What is the maximum deposit a landlord can ask for in Portugal?

The cap is recent, and plenty of listings and template contracts still reflect the old free for all where three or six months of deposit were normal.

What changed and when

Lei 24-D/2022, part of the Mais Habitacao package, amended Article 1076 of the Codigo Civil with effect from 30 December 2022. Residential leases signed since then cannot carry a caucao above two months of rent. Contracts signed before that date keep the terms they were signed under, which is why a friend who arrived in 2021 may genuinely be sitting on a three month deposit.

Deposit and advance rent are two separate caps

The caucao secures the landlord against damage and unpaid rent, and it comes back to you at the end. Rendas antecipadas are rent for future months, paid early, and they are consumed month by month. Advance rent is capped at two months and has to be agreed in writing. Stack them and the lawful signing day maximum is the first month of rent plus two months of deposit plus two months of advance rent.

Anything beyond that, and the six to twelve months routinely quoted to foreigners is well beyond it, is outside the statutory caps even when the landlord frames it as "just how it works here".

Getting it back

There is no statutory deadline for returning the deposit, which is the weak point in the rule. Thirty days after you hand over the keys is standard practice and worth writing into the contract along with the IBAN it goes back to. Protect yourself with a dated photo record of the flat on move in day and again on move out.

If the money is withheld without justification, you do not have to go to court first. Rental arbitration centres handle these disputes cheaply: CACCL in Lisbon, CICAP in Porto. Bring the contract, the transfer receipts and the photos.

Also worth checking

Make sure the lease is registered with Financas. Registration is the landlord's obligation, due by the last day of the month after the lease starts, and since 2025 you can register it yourself once their window has closed. A registered lease is what AIMA accepts as proof of address and what lets you claim the rent deduction on your IRS return.

See the renting guide.