Lease Notice Periods in Portugal: Complete Guide for Landlords and Tenants

Fixed-term residential leases in Portugal renew automatically at the end of their term unless one of the parties communicates their opposition in advance. This is a critical distinction from many other countries where leases simply expire. If neither landlord nor tenant acts, the lease renews under the same conditions for an equal period.

The rules governing these notice periods are found in Articles 1097º (landlord's notice) and 1098º (tenant's notice) of the Portuguese Civil Code. Getting the timing wrong can mean being locked into another full renewal period.

The required advance notice depends on the original duration of the lease:

These periods are counted backward from the renewal date. For example, on a 2-year lease that ends on December 31, the landlord must send their opposition notice by September 2 at the latest (120 days before).

Lei 13/2019 added an important tenant protection: the landlord's opposition to the first renewal is only effective after 3 years from the start of the contract. This means that even if a 1-year fixed-term lease is about to renew, the landlord cannot prevent the first renewal unless 3 years have already passed since the lease began.

This rule was introduced to prevent landlords from signing short leases (e.g., 1 year) and then refusing renewal to circumvent tenant stability protections.

CompliantLease automatically calculates the correct notice periods based on the contract duration you select. The generated lease includes a clause (Clause 8) that specifies the exact notice deadlines for both landlord and tenant, referencing Art. 1097º and Art. 1098º of the Civil Code.

Additionally, the system applies the Lei 13/2019 first-renewal restriction automatically — if the contract is shorter than 3 years, the landlord's right to oppose the first renewal is appropriately noted in the contract terms.