I am the buyer. Do I have to pay the agency a commission?

As a rule, no. The commission is owed by whoever signed the mediation contract, and in a home sale the signatory is almost always the seller. If you are asked for commission as a buyer, ask to see the document you signed that creates that obligation. No document, no obligation. The one case where a buyer pays is when the buyer is the agency's client, having signed a contract for a property search.

Is VAT charged on the agency commission?

Yes. Estate agency work is a supply of services, so VAT at the rate in force is added to the commission, invoiced to the agency's client. When comparing agency proposals, always compare on a VAT-inclusive basis, since some quote with VAT and others without. The applicable rate should be checked on the Portal das Finanças, as it can change with the state budget.

If I have my own consultant, does the seller pay two commissions?

No. The seller pays the commission they contracted for, and only that one. When the buyer arrives with another firm, the two agencies split that same commission between them, what the market calls a share or co-mediation. For the buyer, the effect is having someone on their side without the price of the house going up and without paying a fee.

The agency asked me for a reservation fee. Is that the commission?

No, they are different things. A reservation fee is money handed over to take the property off the market while the promissory contract is prepared. Before paying it, insist in writing on who holds the money, in which account it sits, whether it is deducted from the price at the deed, and on what terms it comes back if the deal does not proceed. Without that document, transfer nothing.

Can I negotiate a better price if I buy without an agency?

You can try, but it is not automatic. In a private sale the seller saves the commission, and that saving only reaches the buyer if the buyer explicitly negotiates for it. Weigh the other side of the ledger: with no agency involved, nobody is checking the tax register entry, the land registry certificate, the registered charges or the habitation licence. That is where costs far larger than the saved commission tend to surface.

The buyer's guide

Who pays the estate agency commission in Portugal

The commission is paid by whoever engaged the agency. In Portugal, estate agency work rests on a written mediation contract between the agency and its client, and it is that client who owes the fee. In a residential sale, the person signing is almost always the owner who wants to sell. A buyer who views the property, makes an offer and buys has signed nothing with the agency and, as a rule, owes nothing. That is why a buyer's consultant can accompany the whole process at no cost to the buyer: the fee comes from a split of the commission the seller was already going to pay. There is one exception and it is easy to spot: if the buyer signs a mediation contract of their own, under which an agency undertakes to find a property for them, the buyer becomes the client and the commission is theirs to pay. With no signature, there is no obligation to pay.

The rule: the client is whoever signs

Lei 15/2013 requires estate agency work to be carried out by a licensed company holding a valid AMI licence, and requires the mediation contract to be in writing. That contract identifies the company, the property, what the company undertakes to do and, central to this question, the fee and the moment it falls due.\n\nThe duty to pay follows the contract, not the interest in the deal. Whoever signed, owes. Whoever did not sign, does not owe. In the vast majority of residential sales in Portugal the signatory is the seller, because it was the seller who put the property on the market and asked an agency to sell it.\n\nThat has a practical consequence worth remembering at the viewing: the agent who opens the door works for the seller and owes loyalty to the seller. This is not bad faith, it is how the contract is built. A buyer who wants someone on their own side has to arrange it explicitly.

How much it is and when it falls due

The amount of the commission is not set by law. It is negotiated between agency and client and written into the contract, usually as a percentage of the sale price, with a floor, plus VAT at the rate in force. There is no official scale, so any percentage quoted as standard is market practice, not a rule.\n\nThe moment the fee falls due is the clause that generates the most disputes. The general rule is that the fee becomes payable when the intended contract is concluded, meaning at the deed of sale. The parties may nonetheless agree that part is paid on signature of the promissory contract. It is also common to see a clause keeping the fee payable if the deal collapses for a reason attributable to the agency's own client.\n\nIf you are on the selling side, read those two clauses before signing: percentage and timing. If you are on the buying side they do not bind you, but they tell you what is pressing on the other side of the table during a negotiation.

How a buyer's consultant gets paid

Through a split. When the buyer arrives accompanied by another agency, the agency holding the listing shares with it the commission the seller contracted for. The seller pays one commission, the one already agreed, and that commission is divided between the firm that listed the property and the firm that brought the buyer.\n\nThe point that matters to the buyer is this: the price of the house does not go up because they brought someone along. The fee comes out of the same pot, on the seller's side. What changes is that someone now has a duty to read the documents, check the charges on the property, argue the price against the seller's interest rather than for it, and see the process through to the deed.\n\nThis is the Stonest Partners model. We accompany buyers who already have credit approved, from choosing the property to the deed, and we are paid by the selling side. The buyer pays no fee.

