides

How long a creditor has to claim a debt in Portugal, from six months on utility bills to 20 years after a judgment, and what restarts the clock.

The Portugal Brief 10 min read

When a Debt Expires in Portugal

Last verified: October 2026.

Who this is for

  • You have received a letter or call about an old bill, fine, or debt.
  • You live in Portugal and want to know whether a creditor can still make you pay.
  • You are a landlord, freelancer, or small business owed money and want to know how long you have.

Not for you if: a creditor has already seized your pay or bank account. Read When a Creditor Seizes Your Pay or Bank Account in Portugal instead.

In Portugal, most debts have a time limit, called prescription (prescrição). Once it runs out, you can refuse to pay. The limit depends on the debt. It is six months for water, power, gas, and phone bills, and two years for most shop bills, tradesman bills, and traffic fines. It is five years for rent, interest, and social security, eight years for tax, and 20 years for most other debts. Two things matter most. Expiry does not happen by itself: you must claim it. And a written admission that you owe the debt can restart or extend the clock.

The rule almost everyone gets wrong

Prescription does not wipe out a debt. Once the period ends, you gain the right to refuse to pay, or to oppose the claim in any way. The debt itself survives.

That has three consequences:

  • You must raise it. A court cannot apply prescription on its own. You must claim it, in court or in writing to the creditor. If you are sued and defend yourself without mentioning it, you can lose.
  • You cannot get the money back. If you pay an expired debt, you cannot reclaim it, even if you did not know it had expired. The same applies if you acknowledge the debt or give a guarantee for it.
  • Contracts cannot change the periods. Any clause that makes a prescription period longer or shorter is void. You can only give up the benefit after the period has ended, and that can happen without words, by how you act.

The default: 20 years

The ordinary period is 20 years. It applies to any debt that has no shorter period, such as a private loan between two people. It runs from the moment the creditor could first demand payment.

Five years: payments that repeat

These expire after five years:

  • rent owed by a tenant, even if paid in one sum;
  • interest, whether agreed or set by law, and company dividends;
  • loan instalments that combine capital and interest;
  • maintenance payments already due;
  • life annuities and other payments that repeat at regular intervals.

Two points matter in practice. Unpaid rent expires in five years, not 20. And interest expires after five years on its own, so a creditor may still claim an old debt but not most of the interest on it.

Six months and two years: everyday bills

The Civil Code has shorter periods for everyday bills. They rest on the idea that people normally pay these bills, so after a while the law presumes you paid.

Six months: hotels, restaurants, and bars, for the rooms, food, and drink they provide.

Two years:

  • schools, colleges, student housing, care homes, and clinics, for their services;
  • shops selling to you as a private customer, and tradesmen who supply goods or do work for you, unless it was for your own business;
  • professionals in private practice, such as lawyers, architects, accountants, and private doctors, for their fees and expenses.

The trap. Because these periods rest on a presumption that you paid, the creditor can only overturn it with your own admission. Outside court, the admission only counts if it is in writing. In court, refusing to testify, or doing anything that contradicts having paid, counts as an admission too.

So do not write "I know I owe this, I just cannot pay right now", by email or by text message. That sentence is a written admission. The debt then falls under the ordinary rules. If the period has passed and you want to rely on it, say only that the debt has expired.

Six months on water, power, gas, phone, and bins

A separate law protects users of essential public services:

  • water supply;
  • electricity;
  • natural gas and piped bottled gas;
  • phone, mobile, and internet services;
  • postal services;
  • sewage collection and treatment;
  • household waste collection;
  • passenger transport.

For these services:

  • The right to be paid expires six months after the service was provided. Not six months after the bill, and not six months after someone noticed.
  • Underbilling. If you paid less than you actually used, for any reason including the provider's own mistake, the provider loses the right to the difference six months after that payment. This answers the classic "meter correction" bill covering three years.
  • Notice. A demand for payment must reach you in writing at least 10 working days before the payment deadline.
  • Going to court. The provider has six months to start a court case or an order for payment, counted from the service or the first payment.

The provider must prove that it met its own obligations, including sending notices on time. For setting up these accounts, see Setting Up Electricity in Portugal and Setting Up Utilities in Portugal.

Three years: compensation

A claim for compensation (damages) expires three years after the injured person learned of their right. This applies even if they did not yet know who was responsible or the full extent of the harm. The 20-year period still runs from the harmful event, so the three years cannot go beyond it. If the act was a crime with a longer limit, that longer limit applies.

Eight years: tax

Tax debts expire after eight years. The start date depends on the tax:

  • Taxes charged each year, such as income tax (IRS) and property tax (IMI): from the end of the year in which the taxable event happened.
  • One-off taxes, such as property transfer tax (IMT): from the date of the event.
  • VAT, and income tax withheld at source as a final tax: from the start of the next calendar year.

What restarts the clock. Being served in a tax enforcement case, a complaint, an internal appeal, a court challenge, or a request to review the assessment all restart it. But this restart happens only once, with whichever comes first.

