What the CPCV is and what to check before you sign

What the CPCV is, and what it is not

It is a preliminary contract set out in the Civil Code. The parties bind themselves to enter later into the final contract of sale. It binds from the moment of signature, even though the land registry still shows the seller as owner and even though nobody has moved in.\n\nThe form is written, signed by both parties. Where the promise concerns a building or a unit already built or under construction, the law adds formal requirements: signatures witnessed in person, and certification by the witnessing officer that a usage or construction licence exists. Many draft contracts include a clause in which the parties waive these requirements, and that waiver is common practice. The absence of these formalities can as a rule be invoked by the promissory buyer, which is precisely why anyone who waives them is giving up their own protection, not the seller's.\n\nDo not confuse the CPCV with a reservation agreement. A reservation is usually a short document, with a small amount attached, meant to take the property off the market for a few days while the CPCV is prepared. It does not always follow the deposit regime and does not always secure what the buyer believes it secures. Read it with the same care.

The deposit: what each side is risking

The deposit is the amount the buyer hands over at signature. No figure is set by law: it is negotiated. The default legal regime is symmetrical and is worth understanding before you argue about amounts. If the buyer walks away without justification, the deposit is lost. If the seller walks away, the deposit is returned in double.\n\nThere is a remedy stronger than getting money back: specific performance. This is a court action in which the judgment produces the effects of the declaration the seller refuses to make, meaning the court transfers the property in his place. Check whether the contract excludes that right by agreement of the parties, because that is possible and does appear in standard drafts. If the keys were handed over before the deed, the buyer may also enjoy a right of retention over the property and may, instead of double the deposit, claim the increase in the property's value.\n\nAlways pay by traceable means, bank transfer or cheque, and into an account held by the seller, never into a third party's account nor to the agency unless the contract expressly provides for it. Keep the proof of payment and have it attached to the contract.

Checking the property on paper

Ask for an up to date land registry certificate and read it to the end. That is where mortgages, seizures, usufructs, easements, pending court actions and the identity of the registered owner appear. A seller's mortgage does not prevent the purchase, but the contract must say who arranges its discharge and when, and the safest route is for the cancellation to be handled at the deed itself, with part of the price repaying the seller's loan.\n\nCross-check the registry certificate against the tax record. Matrix article, unit, area and location must match across both documents. Divergences between registry and tax records are common and can be fixed, but they take time, and it is better to find them before fixing the date of the deed than on the eve of it. Confirm as well whether the garage and the storage room are part of the unit, separate autonomous units, or merely areas of exclusive use, because that changes what you are buying.\n\nRequire the usage licence and check the permitted use. Housing, retail, services and warehouse are not interchangeable, and a property licensed for another use creates financing and occupation problems. Confirm the energy certificate, which is mandatory on sale. Ask about the housing technical file, required for more recent construction. Ask the condominium administrator for a statement of current charges, unpaid quotas and works already approved in a general meeting but not yet carried out, because those become your cost. Finally, confirm whether the property is let or occupied and whether the contract guarantees delivery free of people and goods.

Checking who is selling

The seller must be the owner recorded in the land registry, or someone with powers to act for them. Confirm the identity of every owner, not only of the person who showed you the property.\n\nIf the seller is married, the matrimonial property regime determines whether the spouse's signature is required, and the sale of the family home always requires the other spouse's consent, regardless of whose name is on the registry. If the property comes from an undivided estate, you need all the heirs and the estate administrator, and the declaration of heirs and the division of the estate must be settled before the deed. If someone signs under a power of attorney, read it: what powers it grants, whether it includes receiving the price, whether it is valid and whether it has been revoked.\n\nWhere the seller is a company, ask for the commercial registry certificate and confirm who can bind the company and whether the signatures on the page are sufficient. Where the seller is a non-resident, confirm the tax number and the representation arrangements, because these condition the scheduling of the deed.

The clauses that decide the outcome

The financing clause is the most important one for anyone buying with a mortgage. It should state that the contract is conditional on loan approval, set a deadline for the bank's decision, and provide for the return of the deposit, without penalty, if approval does not come. Without this clause, a refused mortgage becomes a forfeited deposit. This is also why arriving at the CPCV with credit already approved changes the buyer's negotiating position.\n\nThe deadline and the scheduling of the deed need dates, not phrases such as as soon as possible. Set out who schedules it, how much notice is given, where it takes place and what happens if the date is missed. A simple delay is default in time and does not by itself allow termination: turning a delay into definitive breach normally requires formally notifying the other party, setting a reasonable deadline and warning that after it the interest in the transaction is lost.\n\nFix as well the condition of the property and the right to inspect it before the deed to confirm it is as it was on the day of signature. List in an annex what stays in the house, from appliances to furniture. Allocate the costs expressly: IMT and stamp duty fall on the buyer and are paid before the deed, while the agency commission is paid by whoever engaged the agency. Check whether the property is subject to pre-emption rights, of the municipality, the tenant, co-owners or other entities, and who handles the notifications, because a pre-emption right exercised kills the transaction.

The mistakes that cost the most

Signing the agency's standard draft without changing a line. Those drafts are written to protect the seller and the agency, which is legitimate, and they carry no duty to protect the buyer. The financing, deadline and mortgage discharge clauses are almost always negotiable.\n\nWaiving the condominium statement, agreeing to pay the deposit in cash or to a third party, failing to attach the payment receipts, leaving the date of the deed open, signing without having seen an up to date registry certificate, and signing before having a firm answer from the bank. Every one of these shortcuts saves days and can cost the deposit.\n\nAnd a less obvious mistake: assuming that a signed CPCV stops the seller selling to someone else. In practical terms it does not. An ordinary promissory contract has no effect against third parties and does not appear on the land registry. To obtain registry protection, the contract must be executed in the required form and entered in the registry, which is rare and must be expressly agreed. Where the amount is large or the period until the deed is long, the subject is worth raising.

Where a buyer-side consultant fits in

Stonest Partners works on the buyer's side. We accompany buyers who already have credit approved, from choosing the property through to the deed, and the buyer pays nothing: the selling side pays. That means the reading of the documents and the negotiation of the CPCV clauses are done by someone whose mandate is yours.\n\nIn practice that means requesting the registry certificate and the tax record before there is any contract, cross-checking registry against tax records, verifying the usage licence and permitted use, requiring the condominium statement, negotiating the financing clause and the deadline for the deed, and flagging what does not add up while there is still room to step back.\n\nA consultant does not replace a lawyer or a notary. Where the case involves an undivided estate, a questionable power of attorney, unlicensed building work or pending litigation, legal review is mandatory and we say so rather than pushing the transaction forward.

Where to check the figures

• Diário da República Eletrónico (Código Civil, regime do contrato-promessa e do sinal)
• Predial Online, Instituto dos Registos e do Notariado (certidão permanente do registo predial)
• Portal das Finanças (caderneta predial, IMT e Imposto do Selo, simulador de IMT)
• Casa Pronta (compra e venda, registo, comunicações de direito de preferência)
• Sistema de Certificação Energética dos Edifícios (certificado energético)

We do not publish tax tables or percentages: they change with each state budget, and an out-of-date number on an agency's own site is a problem rather than a typo. The sources above carry the current value.