Accommodation in Portugal: scams you should look out for

What are the most common scams in Portugal?
Advertising a false (not owned) property in the most popular real estate portals, ask for an advance and then run with it.

What are the red flags to look out for when scanning through adverts?
Look for low prices vs market with distrust and try to prioritize rentals from landlords with high ratings.

Is there a list of registered or accredited landlords or real estate agencies in Portugal?
Real estate agencies are regulated by IMPIC.  You can look for accredited agencies here:
http://www.impic.pt/impic/pt-pt/consult … mobiliaria

What authorities should be sought should one come across an accommodation scam?
A rental scam is considered a crime and should be reported to the police.

Hi
You will need to make sure the property is AL licensed, this means the property and owner have gone through the correct procedures and met the legal requirements from the local council.

Facebook groups are not all above board as I have found out in the past.

Ask for the license number pictures and past references, although these can also be faked.

The best way is to come on a holiday and find someone you can rely on to give you the truth and point you in the best direction.

Good luck and if you think it is too good to be true then it probably is.

There are a few of us here that are honest and trying to make a living the legal way renting out their property.

@Bhavna Your message saved me from an almost sureshot scam right now. I have been unsuccesful finding an accomodation after a month and a half of trying.

@Bhavna it's much needed I think thank you

What is the procedure for acquiring rural land in Portugal?  Is it like US, with escrow, purchase contract, permitting, title insurance?  Who is the best person to represent a buyer?

Hi

We are trying to move to Portugal, one of the conditions we have to meet is provide proof of accommodation,

Can someone help me understand the whole process, since we are not able to understand, Is accommodation contract required while applying?

How do we sign a contract without looking at the property first in person?

@dwesthead66 Yes, you should find your contacts via friends who live here. I found a lawyer that charged EUR 100 to review a contract of 6 pages, so that was worth it.

What is the procedure for acquiring rural land in Portugal? Is it like US, with escrow, purchase contract, permitting, title insurance? Who is the best person to represent a buyer?
-@easankatir

No idea what system is used in the US of A but here property purchase is straight forward though you can also make it as complicated and difficult if that's what you desire.

Property is an "Article" so has an Article number and it's specific details will be on the "land registry".

There are a few different classes of Article such as "rustic" "habitation" etc.

So find your land for sale (rustic so, generally, no building is allowed) and enquire of it's price and article number, get copy of "land registry" listing yourself so you know the size in meters, owner's name/address (there may be many joint owners listed) etc.

Check the details yourself against the property.

Put in an offer

Offer is accepted.

Vendor and Purchaser sign the Promissory contract which included purchaser putting 10% deposit up front- which is forfeit if purchaser withdraws or fails to meet any of the Promissory clauses.

Vendor is liable for 20% forfeit if they fail to meet Promissory clauses.

When "final sale date time" (in Promissory) is reached all the remaining 90% purchase price is paid. Paperwork "land registry" listing is updated to reflect new owner.

The buyer is the best person to represent the buyer.

@Bhavna

Normally under your "due diligence" before dealing with an estate agent about renting you'd ask for and read their Livro de Reclamações (complaints book) which all real suppliers of goods and service must have and let people see/write in.

Thanks for the feedback, Strontium !

Regards,

Bhavna

Hi all

My landlord in Lisbon has refused to return my deposit of 500 euros after having impossed some outrageous penalties like 400 euros for returning keys 2 days later, dirty walls and bed sheets for which he has produced evidence, e.t.c To Which authority can I report this ? He has done the same to many other tenants whose leaseas expired at the same time as mine and I have seen emails sent to them so it is his MO.

Please let me know where I can report.

Hi James, Welcome.

Try to find a Court of Peace (Julgados de Paz) near where you live. Please read this:

https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.p … 93#5614673

(Post #36)

Best Regards

@James M76

Continue fighting for your deposit. Same thing happened to me. The landlord was acting in bad faith and got upset because I moved out after 6 months (clause as specified in the contract) so he should have returned the money as soon as the inspection of the apartment was conducted ). I received the 'ok' from the realtor that everything was in the same condition as when I moved in. (for your information that flat was a piece of s---t) but I could not see it because the electricity was off. The fuse blew off each time I turned on the heater. Also I could hear the stupid neighbors talking non stop at night. It was unbearable so that's why I decided to get out of there. I had to fight several months and be very persistent but in the end, the old man knew he was wrong and returned the deposit ; otherwise, I would have had to take him to court. Long procedure, but just to teach him a lesson. We don't act like that with tenants, especially when they are new to the country and are not used to bad quality apartments.

@JohnnyPT thank you so much.

@juliajonesjy I am also new to the country so it is really frustrating having to experience what am going through. Did your persistence involve reporting to any authorities ?

