Lease Agreements in Spain and Portugal
A Guide to the Best Lease in Portugal and Spain.
What is a Lease Agreement?
A lease agreement is a contract that allows an individual to use a property in exchange for a payment, like monthly rent. Typically, if a person needs to stay in a residential property for a period of time, but are not looking to purchase a home, they often sing a lease agreement to formally live in the property..
Depending on the time period for a lease agreement in Spain and/or Portugal, the following options are outlined below:
Subject | Spain | Portugal |
Types of contracts |
|
|
Formal requirement | The contract must be signed in front of a notary. | There must be a written contract but there’s no obligation to notarise it. |
Registration | Landlord must register the contract on the Property Registry | Landlord must register the contract with the Tax Authority but this doesn’t impact the contract’s validity |
Automatic renewal (for long-term leases only) | Only the tenant can choose to automatically renew the contract during the first give years. The rent increases are in line with the Consumer Price Index | Only the tenant can choose to renew the contract in the first three years |
Eviction for unpaid rent | After one month without payment, the landlord may send a notarised order of payment. After 10 days, the landlord may file a lawsuit to evict the tenant | After three months of unpaid rent, the landlord can evict the tenant. If the tenant doesn’t leave, the landlord can pursue a lawsuit |
How do I get the right Lease Agreement?
- Contact one of our real estate lawyers to verify if the property fulfils the legal requirements for habitation
- Draft a contract which:
- Identifies the parties
- Identifies the type of property
- Carefully describes each parties’ responsibilities.
- The parties sign an agreement
- Register the contract
Process of Purchasing Property?
Although each buying process differs from client to client, the general timeline is listed as follows:
- Tax and Budget Planning: The costs of acquiring a house are mainly paid by the buyer, and vary from region to region. Taxes and other paid by the buyer include:
- Property transfer tax 6–10% (existing properties) / VAT (or IVA) at 10% (new properties);
- Notary costs, title deed tax and land registration fee 1–2.5%;
- Legal fees 1–2% (including VAT).
- Obtain your NIE: Contact the Spanish administration to get your tax identification number.
- Search for properties in Spain: Our expert attorneys can help find properties in Spain.
- Reservation agreement and Letter of Intent: A letter of intent may be presented by one party to another party and subsequently negotiated before execution (or signature).
How can a lawyer help me?
- Our real estate lawyers can verify if the property is registered for the correct use
- They can draft a contract that protects with strict adherence to the law
- The can help you assess and choose the best legal option for you
¨We will be with you each step of your journey.¨
– Immigration Team
Lexidy is a modern, dynamic, and innovative law firm. We always put customers at the center of our work and do our best to give an exceptional experience. Our expertise in Spain and Portugal allows us to solve complex problems thoroughly and cut all the risks before they may happen.
The number of Golden Visas Issued with us
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How many clients we assisted in 2020
0
Our average score from 300 reviews
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What's involved in getting a Lease Agreement?
- Gather the correct documentation – this typically takes up to 15 days
- Review and verify the documents – we estimate no longer than 10 days for this
- Draft a contract – we allocate up to 10 days here
- Sign the deed
- The landlord registers the contract
Find you Immigration Lawyer
Alejandro Cano
Associate - LLM Abogado ( El Salvador )
Juan Diego Muñoz
Head of the Real Estate Department
Laura Martinez
Lawyer
Eduardo Muñoz Lorenzo
Lawyer
Júlia Clèries
LawyerFrequently Asked Questions
In Portugal, a long-term residential lease agreement ranges from a year to 30 years.
In Spain, the agreement is at least a year but there is no maximum.
The tenant must leave the property if the lease expires without automatic renewal.
Anyone can prepare a rental agreement but it’s best to work with a real estate expert, who can protect your interests. Choose an experienced professional to verify the contract sent and eliminate the small details that may lead to greater costs in the future.
No. It’s illegal for a tenant to use a property in a period that has already passed.
Yes and we can support this arrangement.
If your tenant refuses to sign a lease you should go to court and follow these steps.
- Ask the court to recognize the existing lease and the agreed payment terms.
- If you can prove the tenant’s refusal, you can ask the court to recognize the legal “inexistence” of the lease and issue a judicial order to evict the tenant.
Be happy. Join a community of satisfied and successful customers
Based on 455 reviews
Alejandro Perez
16:40 29 Dec 23
I’ve used them numerous times for my visa purposes. They’ve been honest and direct with there responses. Comes to show they’re knowledgeable and wont waste both our times. Highly recommend them!
