Utilities Assistance- reasonable charge

We purchased in Caldas last year and our lawyer arranged all the utilities for us. We paid him a fixed  fee 1% of the purchase price for everything. I think it is difficult to sort this out by yourself though. Why not enquire of your lawyer first before embarking on this route?

We just are on the way to acquire a property in Alcobaca; we do all the process via REMAX, and they take care about all. We chiose REMAX, as per reference etc. Yes, it is a franchise company, but they have a procedure which should be followed by all of the agents.

Until now we are happy with them service.

Hi @Roger,

This is a way of letting someone else make money... It's the seller's real estate agent who handles these documents. It's common practice. I think you should talk to the real estate agent, as this is his responsibility, and he is already being paid by the sales commission from the seller of the property.

Documents to be aware of when buying a Property in Portugal

https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=910754

Regards

And in addition, it's the seller who pays for these services !!!

I'm talking about the energy certificate and the property certificate (certidão predial).

The tax document (caderneta predial) is free.

Hi JohnnyPT-

Thank you for your response. I've enjoyed reading your posts and learn much from your advice.

Just to clarify, I did receive the energy certificate and the appropriate tax documents, which were produced by the realtor to my attorney for review, before we engaged in the purchase (perhaps I misspoke but this was not the problem for me),

What I'm referring to is assistance transferring various utilities to our name. Utilities such as Internet, electric, gas, water etc. I've read on many posts that realtors often provide assistance for utility transfer and other niceties to help new people as a courtesy given the large commission they make. Unfortunately, the realtor in this case from Portugal Property, although she said she would help us with this, she simply passed us to a third party by email who wants to charges €100 plus VAT for each utility transfer.

So essentially two issues:

1) Realtor from Portugal Realty not providing us the service that she said she would do, prior to our purchase. I'm not here to bash the realtor but the purpose of this forum is to share information both good and bad so we can all make informed choices about who we may want to conduct business with.

2) We do require assistance with utility applications/transfer, the price quoted (€100 plus VAT per utility to facilitate the application and utility transfer) to me seems a bit high, but being unfamiliar with the market I wanted to reach out if this is a fair price, and in case this is not whether there may be other options ex-pats use to help with this.

Thanks all

@chrisschubert21

Thank for your response.

That's what we have encountered that most realtors provide this as a courtesy.

We had a bit of an odd situation where our realtor who was the one that showed us the property before it came on the market, did not end up being the listing realtor. When this was subsequently listed by Portugal Realty, when we approach them they refused to share commission with our realtor, thereby keeping 100% commission. Our realtor was quite gracious and not causing a fuss. We proceeded with the sale, using an attorney to vet all the paperwork etc. The Portugal Realty realtor was friendly and accommodating, and had agreed to help us with utilities etc. Unfortunately, when the time came and we asked for assistance with utility transfer, we were transferred by an email to a third party.

It's always good to share experience so others can gain and make better decisions. We have had responsive and outstanding fantastic service with Dixcart Legal (Antonio Saramago), and BiG Bank (Ana Mendonca), and had been happy with the realtor who showed us around Ricardo at Top Casas.

Roger,

These services are usually handled by the new owner. Why don't you do it yourself? In these services, such as water, electricity + gas, and internet, they speak English, it is common between expats. There's no one better than you to take care of it instead of someone else. Just go to a citizen's shop with your deed + personal id, and get all the services carried at once. Electricity and internet are competitive services between companies, and only you can choose what's best for you.

Whether 100 euros is a lot or a little, remember that all this involves work and at least half a day's labour...

@JohnnyPT

Thank you for the suggestion Johnny,

Is the transfer of services for electricity and water fairly instantaneous so either just before or after settlement, we can have these services promptly turned on?

I am glad to hear that we would not necessarily need to speak Portuguese to efficiently conduct these transactions (that was not clear reading various posts/forums).

Regarding water, If I understand that correctly, that is usually locally controlled by the municipality - is that correct?

That's it. But I gave you wrong information. In Caldas da Rainha you have to do it in 3 different places... which takes a bit longer:

Water

SMAS (serviços municipalizados de água e saneamento) - Caldas da Rainha

Praça 25 de Abril 110, Caldas da Rainha

https://www.rb.mcr.pt/webcenter/portal/ … Page5.jspx

Electricity + Gas

EDP Comercial - Loja das Caldas da Rainha (my suggestion)

Rua Professor António Rainho 2, 2500-118 Caldas da Rainha

https://www.edp.pt/particulares/apoio-c … s-agentes/

Select "Filtrar", then "Localização": Distrito=Leiria, Concelho= Caldas da Rainha

Internet

4 options: MEO, NOS, Vodafone, Nowo

Shopping Center La Vie | Caldas da Rainha

https://caldas.lavieshopping.pt/diretor … ation=L015

In each case, what you want to do is sign up for a new contract ("novos contratos"/"clientes particulares"). They make installation appointments. You can choose the day and time.

You should have everything installed in a week.

Use google translation app in your phone, if you need it.

Use direct debit (debito directo) in your bank account. It's easier and more convenient for you.

Do not forget your Deed, you identification, your NIF and comprovativo de NIB/evidence of your account's NIB (you can get this from your homebanking or at a ATM Multibanco).

As usually a perfect advice From JohnnyPT, I can conform it !

@rogerpart

This is no one's job, but certainly that stinks if you were told you'd get the help. We do this as part of our visa services as we provide a very complete service including helping with AIMA doc prep, driver's license exchange, health number, Atestado de Residência, Via Verde, etc... That is more than it costs us, but not crazy if it's including multiple providers and they are helping you get the best contract.

Best,

***

Also, I would NOT recommend doing this yourself. I did and shouldn't have, I would be better off if I'd had help and understood ALL the options. You simply won't by yourself.

@hbinder36,

Advertising is not allowed here, ok?

@JohnnyPT

We don't offer this service a la carte any longer, so I am not advertising. We provide valuable information with no charge.

@hbinder36,

OK, .... you're not the first one and you won't be the last. Your signature will be deleted..

@JohnnyPT I fully agree with you regarding doing everything related to utilities on your own. However, in our case the seller's real estate agent was kind enough to walk with us from edp (also to increase the power) to SMAS to Vodafone (migrate the old contract to a new location) and we took her out for lunch in return. While everybody involved very likely speaks English, I usually come with a paper in Portuguese that outlines what I want to do (just in case).

Just my 2 cents... In an attempt to alleviate some fear/anxiety for others.

We bought a house for sale by owners, in the Portalegre district. A very small, rural village. So no brokers involved.  I was able to open new water and electric accounts.  I speak zero Portuguese (working on it, and this interaction helped learn a little more) and many Portuguese in the area do not speak English.  I took copies of the previous owners bills, photos of the meter readings, local bank account information, and deed to the house . Less than 10 mins at each location, all done! Even set up to automatically pay bills from my Banco Montepio account.

This is a testament to how awesome the Portuguese people are.  I've lived in several countries from Europe to Asia and have found people pretty awesome around the world, but this scenario has played out more difficult in other countries for me.

@JohnnyPT

Thanks for the detailed information.

It's is a daunting task to undertake not speaking the language and learning new systems of operation, but help and advice from you and others on this forum are appreciated and make things less overwhelming.

Roger