I have been dealing with a global real estate company and will one of their registered estate agents.

They sent me a signed promissory contract with what they said was the sellers IBAN. I paid the 10% deposit to purchase the property, and the agent confirmed via email that the funds were received.

3 weeks later another agent from the same agency emails me saying the deposit never turned up in the sellers bank account. I produced the recipe from my bank showing payment was made.

The estate agent email me a similar looking Promissory contract with a different IBAN on it. It had the sellers and my signature on it, but was different from what I signed with the other estate agent.

The estate agent quickly declared the contract null because according to them I paid my deposit into an unknown account. At this point they stopped all communication.

Be very careful of electronic promissory contracts and don't trust the estate agent. These scammers have offices in most of the towns in Portugal and all over the world (they use hot air balloons in their logo..) The agents I was dealing with are listed on the corporate website and all the emails came from their corporate email addresses so impossible to know you are being scammed.

I think they use the fact that you are not in the country so have to rely on email and electronic signature that can be copied over to a different contact.

Stay safe out there, these crooks are looking for any opportunity, I have lost €21k to these sharks

@marc639

this sounds absolutely crazy and I can't imagine you won't get your money back?

i am in the process of buying an apartment, too, in Porto - but all payments will be approved and supervised by my lawyer - do you have a lawyer?

at this stage, you should get one very fast. I think we all know what agency you are referring to - I find it hard to believe they would risk their reputation with such a scam- but I'm sure you will get your money back!

@marc639 Oh my God ! I really feel sorry for you. In Portugal, things are not as transparent as in North America. For instance,  in Portugal, we don't know how much properties have sold for so it's hard to make an educated offer . Then, why do we have to pay a deposit directly to the seller even before the transaction is completed ? So many things could go wrong with the property or even the seller or whatever ? It should be held into an escrow account until all the necessary verifications have been made.

Your story is really sad and doesn't give a good reputation to the real estate market in Portugal. I am also quite nervous to do anything after hearing all those tragic stories.

So what are you going to do now ?

Julia

Sorry to hear that and thanks for alerting the community.

Thank you so very much for taking the time to alert this community.  It's hard to believe and I am sorry that you are experiencing this stress and financial loss.  I do hope that you find you can get your money back and any damages as a result.  The best in your endeavors!

I have been dealing with a global real estate company and will one of their registered estate agents.
They sent me a signed promissory contract with what they said was the sellers IBAN. I paid the 10% deposit to purchase the property, and the agent confirmed via email that the funds were received.

3 weeks later another agent from the same agency emails me saying the deposit never turned up in the sellers bank account. I produced the recipe from my bank showing payment was made.

The estate agent email me a similar looking Promissory contract with a different IBAN on it. It had the sellers and my signature on it, but was different from what I signed with the other estate agent.

The estate agent quickly declared the contract null because according to them I paid my deposit into an unknown account. At this point they stopped all communication.

Be very careful of electronic promissory contracts and don't trust the estate agent. These scammers have offices in most of the towns in Portugal and all over the world (they use hot air balloons in their logo..) The agents I was dealing with are listed on the corporate website and all the emails came from their corporate email addresses so impossible to know you are being scammed.

I think they use the fact that you are not in the country so have to rely on email and electronic signature that can be copied over to a different contact.

Stay safe out there, these crooks are looking for any opportunity, I have lost €21k to these sharks
-@marc639

You should make a complaint to the IMPIC entity that regulates real estate agencies in Portugal:

https://www.impic.pt/impic/pt-pt/queixa … uma-queixa

The agency you refer to is REMAX. The real estate agencies have independent agents, who are always given a personalised email. These agents enter and leave real estate agencies easily, and after leaving, and if they are not honest, they can continue to use the corporate email of REMAX.

In any case, who is responsible for this improper transaction is REMAX. And it is this real estate agency that you should complain about.

And be aware, you should not buy properties, only and exclusively through the internet !!!

@marc639 I'm really sorry to hear that.
I'm an agent my self for remax (the hot balloon) and that should never Accor.



We have determinate in our office that IBAN should always be confirmed with the payer to avoid this kind of situation.


The email might have been hacked and someone changed the IBAN.

Your bank should also be available to help you tract the Mooney, any bank account today need to be open with personal documents, and they should know the account owner's info.


21K is a lot of Mooney so i would advise getting a lawyer.
-@Pedro Silva Remax

Olá Pedro,

"The email might have been hacked and someone changed the IBAN." ???

Sorry but I don't agree with you... I don't believe in these theories in this case, but rather in someone dishonest who once worked and no longer works at that real estate agency.

