How to Choose a Tenant in Portugal: A Step-by-Step Guide (2026)

Choosing a tenant is the highest-leverage decision a Portuguese landlord makes. Every later protection — the deposit, the fiador (guarantor), the 20% late-payment indemnity of Art. 1041º CC — only softens the cost of choosing badly. A good selection process is short, written, and applied consistently to every applicant: advert → criteria → document check → references → human decision.

This guide walks through those five steps, the criteria you may lawfully use, a proportionate evidence process, and the tax questions to confirm before choosing a contract term.

You are free to choose your tenant — Portuguese law does not rank applicants for you — but the choice has boundaries.

Lawful, objective criteria include:

Unlawful criteria: Lei 93/2017 prohibits discrimination in access to housing, including on grounds of nationality or ethnic origin. Religion, beliefs and sexual orientation are special-category personal data under the RGPD (GDPR) and equally indefensible as selection filters. Rejecting an applicant for failing objective criteria is lawful; rejecting them for who they are is not.

Write your criteria down before you advertise. It speeds up screening, and it is your best evidence that a rejection was based on solvency rather than on a protected characteristic.

Step 1 — The advert. State the objective requirements upfront: rent, deposit, whether a guarantor is expected, house rules, and the documents you will ask for. A precise advert helps applicants understand the conditions before they apply.

Step 2 — Written criteria. Set objective, proportionate criteria before the first viewing. For example, you may assess whether documented household income can support the rent, employment continuity, and a previous-landlord reference. A 3x income ratio is market practice, not a legal requirement, so avoid treating it as an automatic rejection rule.

Step 3 — Document check. Ask only shortlisted candidates for evidence that is necessary for the decision, such as recibos de vencimento (payslips), a declaração de IRS (annual income-tax return) or a contrato de trabalho (employment contract). Before collecting it, document a retention and deletion schedule for successful and unsuccessful applications; do not promise immediate deletion unless that schedule and the applicable legal basis support it.

Step 4 — References. With the applicant's knowledge, ask a previous landlord focused questions about the tenancy, such as whether rent arrived on time. Record only information relevant to the stated criteria.

Step 5 — The decision. A person should compare the necessary evidence against the same written criteria and record the reasons for the decision. Do not turn the evidence into a mechanical suitability score, ranking, or recommendation; retain human judgment and check that the outcome does not use a protected characteristic.

The duration angle. Contract duration can affect tax, but the bands are not automatic:

A long contract does not itself freeze the rent; lawful annual updates remain a separate process under NRAU Art. 24º.