Can I make an offer without having my mortgage approved?

You can, but you start at a disadvantage. The seller has no way to confirm you can pay, and on a contested property that usually decides it. If you proceed anyway, insist that the promissory contract includes a clause making it conditional on obtaining credit, with a defined deadline and return of the deposit if the bank refuses. Without that clause, a refusal becomes your breach and the deposit is lost.

Does the bank's approval guarantee I can buy that specific house?

No. Approval assesses the buyer, not the property. The bank will still commission a valuation and check the property's registry and documents. If the valuation comes in below the price, the bank lends against the lower figure and the gap must be covered with your own funds or the price renegotiated. If there are uncancelled mortgages, area discrepancies or a missing use licence, financing may not go ahead on that particular property.

How long does mortgage approval last?

It has an expiry date, set by the bank and stated in the decision and in the FINE. It is not open-ended and it does not freeze the terms forever. If it lapses before you find a property, the process is redone and the rate, spread and amount may no longer be the same. Confirm the period in writing with your bank and plan your search inside it.

Should I get approval from more than one bank?

It is common and useful, because it lets you compare offers through the FINE, which presents terms in a standardised and therefore comparable format. Compare the rate, the term, the charges and the linked products such as insurance or salary domiciliation, not just the spread. Bear in mind that each application involves checks on your credit position and repeated paperwork, so two or three done properly beat many done in a rush.

What happens if the bank values the house below the asking price?

The bank lends against the lower of price and valuation, so the difference becomes yours to fund. There are three ways out: cover the gap with your own money, renegotiate the price with the seller using the valuation as leverage, or walk away. If the promissory contract is already signed without a clause covering this, your room to manoeuvre is far smaller. It is one reason to check figures and documents before signing rather than after.

The buyer's guide

Why mortgage approval before you search changes everything

Because it stops being a search and becomes a purchase. Without approval, a buyer has an estimate of what they can spend and an offer the seller cannot verify. With written approval from the bank, they have a known lending limit, they know how much of their own money is left for the costs the loan does not cover, and their offers carry more weight than identical offers without confirmed financing. On a property with several interested parties, the seller rarely picks the highest number alone: they pick the offer that closes on time. Approval is what turns an intention into proof.

The real budget is not the price the buyer imagines

An online simulation does not bind the bank. An approval does, within the conditions and the validity period stated in the decision. Until then, the budget is a wish.\n\nThe bank sets the amount based on income, existing credit commitments, employment stability and the term, which is itself capped by the age of the borrowers. There is a second brake many buyers discover late: the amount financed is calculated on the lower of two values, the agreed price and the valuation the bank commissions on the property. If the valuation comes in below the price, the gap comes out of the buyer's pocket or the price is renegotiated.\n\nThe third brake is the acquisition costs, which are not financed: IMT, stamp duty, the deed, registrations and any bank fees always come from the buyer's own funds. Anyone who empties their savings into the deposit is left with nothing to close with. That is why the number that matters is not the approved amount, it is the approved amount minus what the buyer must put on the table on the day of the deed.

In a negotiation, approval is the currency the seller understands

On the other side of the table sits someone who has already lost time on deals that collapsed. A seller's fear is not receiving less, it is signing a promissory contract and finding out two months later that the bank said no.\n\nWritten approval answers that fear. It allows offers with short deadlines to the deed, and the deadline has real value to a seller with a dependent purchase of their own or a move already booked. It also allows price to be negotiated in exchange for speed, a conversation you can only have once financing is settled.\n\nThe reverse holds too. A buyer without approval is read as risk, and the seller prices that risk in or simply prefers another offer. You do not need the highest offer in euros to win the house. You need the safest one.

Approval is not guaranteed money: the property side is still open

Approval says the bank trusts the buyer. It says nothing about the house. Financing only completes if the property passes too.\n\nA bank will not lend against a property with an irregular registry position, with uncancelled charges or mortgages, with a mismatch between the area on the tax register and reality, or without a use licence where one is required. A valid energy certificate is also required. These documents can be checked before signing anything, and that is where most problems surface.\n\nOn the buyer's side, the decision can be reopened if circumstances change between approval and deed. Changing jobs, entering a probation period, taking on new credit, missing payments or acquiring a default record with the Banco de Portugal are all events the bank reassesses. Between approval and deed the practical rule is simple: change nothing.