Yaw Kevin
02:00 27 Sep 23
We get to know about Spanish Golden Visa by property investment through web searches but as a foreigners we have limited knowledge about Golden Visa application compliance and property sales and purchase governing rules and regulations.There are many websites out there listing out how Golden Visa legal system or property ownership in Spain works but we know it is even beyond language bearer that we need an experience, responsive and dedicated specialist to do the job.We come across Lexidy Law, which specialized in assisting foreigners in Golden Visa application and in our case through the property purchases (there are few types of ways for qualifying on Spanish Golden Visa application).Because of the straightforward services price structure of Lexidy and easy to understand explanations of the home-purchasing process, we felt confident after meeting with Mr.Alejandro who is the first person we met of the application process.During our property purchase, the sale of the house has come to a halt and become a complex and problematic deal as a result of sellers’ family dispute on the sales proceed distribution. The argument lasted for two months, pushing back the completion deadline.The Lexidy real estate team has done an excellent job, in particular with the lead by Señor Juan Diego.Juan is highly knowledgeable, competent and down to earth practical lawyer in this field; his previously work experience in real property gives us good spectrum of views and advices with alternative or solutions and he shows his capability in ranking them logically so we do the decision to choose the best fit for ourselves.He promptly provides updates on every development and highlights complication or consequences from both the seller and buyer perspective (nearly every day). His effective and fluent communication skills in written and spoken English saved thousand words for non Spanish language speakers like us; He maintain his client's best interests in mind yet remain independent in giving his advices.Lexidy's real estate team has spent a considerable amount of time and resources helping us have a successful closure to this property purchase.Yes, we are now proud house owners, and Lexidy didn't charge us extra for the additional work and efforts on the process hiccup. We are impressed and thankful with the professionalism.Thankful Lexidy, it would be impossible for us to have a flawless closure and a successful property transaction which now lead us to the final path of Spanish Golden Visa process which handle by Ms.Laura and her team.It is truly a blessing and we sincerely hope that our review might also benefit you in finding a correct choice of Spanish Golden Visa application service provider.
Jonathan Elron
07:37 13 Aug 23
A great law firm that covers anything an expat might need. I needed help with real estate initially, and they also helped me with immigration, taxes, and corporate legal matters. Fantastic people to work with. Alejandro from their real estate and immigration department is my main contact and he is an absolute pleasure to work with. Highly recommended!
Omar Ghosheh
21:25 15 Jun 23
Lexidy Law team provided me excellent service. Their promptness and customer service was outstanding. I used Lexidy to facilitate the purchase of my house in Marbella Spain and they made the experience so simple and pleasant. I highly recommend Lexidy’s services. Juan Muñoz and Alejandro Cano were my point of contact and found both of them a joy to work with.
daveachuk
10:47 24 Mar 23
Alejandro was helping me navigate the process of nueva obra construction to gain Spanish golden visa. He proved to be very knowledgeable and we had a great phone call where I learned more in 20 minutes than I would have from months of internet research. Unfortunately the property I was looking at ended up not being suitable, which was discovered thanks to his due-diligence, so I was not able to go through the entire process, so I can't provide a review of the full legal process. But I'll be engaging with Lexidy again if I find a suitable property for me in the future!
Radostin Denev
09:47 27 Oct 22
Comment from Radostin and Kaloyan Bulgaria:We could recommend working with Lexidy and especially with Juan Diego Muñoz to everyone. Our assessment is defenitely 10 out of 10!Strict professional who cover full end-to-end journey in buying real estate and successful relocation to Spain in our case. We highly appreciate efficient and effective approach and providing us and supporting us in each step of the journey in buying property in Spain. Without support of Juan Diego we would be lost, he provides us with daily support in most critical days before finalization of the deal and also there was not even a single question to which he could not provide us details in most structured way.Thank you Juan Diego Muñoz, thank you Lexidy we will be happy working together in the future.We wish you lots of success in your innovative and trustful approach in supporting your customers in a holistic way.Radostin and Kaloyan
Linda Sparling
15:32 04 Oct 22
I worked with Juan Diego de Muñoz for my real estate lawyer. His help was invaluable to me! He worked with the sellers and real estate agents who were reluctant to engage in the due diligence process for the property I bought. He smoothed that over and helped me obtain a thorough check of my flat and the building it’s in, which yielded important information. Juan Diego made sure my every question and concern were addressed the same day that I raised them. Metaphorically, he held my hand through the whole process, but also made sure I was the one making informed decisions. I highly recommend him and Lexidy Law Boutique!
