# All info/help on moving to Portugal greatly appreciated



## vynehound (Apr 5, 2015)

Thinking of buying a home in Portugal when the sale of our house in the uk is complete Mid June. Don't know where to start. Also not sure about soooo many things so sorry if these are stupid questions but here goes.
I understand that Tax AND stamp duty is payable at what rate is this?
How long does it take for a cash purchase to go through?
Is it better to buy a LHD car in the Uk and bring it or buy there, if so will garages in Portugal take our car in part exchange as we will need a car to get to Portugal in when we go there.
If we buy a house without a pool is planning permission needed and also do you need a license for a pool, anyone know what cost of an 8x4m pool would be and is planning usually granted as I have heard this is now difficult to obtain in rural properties in Spain?
We are 60 and 59 and therefore not officially retirement age. We will buy a house and live off whats left till we reach retirement age. Can we still draw our uk state pension in Portugal ?
Health Care? Do we have to have private health care as we are not old enough for free pensioners healthcare if so where do we obtain this and what is the cost?
What running costs do we need to consider? electric/water/council tax etc? Also how much a month would we need to put aside to live, we don't dine out on fillet steak every night, just general living and running our car?
Is the equivalent to road tax payable on our car, is so how much is this?
We are thinking of renting for a few months when we first arrive, what do we need to get in place before we buy?
Thank you in advance, any help will be greatly appreciated:noidea:


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## In 2 bikes (Apr 18, 2013)

that's a lot of questions in one post........but welcome....

I'll pick a couple... LHD -v- RHD.. There are a lot of threads in this forum that discuss the pros and cons. It's well worth a search because you'll learn more from that than from half a dozen yay's ney's from this thread. But, for me, I'd sell yours in the UK and buy here.

To buy a home here also has a zillion searchable threads but the first thing that you will definitely need is a Fiscal number otherwise known as a NIF. You can't buy without one. This will be the start of your Portuguese identity. The process is very easy when you're in Portugal (on holiday for example) but can be done, allegedly, at the Portuguese Embassy in London, in person, but this process may interfere with the smooth running of everything else administrative that you have to do when you land boots on ground proper.

Also the health system and access to it here is another recent topic as rules keep changing and because you're youngsters you may have to finance health insurance until you become of pensionable age...

Do have a good search through the forum.. It's all here. it helped me out tremendously but I have only been in Portugal 10 months and a lot has changed since my jump.


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## vynehound (Apr 5, 2015)

Thank you In 2 bikes, really confused about the health insurance, some say its free others say it isnt


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## In 2 bikes (Apr 18, 2013)

vynehound said:


> Thank you In 2 bikes, really confused about the health insurance, some say its free others say it isnt


yep ! you're spot on... Moderators in forums and expats alike are all unsure and correct themselves. 

I'd budget for the health insurance option ( which is common to France and Spain too ) but aim to research the free option if you can but be mindful that the good times appear to be drying up for free health care. Travellingman, a member on here, and myself have found that some areas of Portugal are much easier to get free health care than others and it will come as no surprise that there is more than an element of boozed up expat Brits arguing the toss with officials on more than a frequent basis that has spoiled it for the rest. ( Algarve area being awkward for pre-retirees for one ). But of course, there will be those who live there and will counter this theory.


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## dstump (Apr 26, 2010)

vynehound said:


> Thinking of buying a home in Portugal when the sale of our house in the uk is complete Mid June. Don't know where to start. Also not sure about soooo many things so sorry if these are stupid questions but here goes.
> I understand that Tax AND stamp duty is payable at what rate is this?
> How long does it take for a cash purchase to go through?
> Is it better to buy a LHD car in the Uk and bring it or buy there, if so will garages in Portugal take our car in part exchange as we will need a car to get to Portugal in when we go there.
> ...


Good Morning, welcome to the Forum - none of them are stupid questions - I've been there with everything running round in my head, and everything you learn throws up another question! 

I think you would be very wise to rent initially, where we live, and how we live our lives differ greatly, and location can make the difference between a happy new life, and wanting to run 'home'. If your house sale goes through in June you have very little time to make life changing decisions, and better to rent for a while than make a mistake with a purchase. To rent you will need a NIF, ours took half an hour to acquire, its seems to be the equivalent of a National Insurance number (or Social Security number) - and a bank account, again, ours took two hours, but we walked out with bank cards, and Millennium have been great. 

Until end of May my husband and are in Dubai when we leave for our new life in Portugal, we started planning 4 years ago, starting with a list of necessities for the area we would like to live in (proximity to golf course being number 1), single storey building, as we are the same age as you, and then with help from this forum (thanks and RIP Canoeman) narrowed our search down to a specific area which offered all we wanted. 

