Description
Power of Attorney for Property Purchase in Portugal (Procuração)
A power of attorney in Portugal is a legal document through which one person (the buyer) authorises another person or professional (often a lawyer or solicitor) to act on their behalf when purchasing a property.
It is commonly used when the buyer cannot be physically present in Portugal to:
-
Sign the promissory purchase contract (Contrato-Promessa de Compra e Venda – CPCV)
-
Sign the final deed of purchase (Escritura Pública or Documento Particular Autenticado)
- Represent the buyer before the notary, land registry, tax office, and utility providers
-
Pay purchase taxes and fees (IMT, Stamp Duty)
- Register the property in the Land Registry (Conservatória do Registo Predial)
Key features
- It is typically a special (limited) power of attorney, restricted to a specific property purchase
- The document must clearly identify:
- The buyer and authorised representative
- The property (address and registry details, if available)
- The powers granted (signing contracts, paying taxes, registration)
- It must be signed before a notary or equivalent authority
- If signed outside Portugal, it usually requires:
- An apostille (or legalisation)
- A Portuguese translation, if not already in Portuguese
Duration & control
- It applies only to the purchase described
- It can be revoked at any time before completion
- It automatically ends once the purchase is completed or if the buyer dies
Notary 247 is a trading style of Fatchett & Co Notaries Limited. We are regulated by the Faculty Office (www.facultyoffice.org.uk) for the provision of notarial service. For any queries, please call us on 0121 437 3490.
Process – Powers of Attorney
- If you would like to discuss your circumstances, please call us on 0121 437 3490.
- Once you know what you need, then simply place an order through the website.
- We will automatically send you ID verification links, so we can confirm your identity.
- We will ask you to book in a meeting to complete the remote notarisation.
- We will ask you to send us a copy of the Power of Attorney (prior to the meeting) so we can review it.
- We will complete the meeting (which will be recorded).
- When the meeting is finished, we will ask you to do two things. Firstly, to send us a picture of the Power of Attorney you have just executed. Secondly, we will ask you to send us the original document by recorded delivery.
- Where you have asked for the apostille, we will send it for legalisation using our “next day” provider license.
For example, if we received your document on a Monday, we would lodge it with the FCDO on Tuesday. The document would be ready on Wednesday (in Milton Keynes at about 2pm). It would then be mailed or couriered.
- We keep a copy of your notarised document and your ID as part of our record keeping requirements.