Simon Blomfield
10:18 26 Aug 22
Lexidy Law - sucessful Non Lucrative Visa assistanceI employed Lexidy Law to assist with applying for my Non-Lucrative Visa, now granted. I also used them to check my property rental contract.Cristina Vizoso was my legal contact and was highly responsive and reassuring.In the future, I will certainly be using Lexidy to assist with my TIE and to apply for an autonomous Visa. I highly recommend them for all your immigration to Spain needs
Kate Busby
10:55 20 Jul 22
Alejandro has been a great help these past years.
Rick Estrada-Stone
15:05 16 Jul 22
We are working with Lexidy for our immigration and real estate needs. Our real estate lawyer, Juan Diego Muñoz, has been amazing to work with throughout the entire process. His diligent communication during the real estate purchase has not only kept us informed every step of the way, but helped us to understand the differences and intricacies of purchasing property in Spain. We can't say enough great things about Juan Diego and the team at Lexidy.
Drew Mendoza
16:12 06 Jul 22
Amazing service from Alejandro initially and then Juan. We were intending to purchase a property in Barcelona and Juan conducted all of the checks to ensure the deal was legitimate - it turned out that it was not as straight forward a transaction as initially expected and Juan helped us to avoid a potential financial disaster. We are so grateful and have 100% confidence in Lexidy's professionalism . We will certainly be using them more in the future and highly recommend them!
Magdalena
12:34 04 Jul 22
I am looking to to buy my first property in Spain and had my intro call with Alejandro today- very pleased with the valuable insights gained and your guidance on the legal aspects of the Spanish property market, sales cycle, mortgage application process and risk mitigation. Alejandro, thank you so much for your advice and invested time, I'm genuinely looking forward to working together on this exciting project:)
Duncan Casemore
08:57 01 Jul 22
My wife, 2 children, and I wanted to move to Spain on a non-lucrative visa to experience something new following a stressful covid period. I had the privilege of working with Max and Gabriela, who were outstanding: Fluent English, nurturing us the whole way from initial sales contact through to landing in Spain, refreshingly responsive (usually within minutes, unlike many legal firms which work in units of days!), deeply knowledgable (added so much more value beyond paperwork), professional, experienced, and couldn't do enough for us. Top marks -- and that's from a customer with high expectations! Thank you for the quality experience and for helping us realise our dreams 🙂
RICHARD BRITTON
21:46 29 Jun 22
We contacted Lexidy Law boutique when we recently moved from Cyprus to open a new chapter in our lives to move into a house in Brittany that we had bought 12 years previously. We had underestimated the twists and turns involved in obtaining residency in France - so we contacted Lexidy Law Boutique and were assigned Eleonore, an immigration lawyer well acquainted with French immigration laws. From the very beginning we realised she was determined that we should have a successful outcome and she guided us expertly to avoid all the pitfalls in the process of applying for residency. She even accompanied us to the prefecture and ensured that everything went smoothly - without her presence we might well have not succeeded.We thank and highly recommend Eleonore and Lexidy Law Boutique.
Irene Riportella
16:12 13 Jun 22
Excelente atención de Alejandro, me indicó todos los procedimientos necesarios para tramitar el NIE y me envió un presupuesto rápidamente. Muchas gracias!
Phil S
20:13 22 May 22
We have just completed the purchase of a new build apartment in Catalunya. Lexidy were recommended to me by a colleague who'd relocated from the US to the Costa Brava. As non Spanish/Catalan speakers, it was a great relief to have people we could trust working on all aspects of the purchase - including arranging a bank account, NIE's and the wifi..! From the initial meeting over Zoom to the final transaction Carlota and Antonia provided first class service and communication. And by providing them with Power of Attorney it meant we could do most of the things we needed to do without leaving the UK.
Pit Rissiek
09:37 19 May 22
Absolutely Professional and worth-it Experience!I can highly recommend working with Carlota Llopart and Lexidy! Carlota and the team have gone beyond my expectations when it comes to owning and actually even driving the steps for my mortgage, the purchase of my flat as well as taxes filed. I have had an extremely difficult seller, but I was able to fully trust the team to guide me through this first acquisition.I have already recommended Lexidy to friends who had similar positives experiences and will continue working with Carlota and the team. Side note, me being German: Great value for money too!
Mariposa Avaria
19:50 05 May 22
Han logrado lo prometido, gracias especialmentea Alejandro
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