Regarding UK State pension, yes it will be paid to you in Portugal, but, as we are the same age, mine doesn't kick in until I am 66, so am not holding my breath! Healthcare, like you, seems difficult to get clear information, but we hope that once we have completed the residency process we should have the same access to healthcare as a portuguese, but as pointed out earlier, this may vary with area, but there are quite reasonably priced medical insurances available.

Hope this helps, 

DEnise


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## vynehound (Apr 5, 2015)

Thank you for your replies.we are looking inland at rural property hubby want a little patch of land to grow stuff. Denise you mentioned reasonable prices health insurance any recommendations we got quotes online yesterday anything from £387 to £1170 a Month.Are non working expats able to contribute to the state system like in Spain we know someone in Malaga who pay 60 Euros a month for inclusion in the state system. Hope you don't mind the questions they pop n my head all night long.


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## dstump (Apr 26, 2010)

One thing I forgot in my previous post, I would suggest you take a look at the Non Habitual Residency (NHR) regime available for people that: have not paid PT tax for the previous five years and are not planning to work in PT. Once approved all worldwide income is tax free for ten years. 

Be aware that the PT tax bands kick in at a much lower rate than those in the UK: €0 - €7,000 – 14.5%, 28.5% for €7,000 to €20,000, 37% for €40,000 to €80,000 and 48% for income over €80,000. 

NHR might be even more relevant depending on the outcome of the government’s announcement it would consult on whether entitlement to the UK Personal Allowance should be restricted for non-resident. 

https://www.gov.uk/government/consu...he-uk-personal-allowance#rationale-for-change


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## travelling-man (Jun 17, 2011)

You'll soon discover once you've been a while that rules/standards etc seem to vary not only from area to area but also from individual to individual. 

A good example is that some areas, especially near the coast will refuse to register you with the PT NHS whereas my local health centre has this on it's website: 

Under international conventions

Illustrative image
Citizens of countries that have established agreements and conventions with Portugal covering to protect sickness and maternity.

Natural citizens of countries that have established agreements and conventions with Portugal covering the protection in sickness and maternity can access health care provided by the National Health Service.


Andorra
Brazil
Cape Verde
Morocco
United Kingdom 

Portal da Saúde - Ao abrigo de convenções internacionais

To expand on that: My wife & I are both in our mid 50s and both in receipt of private pensions and we got got registered on the PT NHS & have had more or less free medical treatment since we registered without any problems whatsoever.


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## dstump (Apr 26, 2010)

vynehound said:


> Thank you for your replies.we are looking inland at rural property hubby want a little patch of land to grow stuff. Denise you mentioned reasonable prices health insurance any recommendations we got quotes online yesterday anything from £387 to £1170 a Month.Are non working expats able to contribute to the state system like in Spain we know someone in Malaga who pay 60 Euros a month for inclusion in the state system. Hope you don't mind the questions they pop n my head all night long.


There is an organisation called AFPOP, aimed at expats, which publishes a maqazine, I think 3 monthly. They organise discounts for members (membership costs 70 euro annually), and they were offering medical insurance by Allianz via Medal for 1231 euro per person annually, which gave 100,000 inpatient cover, and 3,500 euro outpatient cover. I am assuming that preexisting health conditions would affect the premium.

Also, when we got our bank account with Millennium, they did mention that they also did both house and medical insurance - we didn't follow up at that time. At the moment our plan is to try and register with the Pt health service, if we get turned away we will take out a insurance, then when we have our residence, try and register again. 

Also, re. any car you might purchase, you must own your car out of Portugal for a year, and we have spent ages gathering up mountains of paper to prove that we have had our car a year, and actually lived with it! We needed utility bills, contract letters, specifications from the garage we bought it from here, ...... I think it might be too late to purchase in the UK now.

Denise


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## vynehound (Apr 5, 2015)

Thanks for all the info x


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## Roy C (Sep 29, 2012)

Great info on here might consider Portugal now as well as Spain, God I'm all over the place


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## Coz7599 (Apr 12, 2015)

My advice to you is as follows....based on living here in Portugal for 33 years ......
1. yes you should first decide where to live...not too far from a large town or city with good road links to other towns and cities.
2. Rent an apartment or house for 6 months....so you can decide if it is the right area for you.
3. make contact with another ex pat who has lived here for several years and who knows the ins and outs of living here.
4. get your residencia and your fiscal number sorted....this is fairly easy.
5. arrange to register with a local doctor.
This is a wonderful country to live in...but you will need some good practical advice if you wish to make your stay a happy one.

I am able to answer some of your other questions if required...just let me know them one at a time.......good luck
my name is Andrew.


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## ExpatNick (Sep 6, 2015)

Hello vynehound,

Your initial queries match so many of my own questions, it's spooky! 

Would you mind if I asked you to share the experiences you had? It looks like my wife and I are about a year behind you so what you've been through will be of incredible relevance to us. Send me a Personal Message if you like, or post on here.

Many thanks in advance,

Nick.


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