Being you an agent of this real estate agency, why don't you contact Marc by private message, to try to understand what happened?

This forum is mainly for HELP, not only to be just a way to advertise your real estate services .............   . . .

@Pedro Silva Remax But that's not convenient at all. I am looking at several properties that I have an interest in and want to make an offer. I cannot pay for a report every single time. That's time consuming and in the end, it's quite expensive for some statistics that should be available to everyone for free. The market would flow much easier that way and no time wasted. Many owners are listing their property 20 or 30% above the market value so the listings sit there for months and months. Nobody wants to overpay by this much for an apartment or a house. Also, I cannot disturb my agent every single time I like a property, this wouldn't be fair for him/her and I wouldn't get the answer right away either because he/she will have to research it also and unless it's one of their listings, he/she would have to ask someone. Anyway, in conclusion, it's not the best way to do business....

@James M76 Hello, sorry for the delay. No actually I didn't report anything to the authority because I wanted to give it one last chance but I was eventually ready to do it just for principle. My goal was to try to get my deposit back in a 'mutual agreement/friendly manner' before going through a long and probably costly procedure involving lawyers and all that, so I sent several emails, polite but firm to the real estate agency I dealt with originally who was in contact with the owner. I waited several weeks... Fortunately, I was living in the country, otherwise, it would probably have been lost or forgotten. I finally got my deposit back but it was long and tedious.... and not fun at all, especially not knowing the language and the system, which made it twice as difficult of course.

Julia

@Strontium One can also look at the reviews online and read the stories of clients. For instance, I just checked REMAX PORTUGAL on Trust Pilot and I noticed that they only have 1.5 star which means many clients who dealt with that company were disappointed. Of course, it's only a starting point but nevertheless, this can give you a pretty good indication of what kind of company you are dealing with.

In my opinion the real issue is that the Portuguese laws/regulations make a big secret of the price at which a property has been sold. If one could easily assess the price at which a property changed hands then many issues would be solved. However, I assume that this is unwanted by the government and influential people in the country. AND Portugal is not alone in this. I think it is a continental European thing to do it like that.

So far I only dealt with small real estate agent who were very helpful. I also had a very clear picture of what I wanted to buy and at what maximum price. I feel that over time many areas of Portugal don't offer good value for money in real estate. I think it is simple as that.

@nz7521137 Exactly,' the big secret'.... that's what I told my realtor and he laughed ! Sad indeed that buyers don't have all those statistics easily accessible. We are not going to order and pay for a report just to get an approximate range of what the property is worth, really, given that they are so many properties for sale. True about the value for the money. I don't know who is really responsible for that ? If it's the government or rather some 'influential parties' as you mentioned.  I looked at a very tiny apartment in Oeiras, nothing special with partial view of the water and very old building. The owner wanted 200 000 euros which I didn't think was worth 170 000 Euros, anyway, the owner received an offer for 176 500 Euros and the owner made a counter for 186 500 Euros, at this point the buyer abandoned the 'deal'.... I didn't want to go over the other person's bid either. Bottom line : big waste of time for everybody  and the owner is still waiting for the perfect offer ! He has been waiting for months and nothing which in my humble opinion means the property is overpriced for what it is but whatever, next....

Sometimes by being too greedy, you end up losing money instead of making some.

I read all the messages and I'm a little bit shocked, as it reminds me of my homeland a lot! Can someone tell me about flatio or roomless? Is it trustable? As the options in idealista are fewer, we need some more channels. Thanks.

@Strontium One can also look at the reviews online and read the stories of clients. For instance, I just checked REMAX PORTUGAL on Trust Pilot and I noticed that they only have 1.5 star which means many clients who dealt with that company were disappointed. Of course, it's only a starting point but nevertheless, this can give you a pretty good indication of what kind of company you are dealing with.
-@juliajonesjy

Hi Julia,

True.

For me, REMAX is probably one of the worst real estate agencies. I have dealt with this agency once to sell a property, and I have seen how they create schemes, 'scam' the seller, to get exclusivity of sale.

What guide/interest them is exclusivity.... if I sell the property by myself, I still have to pay them the commission !!!

Not a trustworthy agency!

In my opinion the real issue is that the Portuguese laws/regulations make a big secret of the price at which a property has been sold. If one could easily assess the price at which a property changed hands then many issues would be solved. However, I assume that this is unwanted by the government and influential people in the country. AND Portugal is not alone in this. I think it is a continental European thing to do it like that.
So far I only dealt with small real estate agent who were very helpful. I also had a very clear picture of what I wanted to buy and at what maximum price. I feel that over time many areas of Portugal don't offer good value for money in real estate. I think it is simple as that.
-@nz7521137

.... what is happening is that because the taxes are so SO high, the declared sale price (in the deed) is usually not the real one, so it benefits the buyer and the seller... The seller does not pay so much capital gains, IRS and commissions declared to the real estate agent (plus VAT...) and the buyer does not pay so much transaction tax (IMT tax) and stamp duty (IS tax) ...