Approval has an expiry date, and the terms are not frozen

The bank's decision is valid for a limited period. The formal offer is delivered in the FINE, the European Standardised Information Sheet, which sets out rate, term, amount, charges and linked insurance, and carries its own acceptance and reflection periods fixed by law.\n\nIf the approval lapses, the process is redone. The problem is that market conditions may have moved: the negotiated spread, the index in a variable rate or the fixed rate offered may all have changed. An approval near its expiry is an approval worth less.\n\nThe useful reading is this: approval opens a window, not a permanent door. Searching inside that window is the right sequence. Searching for months and only then going to the bank is the reverse, and it is what loses deals. Current rates and rules should be confirmed with the Banco de Portugal and in the bank's own FINE, never from numbers repeated by third parties.

What changes in the promissory contract, and what is at risk if it does not

The promissory contract of purchase and sale is where money starts being at risk. It is signed, a deposit is paid, and a deadline for the deed is set.\n\nSigning without financing settled is a bet that the bank will approve within that deadline. If it does not and the contract does not provide for it, the breach is the buyer's and the deposit is lost. The protection exists and is called a financing condition clause: it must state expressly that the contract lapses and the deposit is returned if the loan is not granted, with a defined deadline and evidence required. When the buyer has no approval, that clause is not a detail, it is the only safety net.\n\nA buyer who already has approval negotiates from another position. They can accept tighter deadlines, drop conditions sellers dislike, and trade that for a better price. The same signature, a different risk.

Where we come in, and why it costs the buyer nothing

Stonest Partners works with buyers who already have credit approved, from choosing the property to the deed. We are not a portal and we do not represent sellers.\n\nThe work is everything between approval and the keys: checking the property's documents before an offer exists, presenting offers with the weight approval gives them, aligning the promissory contract's deadlines with the bank's and the valuation's real timelines, and being present at the deed. The mediation commission is paid by the selling side, so the service costs the buyer nothing.\n\nThat matters for a practical reason rather than a sentimental one: an adviser paid by the buyer has to charge the buyer, and an adviser representing the seller has an interest in the highest price. In this model the person paying us is not the person we advise, and the incentive is to close the right deal, not the most expensive one.

Common questions

Can I make an offer without having my mortgage approved?: You can, but you start at a disadvantage. The seller has no way to confirm you can pay, and on a contested property that usually decides it. If you proceed anyway, insist that the promissory contract includes a clause making it conditional on obtaining credit, with a defined deadline and return of the deposit if the bank refuses. Without that clause, a refusal becomes your breach and the deposit is lost.
Does the bank's approval guarantee I can buy that specific house?: No. Approval assesses the buyer, not the property. The bank will still commission a valuation and check the property's registry and documents. If the valuation comes in below the price, the bank lends against the lower figure and the gap must be covered with your own funds or the price renegotiated. If there are uncancelled mortgages, area discrepancies or a missing use licence, financing may not go ahead on that particular property.
How long does mortgage approval last?: It has an expiry date, set by the bank and stated in the decision and in the FINE. It is not open-ended and it does not freeze the terms forever. If it lapses before you find a property, the process is redone and the rate, spread and amount may no longer be the same. Confirm the period in writing with your bank and plan your search inside it.
Should I get approval from more than one bank?: It is common and useful, because it lets you compare offers through the FINE, which presents terms in a standardised and therefore comparable format. Compare the rate, the term, the charges and the linked products such as insurance or salary domiciliation, not just the spread. Bear in mind that each application involves checks on your credit position and repeated paperwork, so two or three done properly beat many done in a rush.
What happens if the bank values the house below the asking price?: The bank lends against the lower of price and valuation, so the difference becomes yours to fund. There are three ways out: cover the gap with your own money, renegotiate the price with the seller using the valuation as leverage, or walk away. If the promissory contract is already signed without a clause covering this, your room to manoeuvre is far smaller. It is one reason to check figures and documents before signing rather than after.

Where to check the figures

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.

Reviewed 2026-07-27