Who can order the certificate
Anyone. The Portuguese land registry is public: you can order the certificate of any property, whether or not you own it, without giving a reason. You do not need a Portuguese digital ID (Chave Móvel Digital), a Citizen Card or a digital certificate. A name, an address and an e-mail address for the code are enough.
That is why buyers, estate agents, lawyers, heirs and tenants order certificates for properties they do not own, before signing anything.
What details you need
The Land Registry does not identify properties by address. The street name, door number, plot and floor cannot be used to make the request. You need one of these three:
| Identification | What to give | Where to find it |
|---|---|---|
| Description number (número da descrição) | District, municipality, parish and description number | Deed, purchase or mortgage contract, an earlier certificate |
| Tax article (artigo matricial) | Parish, type (urban or rural) and article number | Caderneta predial or the IMI property tax bill |
| Book description (descrição em livro) | Description number, book and pages | Old certificates of properties described before 1984 |
In Portuguese documents the description number appears in phrases such as "descrito na Conservatória do Registo Predial de Cascais sob o n.º 2098 da freguesia de Alcabideche" or "Descrição n.º 2098/20010312". The number to enter is 2098.
For a flat, a shop or a garage in a building divided into units, also give the unit letter (fração). Each unit has its own certificate: three units need three requests.
Ordering the certificate, step by step
- Choose the document. The permanent certificate is legally valid and is what notaries, banks and courts ask for. If you only want to know who owns a property, the simplified land registry information is enough.
- Identify the property. Choose the district, municipality and parish and enter the description number or the tax article. If you give the description number, we check straight away that the property exists in the computerised registry and show the registered units, before you pay.
- Enter your details. Name, e-mail, address and, if you have one, a Portuguese tax number (NIF). If you live outside Portugal, you can give the tax number of your country instead. The request to the Land Registry is made in your name.
- Pay online. Card, Apple Pay, Google Pay or MB WAY. The invoice is available on your order page.
- Receive the code. We e-mail you the access code, a direct link to view the certificate and a PDF copy.
Ordering the Portuguese land registry certificate takes about 3 minutes.
Watch out for the parish
This is the most common mistake. Many parishes were merged in 2013, but the Land Registry still uses the former parishes for a large share of its descriptions. Always choose the parish written on the document you copied the number from, even if it has a different name today.
When ordering by tax article, the parish and the article must be from the same period. When two parishes merged, the articles were renumbered: an old article with the new parish (or the other way round) can return the certificate of a different property. Use the 6-digit parish code and the article exactly as they appear on the same caderneta.
How long it takes
We file the request on the same working day. Orders paid after 5pm Lisbon time or at weekends go out the next working day. The registry office for the area of the property usually makes the certificate available within 2 working days, often the same day.
Requests by tax article or by book description can take longer, because the registry office has to find the description or move the record from the book to the computer system.
How much it costs
The permanent certificate costs €39, final price with VAT included. It covers the property check, the request, the follow-up and the delivery of the code and the PDF. The simplified information costs €19. See prices and what is included.
After you receive the code
The legal value is in the access code, not in a printout. Give the code to the notary, the bank or whoever asked for the certificate: they view the up-to-date version on the Land Registry website. See how to view the certificate with the access code.
The certificate stays available for 6 months. If your transaction takes longer, read the guide on validity and renewal.
Ordering at a counter
The certificate can also be requested in person at any land registry office in Portugal. If you cannot travel, live far from the property or are abroad, ordering online saves the trip and the wait.