Fact Sheet: Real Estate Agent in Portugal
Real estate agent in Portugal: the real legal framework
⚠️ Informal arrangements — an agent who agrees to « hunt » for you, a commission split with a fellow agent — work most of the time, and that’s perfectly fine. But the day it goes wrong, custom no longer decides: the law does, as it actually stands. Here’s what Portuguese law genuinely says — and what it doesn’t.
Who’s actually allowed to call themselves a « real estate agent »?
Contrary to popular belief, it isn’t the individual agent who’s licensed in Portugal — it’s the agency. Law n.º 15/2013 requires an AMI licence (Autorização para o exercício da Atividade de Mediação Imobiliária), issued by IMPIC, mandatory for any real estate mediation company — but the law sets out no individual licence for each agent (« angariador », « consultor ») working within it. An individual licence briefly existed (Decreto-Lei 211/2004) before being repealed. In practice, an agent operates under their agency’s licence — which has a direct, little-known consequence: if that agent moves to another company, the legal protections you relied on stay attached to the old agency, not to the person you knew.
Who does the agent actually work for, legally?
The Portuguese system is structurally built around the seller: open mandates, seller-paid commissions, a licensing framework centred on the agency handling the sale. Nothing in the law prevents an agent from representing both sides (seller and buyer) on the same deal — Law 15/2013 doesn’t prohibit it, it simply doesn’t regulate that potential conflict of interest at all. A 2025 legal analysis flagged this gap as a core structural weakness of the current AMI framework, calling for a mandatory conflict-of-interest disclosure rule that still doesn’t exist. Until it does, your best protection is to ask directly, at first contact: who signed the mediation contract for this property, and who pays the commission at closing?
What is the agent legally required to check for you?
The agent’s legal duties toward a buyer are limited: providing or facilitating access to the caderneta predial urbana, the licença de utilização, the certidão de registo predial, the ficha técnica de habitação (for properties built after 2004), and the energy certificate. These documents cover the property’s administrative status and legal ownership — they say nothing about its actual physical condition.
Who checks that the property matches its description? A recent, important change
Until January 2024, a municipal check confirmed that a property’s physical condition matched its licensed description before the deed was signed. Decreto-Lei n.º 10/2024 removed that check. Since then, neither the notary nor the agent verifies this point. It’s now entirely up to the buyer to commission their own technical assessment before signing the CPCV (promissory contract), if they actually want to know the real condition of what they’re buying — a recent change, still not widely known.
If it goes wrong, who’s liable?
Portuguese law places accountability on the agency holding the AMI licence, not on the individual agent personally — it’s the agency that must ensure its staff act ethically and lawfully, and it’s the agency that bears the risk if something goes wrong. Professional civil liability insurance is a legal requirement for the agency holding the licence, with a minimum amount set by law.
Independent inspection: a different job, a separate step
The agent showing you a property is a sales professional, not a construction one — nothing in their training or their commercial interest guarantees they’ll spot, let alone volunteer, a structural defect. Always have the property inspected by a genuinely independent building professional, chosen by you, outside any interested recommendation from the agency. In Portugal, the independent Pro who does that is the Civil Engineer.
This check should never run through the agent’s commission or be arranged between the two of them — the moment the inspector is paid or referred by the same commercial chain as the seller, their independence suffers, even without any ill intent on their part.
How to work within this framework, without bending it
Ask, from the first conversation, who holds the mandate on the property you’re interested in, and who pays the commission — this isn’t nosy, it’s simply filling in what the law doesn’t spell out about a potential conflict of interest. Check that the agency holds a valid AMI licence on the IMPIC website. And above all, since the January 2024 change, never assume someone else has checked the property’s real condition for you: commission your own independent technical assessment, chosen by you, before signing anything.
🇬🇧 This article was written in September 2026. Laws and regulations can change without notice. Please verify all details at the time of reading — and consult a professional, you’ll find one in our directory!
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