What pauses the clock. Among other things, it pauses while you pay in authorised instalments, and while a challenge that suspends collection is pending.

So a tax debt you put on a payment plan and then abandoned may be younger, in legal terms, than the calendar suggests. To see what the tax office and Social Security still record against you, see Getting a Certificate That You Owe No Tax or Social Security. To challenge a tax bill, see Contesting a Tax Assessment in Portugal.

Five years: Social Security

Contributions, late interest, and other amounts owed to Social Security (Segurança Social) expire after five years. The clock restarts with any official step to calculate or collect the debt that you are told about. It also restarts if a request for out-of-court conciliation is filed. So a letter from Social Security about the debt can be enough.

Two years: traffic fines

For road traffic offences:

  • The case against you expires two years after the offence. Besides the general rules, being notified of the decision fining you restarts this clock.
  • The fine itself, and any extra penalty such as a driving ban, expires two years after the decision becomes final.

There is also an outer limit. The case always expires once the normal period plus half has passed, not counting time when the clock was paused. For a road offence that is three years. Some pauses, such as while a court appeal is pending, count for no more than six months each.

See Paying and Contesting Traffic Fines in Portugal.

One, three, or five years: other fines

For other administrative fines (coimas), such as council or regulator fines, the period depends on the maximum fine for that offence, not the fine you got:

  • five years if the maximum fine is €49,879.79 or more;
  • three years if it is at least €2,493.99 but less than €49,879.79;
  • one year in all other cases.

Once a fine is final, it expires after three years if it is above €3,740.98, the general maximum for an individual, and after one year otherwise. The clock pauses while payment is spread in instalments, or while enforcement cannot start or has been interrupted.

So most ordinary fines against a private person expire one year after the decision becomes final, unless something paused the clock.

What stops the clock

The law has two different mechanisms, and the difference is large.

A pause (suspensão) stops the clock, which then carries on. The period does not run, for example:

  • between spouses;
  • between a parent or guardian and the child or adult in their care;
  • between a domestic worker and the employer, while the contract lasts.

It also does not run against children with no legal representative. Force majeure pauses it only if it happens in the last three months of the period.

A restart (interrupção) wipes out all the time already passed, and a new period begins. It happens in two ways:

  • Court action. Being served with, or notified of, any court document that shows the creditor wants to enforce the right restarts the clock, whatever the case and even if the court is the wrong one. If service is delayed more than five days for reasons the creditor did not cause, the clock counts as restarted after those five days. The new period does not start until the court case ends with a final decision.
  • Your acknowledgement. If you acknowledge the debt to the creditor, the clock restarts. Acknowledgement without words counts only if your actions show it clearly, such as a part payment or a signed payment plan.

This is why debt collectors call. Often the aim is not to collect but to get you to acknowledge the debt, because that restarts a clock that may be close to running out.

How a judgment turns a short limit into 20 years

If a final court judgment, or another enforcement title, recognises the debt, the short period no longer applies. The debt then has the 20-year period. This includes the six-month and two-year periods.

So a two-year bill becomes a 20-year debt once it goes through an unopposed order for payment. See Recovering an Unpaid Invoice in Portugal. The exception is payments not yet due when the judgment was given; they keep their short period.

That is why ignoring an order for payment is much worse than defending it badly.

Expiry is not the same as a deadline to act

The law also has fixed deadlines to act, called lapse (caducidade). They work differently:

  • they do not pause or restart, unless the law says so;
  • they start when the right can legally be used;
  • where the matter is outside what the parties can agree between themselves, the court applies them on its own, at any stage.

The six-month underbilling rule for utilities is a lapse rule. So are many deadlines to challenge a decision or exercise a legal right.

What to do

  • If a collector contacts you about an old consumer debt: work out the period from the date of the service or delivery, not from the date of the last letter. If it has passed, reply once in writing. Say only that you consider the debt prescribed and ask them to stop contacting you. Do not offer a part payment, ask for a discount, or say you cannot afford it.
  • If you are sued: raise prescription in your defence. The court will not do it for you.
  • If you are owed money: reminders do not stop the clock. Only a court step served on the debtor, or the debtor's acknowledgement, does. Utility providers must go to court within six months.
  • If you are a landlord: unpaid rent expires after five years. Once you have a judgment or enforcement title, it becomes a 20-year claim.
  • If the debt is from abroad: moving to Portugal does not give it Portuguese time limits. Which country's law applies depends on the contract and on EU rules. Check this before you rely on any period.
  • If the amount is small: disputes can often go to the peace courts (julgados de paz). If cost is the problem, see Applying for Legal Aid in Portugal.

None of this is a reason to stop paying bills. It is a reason to check the dates before you answer a letter. The most costly mistake with an expired debt is admitting it in writing before you have checked.

This guide is general information, not legal advice. Time limits turn on exact dates and on what paused or restarted them; if a specific debt matters to you, have the dates checked.

Sources

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

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

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