Renting a home in Portugal: Lisbon prices, the contract, deposits and tenant rights

Updated: 31 October 2026 · RE/MAX Extra

The residential tenancy rules in Portugal's Civil Code make no distinction by nationality: a foreigner rents a flat on the same terms as a Portuguese citizen. Below you'll find what renting costs in Lisbon and its suburbs according to official statistics, what the contract has to contain, what deposit a landlord can ask for, how a lease renews and ends, and how far the rent can be raised. The rules come from the Civil Code (the section on residential tenancies), and the prices from the National Statistics Institute (INE) figures on new leases.

What renting costs: INE data

INE calculates the median rent on new leases that landlords register with the tax authority. These are prices from real contracts, not from adverts. In the 12 months to June 2026 Portugal recorded 151,181 new leases, with a median of €9.76/m² a month, 9.4% higher than a year earlier. Lisbon has the most leases: 17,575 in the year.

Greater Lisbon, north bank of the Tagus

Setúbal Peninsula, south bank

For comparison, the median is €14.71/m² for Greater Lisbon, €11.56/m² for the Setúbal Peninsula and €14.48/m² in Porto. The year-on-year figure compares the median for the 12 months to June 2026 with the same 12 months a year earlier. The latest quarter is dearer than the annual average: in Q2 2026 the national median was €10.17/m² and Lisbon's was €17.79/m².

Example: a 70 m² flat

This is worked out from the median, so it isn't the price of any particular flat: half of all leases are cheaper and half dearer. The rent depends on the flat's condition, the floor, the furniture and the area within the municipality.

Lisbon's 24 parishes

For the city of Lisbon, INE publishes a median for each of its 24 freguesias (parishes). For the city as a whole it is €17.43/m², up 4.6% in a year.

For how the districts and suburbs are laid out and what it costs to buy in them, see Lisbon neighbourhoods and surroundings, Cascais, Oeiras and the coast and Porto neighbourhoods and suburbs.

Rental listings in the RE/MAX Extra catalogue

On 31 October 2026 the catalogue held 1,066 rental listings in the municipalities of the Lisbon metropolitan area. The table shows how many are flats and the median asking rent per flat per month. This is the advertised price, not the contract price, and can't be compared directly with INE's median per m². The median is calculated where a municipality has at least five flats. It leaves out duplicates of the same flat from different agencies and listings explicitly described as short-term or seasonal.

The lease: what the law says

• In writing only. A residential lease must be in writing. If it wasn't put in writing through no fault of the tenant, the tenant can prove the tenancy in other ways: for example, by living in the flat without objection from the owner and paying rent for six months.
• Term. A lease can be for a fixed term or open-ended. The term can't be under 1 year or over 30 years; if the contract says otherwise, it is automatically brought within those limits. If no term is stated at all, the lease counts as a 5-year lease.
• Temporary housing. The one-year minimum doesn't apply to leases for non-permanent housing or temporary purposes such as work, study or tourism, as long as that purpose is written into the contract. For tourist purposes, only one such lease can be signed per flat or house in a calendar year.
• Renewal. At the end of its term, a fixed-term lease renews by itself for the same period, or for three years if the term was shorter than three years, unless the contract says otherwise. Temporary-housing leases don't renew automatically unless the parties have agreed they will.

Deposit and advance rent

The law caps both. Rent can be paid in advance, by written agreement, for no more than two months. The deposit (caução), in whatever form, can't exceed two months' rent. On a rent of €1,200 a month, that means a deposit of at most €2,400 and advance rent of at most €2,400.

If you are asked for a deposit of three months or more, or for six months' rent up front, that goes against Article 1076 of the Civil Code. It's worth raising those terms before you sign.

How to leave, and when the owner can decline to renew

Either party can decline to renew by giving notice in advance. The periods count back from the date the lease or the current renewal ends:

An owner's refusal of the first renewal only takes effect three years after the lease was signed; until then, the lease continues. The exception is where the owner or the owner's children need the home themselves.

Leaving early

Once a third of the term of the lease or renewal has passed, the tenant can end the lease at any time. Notice is 120 days for a lease of a year or more and 60 days for under a year. The lease ends at the close of a calendar month. If the owner has declined to renew, the tenant can leave sooner by giving at least 30 days' notice.

If the notice period isn't met, the lease still ends, but rent is due for the period that's missing. This sum isn't payable in the case of involuntary unemployment, permanent incapacity or death of the tenant, or of someone who has shared the tenant's household for more than a year.

How far the rent can go up

The parties set out how rent increases work in the lease. If it says nothing, the general rule in Article 1077 of the Civil Code applies:

• rent can be raised once a year by the official coefficient, the first time a year after the lease began;
• the owner gives written notice of the coefficient and the new amount at least 30 days ahead;
• missed increases can be applied later, but no later than three years from when they could first have been applied.

INE calculates the coefficient and it is published in the Diário da República, the official gazette, by 30 October. For 2026 it was 1.0224 (+2.24%) and for 2027 it is 1.0256 (+2.56%). For example, a rent of €1,200 a month becomes €1,230.72 after the 2027 increase.

Registering the lease and taxes

• Registration with the tax authority. The owner reports the lease to the tax authority (AT) by the end of the month after the tenancy starts; changes and terminations are reported the same way. If the owner doesn't do this, the tenant can report the lease instead.
• Stamp duty on the lease is 10% of one month's rent. By law the owner bears it, not the tenant.
• Tenant's tax deduction. Anyone who pays income tax (IRS) in Portugal can deduct 15% of the rent on their permanent home from their tax. The cap on the deduction is €900 for 2026 and €1,000 from 2027, and it is higher on low incomes. Only payments backed by invoices or electronic receipts reported to the tax authority count.

To rent a home and claim the deduction you need a tax number. How to get one is covered in our article on the NIF and opening a bank account.

Step by step

1. Get a NIF (tax number) and open a bank account.
2. Compare listings with the INE median for the municipality or parish you're looking at.
3. Check the draft lease for the term, the deposit and advance rent (two months at most for each), how rent increases work and who pays the utilities.
4. Sign the lease in writing and get a receipt for each payment.
5. Make sure the lease has been registered with the tax authority: you need this for the deduction and to prove the tenancy.

What this article doesn't cover

We don't deal with short-term tourist lets (alojamento local), state rent-support schemes or the taxes owners pay on rental income. INE's prices are medians across leases over a period, so an individual flat can cost noticeably more or less. If you're thinking of buying rather than renting, the process is set out in How to buy property in Portugal as a foreigner.

Where to start looking

Current listings are in the RE/MAX Extra catalogue: flats to rent in Lisbon, in Cascais, in Oeiras, in Almada, houses to rent in Cascais, flats to rent in Porto. For questions about a particular property, get in touch.

This article is for information only and is not legal or tax advice. Rates and rules change — always check official sources and a professional before a transaction.