How to check a new-build developer before reserving in Portugal

A new-build brochure can show you the home a developer intends to deliver. It cannot show who owns the plot or what the municipality has approved. If you are buying from abroad, a request to reserve may arrive before you have seen either document.

New-build developer checks in Portugal work best as a chain of evidence. Start with the company promising to sell, then connect it to the land, the project file, the builder, and the exact unit. Only then should you assess the reservation payment and delivery terms.

You can request much of this material by email. An independent Portuguese property lawyer should review the legal documents, while a qualified building professional can assess the finished work.

Separate the seller, landowner, and builder

Match the seller to the registered company

Start with the company that will sign your agreement, not the name printed on the sales brochure. Ask for its full legal name, company identifier, registered address, and current commercial certificate. Portugal's commercial registration records disclose a company's legal situation. The official annual-accounts service provides a separate way to examine its filed accounts. Neither record promises that a project will be finished.

Compare that legal name with the seller named in the proposed reservation agreement and promissory purchase-and-sale contract, known as the CPCV. Check the payment instructions too. If the sales agent requests money for another company, ask your lawyer to establish why before you pay. For context on the wider transaction, the Portuguese buying process explains legal steps beyond the developer checks.

A project company may have been set up solely to sell one development. That does not make it suspect, but it changes the question. Ask whether another company guarantees its obligations and where that guarantee appears in the signed documents. A familiar group name in an advertisement is no substitute for a written commitment from the entity you could hold responsible.

Test the delivery record with specific evidence

Ask the seller to name completed developments and give their handover dates. Then look beyond promotional photographs. Owners or property managers may be able to describe whether homes arrived as specified and whether unfinished common areas or defects were addressed. If the only contacts offered are testimonials chosen by the seller, treat their accounts as a starting point rather than an independent check.

Reviews are more useful when they describe a dated event than when they assign a star rating. Look for repeated accounts of delayed handover, changed finishes, or unresolved work. Compare the project names and dates with the company's own history. A complaint may concern a different company in the same group, so match legal names before drawing a conclusion.

The company record and annual accounts can help you understand which entity is involved and what it has disclosed. They cannot predict construction progress or replace questions about an individual project. If a seller will not identify past developments, focus on the documents and protections available for the home under consideration. A short history calls for clearer contractual commitments, not an automatic rejection.

Trace each party's role in the project

Before reserving an off-plan property in Portugal, match the seller to the registered company, verify the plot and municipal records, identify the builder, and obtain legal review of the payment terms. Put the names on one page. A sales agent markets the home, the seller makes the sale promise, the landowner holds the registered plot, and the contractor carries out construction. One company may fill several roles.

Request a document that explains each connection where the names differ. For example, if one company owns the land and another signs the CPCV, ask your lawyer what gives the seller the right to deliver the promised unit. An unfamiliar name is a question to resolve, not evidence of wrongdoing. The problem is a missing link that neither the seller nor its documents can explain.

Keep the responses with the listing, plans, and correspondence. A remote buyer may see several names across emails, invoices, and brochures, making an early written record useful. The overseas inspection checklist can help you organize questions for a later visit, but it cannot establish who has the legal right to sell.

The clearest test is practical. Can the person asking for a reservation identify the contracting company and provide records connecting it to this land and this proposed home? If the answer remains a brand name or a verbal assurance, pause the payment request. Your lawyer needs identifiable parties before assessing what the agreement would actually protect.

Confirm the plot and approved project match the offer

Match the plot and proposed unit to property records

Ask for the current land-register certificate and give your lawyer the listing address, plot or lot reference, and proposed unit details. Justiça.gov.pt describes the register as a record of the legal status of land and buildings. Its permanent certificate is available online and kept up to date. Your lawyer can compare the registered holder with the landowner named in the project's documents.

The certificate may show registered charges or pending entries that need explanation. Ask how any charge affecting the sale will be dealt with at completion, rather than assuming construction will clear it. Also request the caderneta predial, the property's tax record. It can help identify a description mismatch, but it does not tell you what the municipality permitted the developer to build.

