CPCV: what to check before signing (and the deposit at risk)

You sign the CPCV (promissory purchase contract) in an estate agent’s meeting room, the seller smiles, and you hand over a cheque for €25,000 — the 10% sinal (deposit) on a €250,000 home. You walk out with a two- or three-page contract that almost nobody reads line by line, and that piece of paper is what decides whether you get your money back if something goes wrong. You don’t have the keys yet, or the deed, or any real guarantee over the house beyond what’s written down. A well-drafted CPCV costs the price of a lawyer’s consultation. A badly drafted one costs you the deposit — or double that, if it’s the seller who backs out.

What the CPCV is, and what it commits you to

The Contrato-Promessa de Compra e Venda (CPCV — promissory purchase contract) is exactly that: a mutual promise. The seller promises to sell, the buyer promises to buy, on the terms set out in writing — price, deadline for the escritura (deed), method of payment. It isn’t the purchase itself, which only happens at the escritura or at a Casa Pronta (one-stop deed service) desk, but it’s already binding: breaking it has real financial consequences.

This is where the sinal (deposit) comes in. Under the general rules of the Código Civil (Civil Code), when a sum is handed over at the signing of the promissory contract, it’s presumed to be a deposit. If the buyer pulls out of the deal without a reason provided for in the contract, they lose the deposit — it stays with the seller. If it’s the seller who pulls out, they have to return double the deposit. It’s a rule designed so that backing out costs whoever backs out, whichever side of the deal they’re on.

Before you sign, ask for these documents

Nobody should sign a CPCV without having actually seen — not just heard about — a set of documents that prove the property is what it’s said to be.

The certidão permanente (land-registry certificate) shows who actually owns the property and whether there are any charges, mortgages or seizures (penhoras) on it — things that can complicate or even block the sale later. The caderneta predial (property tax record) confirms the VPT (taxable value) and the description of the building. The licença de utilização (habitation licence) certifies that the house is legally habitable for its intended use. The energy certificate is mandatory in the transaction and gives you an idea of what you’ll spend heating or cooling the house. And in an apartment, it’s also worth asking the condominium manager for a statement of any unpaid condo fees — buying a home with fees in arrears means inheriting that debt.

None of these requests should sound like distrust. It’s standard practice, and a serious seller provides them without hesitation before you sign anything.

The clauses that protect the buyer

A generic CPCV protects the seller by default: they collect the deposit and move on. The clauses that tip the balance back toward the buyer are usually these.

The financing condition is the most important one: the contract only becomes final if the bank approves the loan, and if it’s refused, the deposit is returned with no penalty. Without this clause, a bank refusal can be treated as you backing out — and you lose the deposit over something you didn’t control. If you’re still comparing loan offers at this stage, there are credit intermediaries registered with the Banco de Portugal, paid by the bank rather than the client, who do that comparison work for you.

Then there’s the deadline for the escritura: too tight, and it creates pressure and avoidable penalties; too vague, and it takes away the other party’s incentive to move forward. The clause on the condition of the property, with the right to inspect it before the deed, heads off disputes like “it wasn’t like that before.” And the clause guaranteeing vacant possession — free of people and belongings — makes sure the house arrives empty, with no tenants or occupants, which is more common than it sounds in inherited or previously rented properties.

Damp and defects that only show up later

A leak doesn’t show up on a sunny day. If you can choose, visit the house on a rainy day, or ask to go back on one, and take date-stamped photos throughout the process — ceilings, corners, areas behind furniture. They serve as evidence if there’s a dispute later over the condition the house was handed over in.

A warranty clause on the condition of the property, paired with clear notice periods for defects that only appear after the deed, protects you from arguments like “it was already like that when you bought it.” The legal deadlines for reporting defects in a sale (Código Civil, arts. 916 and 917) run in months, not years — and start from the moment the defect becomes known. The sooner you document a problem and report it in writing, the stronger your position; for large amounts, talk to a lawyer as soon as you spot it.

How much deposit is normal to ask for

There’s no amount required by law — the deposit is whatever the parties agree between themselves. In market practice, 10% of the price is the most common figure, but that’s exactly what it is: a common practice, not a rule. You’ll see 5% deposits on deals with short deadlines, and higher deposits when the seller wants a stronger commitment from the other side. All of this is negotiable before you sign — once signed, it’s law between the parties.

In-person signature witnessing: is it worth it?

By definition, a CPCV is a private document: it’s valid between seller and buyer, but on its own it doesn’t have “real effect” (eficácia real) — it doesn’t stop the seller from selling the house to someone else, for instance, or a creditor from seizing it before the deed. Having the signatures witnessed in person and, above all, formalising the contract with eficácia real strengthens your position in those scenarios. It’s worth doing especially when the wait until the deed is long, the amount at stake is high, or there are signs the seller has other creditors. For simple, fast deals, an ordinary CPCV is usually enough; for the rest, the extra security costs little compared with what it protects.

None of this replaces a careful read-through by a lawyer or solicitador (solicitor) tailored to your case. This text is a general checklist — not a contract template, and not legal advice.

The maths nobody does before signing

Back to the €250,000 home. A 10% deposit is €25,000 — money that leaves your account before you have the deed, the keys, or any real guarantee over the house.

Item	Value
Deposit (10% of €250,000)	€25,000
Total cost of buying with a mortgage (verified example: down payment, IMT (property transfer tax), Imposto do Selo (stamp duty), registrations, valuation and paperwork)	€36,672.04
Deposit as a percentage of that total	25,000 ÷ 36,672.04 ≈ 68%

The cheque you sign at the CPCV stage — often in a café, with no lawyer present — is, on its own, almost seven euros in every ten of all the costs you’ll have for the whole purchase, including the IMT and stamp duty you’ll still pay separately. That’s why it’s worth spending a few hundred euros on a legal review before signing, rather than finding out afterwards that a financing-condition clause was missing. If you’re still working out where the CPCV fits in the overall process, the guide on buying a home in Portugal step by step shows you where it sits; and if you want to understand what other costs tend to be left out of the initial estimate, the hidden costs of buying a home is the next thing to read.

Your next calculation

You now know what to check before signing the CPCV — the next question is how much money you actually need to have available on the day of the deed, on top of the deposit. Down payment, IMT, stamp duty, registrations, valuation and fees add up fast, and it’s easy to underestimate the total.