Unless there's a bank loan, and the buyer needs a loan for the entire value of the house.

Hi Expat community and thank you all for your kind words.

A little more context and finally how I think I could have avoided being scammed, hopefully it helps others going forward. I am currently working with a lawyer to recover the funds.

1) The agents are current Remax agents with other listings on the corporate website and their profiles available with contact details including email and WhatsApp. I was only ever communicating using these channels. I even met both agents at the property more than a week after paying the deposit.

2) I was never in direct contact with the seller, Remax was mediating the entire process on their behalf. According to the agent the sellers live in Canada (but are originally Portuguese). Documents were send by the agents to my bank, lawyer and mortgage broker using their corporate email so I never had any reason to doubt what I received from their email account.

3) I had a lawyer, once he realised the contract was fraudulent he said he can't do criminal law and never contacted me again or takes my calls. In hindsight I should have asked Remax to send a hard copy to my lawyer, this way there would be no smoke and mirrors that they are hiding behind in the virtual world. The hard copy must be signed by somebody on behalf of the sellers though or something to verify the account does belong to them. I got an electronic version of this for the bank account I paid my deposit into, it had the sellers details on it, it is probably fake, but it was sent by the estate agent using their Remax email account, just like the signed promissory contract with corresponding names and IBAN.

4) It all comes down to verification that the bank account does belong to the person selling the property and the property belongs to the same person on the contract. Maybe a letter signed by the bank, hard copy sent to a lawyer you trust? Some way of verifying the bank account name is in the name of the seller (it seems IBAN doesn't worry about the name on the account) or best I think is a payment link from the bank for the transaction, the promissory contract signal.

Unfortunately it is all down to trust, my email between Remax is encrypted, so less chance someone could have intercepted the transmission and modified it's contents. I got confirmation of the payment from the estate agent via the corporate email. When I saw them more than a week later they never asked where the funds where, but then again the seller is in Canada and maybe didn't bother to check until 3 weeks later just before closing. Maybe inside the Remax office someone is accessing these agents account's and changing things to enrich themselves..

The possibility is endless, but with Remax happy to simply shut the door in my face and move on, I will never know what happened and they can happily walk away and try sell to the next person. Hopefully future victims read this first and put guards in place to stop themselves getting burnt.

4) It all comes down to verification that the bank account does belong to the person selling the property and the property belongs to the same person on the contract. Maybe a letter signed by the bank, hard copy sent to a lawyer you trust? Some way of verifying the bank account name is in the name of the seller (it seems IBAN doesn't worry about the name on the account) or best I think is a payment link from the bank for the transaction, the promissory contract signal.

-@marc639

1. What country is the IBAN to which you transferred the money?

Canada? As far as I know, Canadian banks do not have IBAN (International Bank Account Number) numbers. To transfer money to Canada you'll need the routing code and the bank account number.

Portugal ? Here is the IBAN format for Portugal. You can find out which bank and account you transferred the money to, and thus find out who the account holder is, by requesting info to that bank, explaining your case, with a proof of your bank transfer.

https://www.bancosdeportugal.info/codig … ib-bancos/

Other country ?

List of Countries using the IBAN standard

https://bank-code.net/iban/country-list

2. If it is a Portuguese IBAN, you can easily find out the name of the account holder in the Multibanco - portuguese ATM network. You can give me the IBAN where you transferred the money and I'll check it easily.

@JohnnyPT

Yes my original lawyer did that and it is not the sellers name at all.

He said he spoke to someone but can't say who it always (assume maybe he knows somebody at the bank) thay confirmed to him "off the record" the money was moved on the same day I paid it in.

I actually don't know who to trust,.the estate agents could be in on it, the sellers, my lawyer who won't answer calls anymore and can't do criminal law...

It is like the whole lot got together and said hay €21k split by all of us is a nice little bonus and because he is not in the country it will be hard for him to get anything done 🤬

Did your original lawyer tell you who the IBAN belonged to? Do you know the name of the account holder? Did you just believe to what he said to you?

It seems to me that they are all involved, the real estate agents and the supposed lawyer... are you sure he is really a lawyer ? Check here by name, just fill in the "nome" field:

https://portal.oa.pt/advogados/pesquisa-de-advogados/

@JohnnyPT

He should me a picture of an ATM that he put the IBAN into and I think he said you make a multi Banco payment.

Pity this was not done before I paid the money in.