For instance, a brochure might call an apartment "Unit B" while an approved drawing uses a different label. Ask the seller to connect both labels to the same plot, floor, and plans in writing. Keep those plans for your eventual viewing. A home-viewing checklist helps with visible details, while the records establish what property is being offered.

Request the municipal file and current plans

Ask the seller for the project's municipal reference, applicable authorization records, approved drawings, intended use, and amendments. Depending on the project, the paperwork may include a building licence or a prior communication. The relevant Câmara Municipal holds the planning file. Have your lawyer or another independent Portuguese professional establish which route applies and whether the advertised unit matches that file.

The land register answers who holds registered rights. The municipal file addresses what was submitted or authorized. You need both questions answered because ownership of a plot does not establish approval for the building shown in a listing. Compare the offered floor, layout, parking, storage, and shared areas with the applicable drawings. Ask for a written explanation if the sales plan differs.

Article 19 of Decree-Law 10/2024 removed the requirement to present a use licence or proof of its issue when transferring an urban property. That change has been in force since 4 March 2024. You do not need to present that document as a condition of the transfer, but you still need to establish the project's planning status. An easier transfer-document rule does not approve an unverified development.

Identify the contractor and resolve mismatches

Request the legal name and identifier of the empreiteiro, the contractor responsible for construction. Search the name in IMPIC's public register of private-works contractor licence holders. Compare the result with the company named in project correspondence. If a group company or subcontractor appears instead, ask who is responsible for the planned works and have that relationship recorded.

An IMPIC entry is a contractor check. It does not certify the seller's finances, confirm municipal approval, or rate the finished work. Likewise, a builder's experience on another development does not establish that this unit has the advertised authorization. The records answer different questions, so keep them together rather than treating any one document as a complete verdict.

A manageable request is one folder containing the land certificate, tax record, municipal reference, applicable plans and amendments, and contractor details. Ask the seller to explain discrepancies in writing. Your lawyer can then distinguish a harmless change in labeling from a gap that affects title or the proposed sale. That is more useful than asking whether a development is simply "approved" without identifying which plan and unit the answer concerns.

Do not rely on a photograph of a permit displayed at the site. It may identify a project without answering whether later changes cover the home you intend to buy. Use the municipal reference to connect the current sales materials to the applicable file. If that connection cannot be made before reservation, make access to satisfactory records a condition your lawyer reviews.

Review reservation, payment, and handover terms

Define the home before signing anything

A reservation agreement is not the whole purchase. Ask which terms will carry into the CPCV, the later promissory contract. Both documents should identify the contracting parties and the precise unit. Attach or identify the plans and written specification that describe its area, layout, fixtures, finishes, parking, storage, and share of common areas. A general brochure leaves too much room for disagreement.

Check the wording on substitutions. If a specified material becomes unavailable, what replacement standard applies, who decides whether it is equivalent, and when will you be told? Ask what happens if the completed layout or included space differs materially from the signed documents. Your lawyer can turn a sales description into terms that identify the promised home.

An advertised completion season may suit a search shortlist, but it is weak protection for someone arranging an international move. Seek a defined completion commitment and a process for changes. The point is not to eliminate every construction delay. It is to know what the seller must do, when you must pay, and what choices you have if delivery changes.

Set payment and exit rules before transferring funds

For each reservation fee or instalment, write down the recipient, amount, due date, and whether the sum counts toward the purchase price. Ask who holds it and what document, if any, secures its return. Do not assume that calling a payment a "reservation" makes it refundable. A refund if the developer fails to finish depends on the signed reservation terms and CPCV.

Have an independent Portuguese property lawyer review the evidence required before each staged payment. The same review should cover delay, cancellation, developer default, termination, and the return of funds. Ask for a final date after which you can use a stated remedy if completion has not occurred. A spoken promise about a refund cannot resolve unclear signed terms.

Before paying, put these questions to the seller in one email. Written answers help your lawyer compare the commercial offer with the draft contracts.

• Who receives and holds each payment?
• What must happen before each instalment falls due?
• Which events permit cancellation or a refund?
• What happens if completion is late?