What a buyer should not pay

Before transferring money to an agency, insist on knowing what it is for. Three different things are routinely confused.\n\nMediation commission: only owed by whoever signed a mediation contract. If you are asked for commission and signed nothing, ask to be shown the document that binds you. If none exists, there is no obligation.\n\nReservation fee or deposit: money handed over to take the property off the market while the promissory contract is prepared. Only do this with a written document stating who holds the money, in which account, whether it is deducted from the price at the deed, and on what terms it comes back if the deal does not proceed. Without that in writing, do not hand it over.\n\nSeparately billed services: valuations, certificates, document handling. These can be legitimate, but they have to be named and quoted up front, not produced at the end.\n\nOne safety rule solves most of these cases: never sign a document during a viewing, on the spot, because you are told someone else is interested. Take it away and read it.

It is in the price, but not in your closing costs

Be honest with yourself about the economics. When the seller sets an asking price, the commission they will pay is baked into it. In that indirect sense the buyer funds all of it, just as they fund the IMI the seller paid and the works the seller carried out. That does not make the buyer the debtor of the commission.\n\nIn the actual closing figures, the commission does not appear on the buyer's side. What the buyer pays on top of the price is IMT, stamp duty, the deed and registration costs, and the bank charges tied to the mortgage. The agency fee is settled between seller and agency, invoiced to the seller, and does not enter the base on which the buyer's taxes are calculated.\n\nAnd do not count on an automatic discount for cutting the agency out. Buying directly from a private seller saves the commission on the seller's side, but price is a matter of negotiation and that saving only reaches the buyer if the buyer negotiates it. In exchange, nobody is checking the paperwork, which is precisely where the expensive problems live.

Check before signing anything at all

Two quick, free checks protect you from most commission problems.\n\nFirst: confirm the company's AMI licence. The register of licensed firms is public and maintained by IMPIC. A firm without a valid AMI licence cannot carry out mediation and has no right to a mediation fee. Confirm the company name and tax number too, not just the trading name in the advert.\n\nSecond: if you are handed a contract to sign, identify what it is. A mediation contract says so on its first line. A purchase offer does not create an obligation to pay commission. If the document contains a clause putting the fee on you, you can know that before signing, because it has to be written there.\n\nIf you have already signed something and are unsure what it was, ask for a copy. You are entitled to one.

Common questions

I am the buyer. Do I have to pay the agency a commission?: As a rule, no. The commission is owed by whoever signed the mediation contract, and in a home sale the signatory is almost always the seller. If you are asked for commission as a buyer, ask to see the document you signed that creates that obligation. No document, no obligation. The one case where a buyer pays is when the buyer is the agency's client, having signed a contract for a property search.
Is the commission paid at the promissory contract or at the deed?: It depends on what the mediation contract says. The general rule is that the fee falls due when the sale is concluded, that is, at the deed. But it is valid to agree that part is paid on signature of the promissory contract, and many contracts do exactly that. Anyone selling should read that clause before signing, because it decides whether they owe a fee on a deal that has not yet closed.
Is VAT charged on the agency commission?: Yes. Estate agency work is a supply of services, so VAT at the rate in force is added to the commission, invoiced to the agency's client. When comparing agency proposals, always compare on a VAT-inclusive basis, since some quote with VAT and others without. The applicable rate should be checked on the Portal das Finanças, as it can change with the state budget.
If I have my own consultant, does the seller pay two commissions?: No. The seller pays the commission they contracted for, and only that one. When the buyer arrives with another firm, the two agencies split that same commission between them, what the market calls a share or co-mediation. For the buyer, the effect is having someone on their side without the price of the house going up and without paying a fee.
The agency asked me for a reservation fee. Is that the commission?: No, they are different things. A reservation fee is money handed over to take the property off the market while the promissory contract is prepared. Before paying it, insist in writing on who holds the money, in which account it sits, whether it is deducted from the price at the deed, and on what terms it comes back if the deal does not proceed. Without that document, transfer nothing.
Can I negotiate a better price if I buy without an agency?: You can try, but it is not automatic. In a private sale the seller saves the commission, and that saving only reaches the buyer if the buyer explicitly negotiates for it. Weigh the other side of the ledger: with no agency involved, nobody is checking the tax register entry, the land registry certificate, the registered charges or the habitation licence. That is where costs far larger than the saved commission tend to surface.

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