Buying property in Madeira

The brief comes before the search

Most searches that stall do so because the criteria were never written down. We start with a document: the municipality or the shortlist of them, the ceiling including purchase costs rather than the asking price alone, the minimum plot, the orientation, whether the access road has to take a delivery lorry, and — the part that saves the most time — the things you would refuse. A north-facing terrace at 600 metres and a house reached by a single-track ramp are not defects, but they are dealbreakers for some buyers and irrelevant to others.

That brief also fixes what your budget realistically reaches in each municipality. A figure that buys a renovated three-bedroom house in Ponta do Sol buys an apartment needing work in central Funchal. Getting that straight in week one is more useful than fifty portal links in week three.

Access to properties before they reach a portal

About half of what we handle never appears publicly. It comes from owners settling an inherited quinta, from notaries winding up an estate, from builders who need to move one unit before starting the next, and from colleagues on the island who call us because we complete rather than browse.

Every candidate is inspected by us first, in person, with the tax register extract (caderneta predial) and the land registry certificate (certidão permanente) already requested. You then receive a written assessment per property: what it is, what it needs, what it should cost, and where the risk sits. Roughly one viewing in four never reaches the client, because the paperwork or the access disqualified it before you had to think about it.

If you would rather see what is currently on the market first, the current listings are grouped by type across houses, apartments, land and commercial.

Registry, licence and area checks

Before any reservation we read the certidão permanente for mortgages, seizures, usufruct and rights of way, and compare the registered area in the caderneta predial with the licence file held at the câmara municipal. Where a plot is involved we also check what the municipal plan (PDM) permits, because a building right that everyone assumes exists is not a building right.

You appoint an independent lawyer — we never act for both sides of a transaction, and we do not recommend a single name without alternatives. We brief them, chase the certificates that are missing and keep the file moving while they do the legal work. Where the property will need work afterwards, the survey and the construction budget belong in this phase rather than after the deed; the construction mandate covers how that runs.

NIF, bank account and a written cost sheet

Practical items first: a Portuguese tax number (NIF) is required before anything can be signed, a Portuguese bank account is required in practice, and a power of attorney drawn up in advance keeps the timetable intact if you cannot fly in for the deed. We arrange the NIF, prepare the bank documentation and co-ordinate translations with your lawyer.

Before you commit you receive a written cost sheet for the specific property: IMT transfer tax, imposto do selo, notary and land registry fees, your lawyer's fee and the annual IMI that follows. Rates depend on price and intended use, so we calculate for the address in front of you rather than quoting a percentage. There are no surprise figures at the notary.

Promissory contract, escritura and the day after

The contrato de promessa de compra e venda fixes the deposit, the completion date and the conditions in writing, and it is the point at which conditions still have real weight. We make sure the things you were told during a viewing are in it.

At the escritura pública we attend with you and translate on the spot. Afterwards the registration, the utility transfers and the IMI registration have to happen, and the keys are less useful than the handover list. If you will not be living in the house year-round, letting and upkeep is its own mandate and it starts on the day of the deed, not months later.