Buying A property near Pombal
We opened a bank account with the Caixa and have had no problems at all and they too have an office in London. Only needed a passport, address in Portugal and a tax number. The new legislation does say you require a birth certificate but banks in Beiras region don't seem to be requesting this at the moment.
No tax to pay on urban properties if the purchase price is under 80,000 euros.
No need to open a trust account - just open an account with someone like Worldwide currencies (I opened several accounts with different specialists as this doesn't cost anything but time) and transfer the money when it is needed - ours arrived the next day every time we used Worldwide Currencies and they offered better rates than any of the others currency specialists I phoned on the day, every time.
Our solicitor charged a fixed fee of 500 euros - cost of property 72,500 euros so 2% seems very high. Other costs were no where near 2%, not even the notary fees (done in Pedrogao Grande). I guess cost can very much depend on the location.
Thanks
Julio
|