How to get your rental deposit back in Portugal

In short: In Portugal your deposit (caução) is your money, held only as a guarantee. When the lease ends and you have paid your rent and bills and left the home in the state normal use would produce, the landlord must give it back — keeping only the time reasonably needed to inspect and cost any real damage, with 30 days being the period most contracts fix and courts treat as reasonable. A landlord may deduct for unpaid rent, unpaid bills, or damage beyond ordinary wear-and-tear (art. 1043 of the Código Civil), and nothing else. If they stall, a written demand letter starts the interest clock and sets up a claim at a Julgado de Paz. CourtStairs answers Portuguese and EU tenancy questions like this in plain language, with citations to the Diário da República so you can read the article yourself.

The deposit is where a lot of tenancies go sour, precisely because the rules are less written-down than people assume. This is general information, not legal advice, and details of any one case matter, so confirm anything important against the primary source or a lawyer.

What the caução actually is

The deposit lives in art. 1076 of the Código Civil, which lets the parties guarantee the performance of their obligations. Since 1 January 2023, when the State Budget for 2023 (Lei n.º 24-D/2022, art. 274) rewrote art. 1076, the caução cannot exceed two months' rent — a hard ceiling. It is not a payment to the landlord and it is not "the last months' rent": it is a security held under the general rules on guarantees (art. 623), to be returned once the obligations it secured are shown to be met.

The deadline: what the law says (and doesn't)

Here is the honest answer many websites skip: there is no fixed statutory number of days for returning the caução. Art. 1076 and the NRAU (Lei n.º 6/2006) do not say "30 days" or "21 days." What the law does require is that the landlord return the money once the tenant's obligations are verified — and Portuguese courts, especially the Julgados de Paz that hear most of these disputes, have held that the landlord may keep it only for the time strictly necessary to inspect the home and budget any legitimate repairs. A landlord cannot sit on your money indefinitely.

Because the law is silent, the contract fills the gap, and in practice most leases set 30 days from the end of the tenancy — a figure courts routinely accept as reasonable. So the practical deadlines look like this:

Lawful deductions vs normal wear-and-tear

This is where most disputes are won or lost. A landlord may deduct from the deposit only for things you are actually liable for. Under art. 1043 of the Código Civil the tenant must return the property in the state they received it, except for deteriorations from its normal, prudent use. In other words, the wear that simply comes from living there is not yours to pay for.

The burden is on the landlord to show a deduction is justified — that means an itemised account and, ideally, quotes or invoices, not a round number pulled from the air. If they cannot connect a charge to real damage beyond wear-and-tear or to a debt you actually owe, it is not a lawful deduction.

Step by step: recovering a withheld deposit

If the deadline passes and the money is not back — or the landlord invents deductions — you escalate in stages. Do not stay silent: a formal written demand (interpelação) is what legally puts the landlord in default (mora) and starts interest running.

1. Gather your fileContract, proof of deposit paid, receipts showing rent and bills settled, and your move-in / move-out photos.
2. Send a written demandA carta registada com aviso de receção setting out the amount, referring to art. 1076, and giving a clear deadline (e.g. 8-15 days) to pay. This is the interpelação that triggers default.
3. Claim interest from defaultOnce the landlord is in mora, you can add legal interest — the civil rate, currently 4% per year (arts. 804-806) — to the sum owed.
4. Try to settle in writingIf they dispute part of it, ask for the itemised account and invoices. Any agreement should be in writing.
5. Go to a Julgado de Paz or courtFor most deposit-sized amounts, a Julgado de Paz (Lei 78/2001) is fast and low-cost; larger claims or an injunção go through the courts.

A model demand keeps it simple: state that the lease ended on a given date, that you left the home in proper condition and owe nothing, that the caução of €X is overdue under the contract and art. 1076, and that unless it is paid within the deadline you will claim the amount plus legal interest and costs before a Julgado de Paz. Non-return is a contractual breach, so this is not an idle threat — it is exactly the claim the tribunal exists to decide.

The Julgados de Paz (peace courts, Lei n.º 78/2001) handle civil claims up to €15,000, which covers essentially every deposit — our guide to small claims at a Julgado de Paz walks through how to file. They are designed to be used without a lawyer, are cheaper and quicker than the ordinary courts, and hear a large share of these caução cases — their decisions are what have shaped the "reasonable time" standard in the first place. If your landlord is elsewhere in the country or the amount is larger, the ordinary courts (including the injunção procedure for undisputed debts) remain open.

Where CourtStairs fits

A deposit dispute is a textbook example of a question that feels simple but turns on specific articles: which deductions art. 1043 allows, what art. 1076 caps the deposit at, when interest starts under arts. 804-806, and which forum under Lei 78/2001 hears the claim. CourtStairs takes a plain-language question — "can they keep my deposit for a worn floor?" — and answers it with the exact provision behind it, in English or Portuguese, so you can open the Diário da República and confirm.

Rules and interest rates change, older contracts can follow transitional regimes, and the facts of your tenancy matter, so treat this as a starting point and confirm anything important against the primary source or a lawyer. CourtStairs answers Portuguese and EU legal questions in plain language, with citations you can verify.