If the seller answers in an email but the contract says something else, ask for the agreement to be revised before signing. Payment protection needs an identifiable contractual term or security instrument. It should not depend on an assumption about what usually happens in an off-plan sale.

Arrange inspection and document defects

Agree when an independent building professional can inspect the home before handover. Set out how unfinished work will be recorded and when the seller must respond. Photograph the relevant areas, retain dated plans and specifications, and send defect notices in writing. A handover visit can reveal finish and installation problems that company and planning records cannot.

For consumer real-estate sales covered by Decree-Law 84/2021, Article 23 gives structural-element non-conformities 10 years to manifest and other non-conformities 5 years. The periods concern when a defect appears. Ask your lawyer whether the law applies to your purchase and what separate notice or claim deadlines you must meet.

A written inspection record makes a later discussion specific. It can distinguish an unfinished item noted at handover from damage discovered after occupation. Keep the seller's replies with the original notice and agreed repair dates. Do not treat a headline defect period as permission to wait indefinitely before reporting a problem.

If the home is still under construction, request inspection access in the handover plan rather than assuming the seller will allow it. Your building professional can assess the delivered condition; your lawyer can address the contract and the available remedies. Those are separate jobs, and both matter when the finished home differs from what was signed.

Choose a search service, then request proof

Use One Place for cross-border discovery

One Place offers conversational property search and lets users respond to results with likes and dislikes. Its stated coverage includes France, Estonia, Italy, Spain, and Portugal. That may suit you if you are still comparing places to live and want to describe preferences in words rather than begin with rigid filters. It is a discovery option, not a legal check on a developer.

The site advertises free browsing and listing alongside an early-access waitlist; it shows no public paid-tier schedule. Those details matter less than whether the available search helps you find relevant candidates. A match does not establish land ownership, municipal approval, or a builder's authorization. You will still need documents for the specific development.

If your search is limited to Portugal, compare it with established listing portals before deciding where to spend time. If you are considering several countries, the cross-border search style may be useful earlier in the process. In either case, save the original listing and its stated specifications. They give you a clear starting point for questions to the seller.

Compare idealista and Kyero on the same search

idealista's Portugal site supports location and property-type searches, including new homes. Kyero offers a separate search for Portugal properties for sale. Neither should be treated as a certificate of project reliability. Use each service to find listings, then assess the named development through its documents and an independent professional.

A fair comparison starts with the same area, budget, property type, and intended completion status. Look at which listings identify the seller or agent, show usable plans, and state what comes with the unit. If two adverts appear to describe the same home, ask the contact for the current specification rather than assuming either version governs the sale.

The services have different search roles. Use the one that produces a workable shortlist, not the one whose presentation feels most reassuring. No listing interface can settle a disagreement between a sales plan and the municipal file. That requires the project reference, applicable drawings, and legal review.

Keep the comparison narrow enough to act on. Record the exact unit reference, advertised layout, included spaces, agent or seller name, and contact details for each candidate. This reduces confusion when similar units appear across portals. Once one property is worth pursuing, stop comparing advertisements and request the documents behind that particular offer.

Turn a shortlist into a document request

Send the seller a written request for the legal company's details and the documents linking it to the plot. Ask for the municipal project reference, applicable plans, contractor identity, and draft reservation agreement and CPCV. Include the listing's unit reference and specifications so the reply addresses the home you actually found.

You can send that request while abroad. If the seller supplies records in stages, keep the replies together and note which question each document answers. An agent may reasonably need time to obtain a file, but pressure to pay before you can identify the contracting company deserves a pause. Availability of a unit does not resolve a missing legal link.

Once the package is assembled, ask an independent Portuguese property lawyer to review it before you transfer money. Have a qualified building professional assess the home when inspection becomes possible. You can then decide whether to reserve on the written terms offered, negotiate clearer protections, or leave the unit off your shortlist.

Keep the decision tied to this development. A sound company record cannot repair a weak payment clause, and a detailed listing cannot replace an approved plan. What matters before reservation is whether the parties, plot, proposed home, and obligations can be connected in documents your advisers can examine.