Caderneta Predial: How to Read Portugal's Property Tax Record
Every house in Portugal has a tax portrait. It is not always a likeness.
The caderneta predial is the record of a property in the Portuguese tax register, the matriz, kept by the Autoridade Tributária. It names the property, places it, gives its areas, its use, its owners and the tax value on which IMI is charged. No sale happens without it: the agent asks for it, the bank reads it, the notary checks it. This guide explains how to obtain it, how to read it, how it differs from the land registry certificate, and what it says, and does not say, about an old house.
Two records, one house
Portugal keeps two separate records of every property. The first is the matriz predial, the tax register, where each property has an article number (the artigo matricial) and a taxable value, the valor patrimonial tributário or VPT. The caderneta predial is the extract of that record. The second is the land registry, the registo predial, kept by the conservatórias of the IRN, which records who owns the property and what weighs on it. It is consulted through the certidão permanente.
The two were built for different purposes and do not always agree. Reading them side by side is the first serious step in any purchase, and the first thing to put in order before any sale.
How to obtain it
The caderneta is free and is downloaded in a few minutes from the Portal das Finanças. The owner logs in with a tax number and password, or with the Chave Móvel Digital, opens the service Consultar património predial, selects the property and downloads the caderneta as a PDF. According to the Autoridade Tributária, it is valid for twelve months.
The portal shows each taxpayer only the properties registered in their name. A buyer therefore usually receives the caderneta from the seller or the seller's agent, and should ask for a recent one.
How to read a caderneta predial urbana
The first block identifies the property: district, municipality, parish and article number, followed by the letter of the fraction if the house is a unit in a building under horizontal property. Then comes the description: location, use (the afetação: housing, commerce, services), typology, number of floors, and the areas. These are the total land area, the footprint (área de implantação), the gross private area and the gross dependent area, which covers garages, storerooms and similar spaces. The document ends with the VPT, the year it was set, and the owners with their shares.
For urban buildings evaluated under the IMI code, the VPT follows a formula set in article 38: base value × area × use coefficient × location coefficient × quality and comfort coefficient × age coefficient. The base value for declarations submitted from 1 January 2026 is €712.50 per square metre. Housing has a use coefficient of 1.00, services 1.10, commerce 1.20. The location coefficient ranges from 0.4 to 3.5. The result is rounded up to the next ten euros.
The number matters. IMI is charged on it every year, and on a purchase, IMT and stamp duty are charged on the contract price or the VPT, whichever is higher. See our guide to property taxes in Portugal.
For the tax office, a house of 1760 and a house of 1960 are the same age.
What it says about an old house, and what it does not
The age coefficient is counted in whole years from the date of the use licence or, if there is none, from the completion of the works. It falls from 1 for a new building to 0.40 for any building over sixty years old, and stops there. The matrix does not distinguish a baroque town house from a block of the 1960s.
The caderneta also shows a year of inscription in the matrix. It is often read as a construction date. It is not. It records when the article was entered or updated in the register. Article numbers run in sequence within each parish, so when parishes were merged in 2013 many properties received new numbers, and older deeds cite the previous ones. An eighteenth-century house can carry a recent year. Proving that a building predates 1951, for instance, is a separate matter, covered in our guide to the use licence and pre-1951 buildings.
Nor does the caderneta say anything about what makes an old house what it is: tiles, painted ceilings, stone, a chapel, a garden. Those have to be documented elsewhere, in municipal archives, old deeds and the house itself.
Urban, rustic, mixed
A caderneta predial urbana covers buildings and building land. A caderneta predial rústica covers land, and its VPT is calculated from the land's income, the rendimento fundiário, multiplied by twenty. It reflects agricultural yield, not market price. When a property has both a rural and an urban part, it is classified by its main part, or as mixed if neither prevails. A quinta is therefore often several articles at once: one for the house, others for the land. Rural land has its own rules, set out in our guide to BUPi and rural land.
Caderneta and certidão permanente
The caderneta tells you what the tax office knows. The certidão permanente tells you who owns the property and what burdens it: mortgages, seizures, usufructs, easements, pending court actions. It does not show the VPT. It is requested at Registo Predial Online or at a registry counter, costs €15 online, and is valid for six months, through a code that can be given to a bank or a notary.
The Land Registry Code requires the two records to agree on location, area and article number. Small differences in area are tolerated: up to 10% for urban property, 20% for rural land outside the geometric cadastre and 5% for rural land within it. Beyond that, the records must be harmonised before the deed. Compare the two documents line by line before signing the CPCV.
Common errors
Areas that do not match the house: a closed balcony, a converted attic, an annex built and never declared. The owner must declare works that change the VPT within sixty days, through the IMI Modelo 1 declaration. An omitted property, a building or annex absent from the matrix, must be declared too, and the law presumes that a buyer knew of the omission. Other frequent problems are owners never updated after an inheritance, a use recorded wrongly, and an old article number still quoted in documents after a parish merger.
Updating and contesting the VPT
The owner can file a complaint against the matrix at any time, under article 130 of the IMI code, to correct the description, the areas, the owners or a value considered outdated. A value set by direct evaluation can only be revised on the ground that it is outdated after three years. When a new evaluation is notified, a second evaluation can be requested within thirty days. A word of caution: a new evaluation uses the current base value. The age coefficient may lower the result; the base value may raise it. Do the arithmetic first.
Why seller and buyer both need it
For the seller, a recent caderneta with correct areas avoids delays at the CPCV and the deed, and at the bank's valuation. For the buyer, it confirms what is being bought, its tax value and the IMI to come, and whether the paper matches the house. See our guides to selling property in Portugal and to what buying really costs.
At Wiseguys Properties, the caderneta and the certidão permanente of each house are read before it reaches the market, as with The Great Green House in Portalegre. If you are preparing a sale, tell us about your property.
Frequently asked questions
How do I get a caderneta predial?
Online and free, at the Portal das Finanças: log in, open Consultar património predial, select the property and download the caderneta as a PDF.
How long is a caderneta predial valid?
According to the Autoridade Tributária, twelve months.
Is the caderneta the same as the certidão permanente?
No. The caderneta is the tax record, with the VPT. The certidão permanente is the land registry certificate, with owners, mortgages and other charges.
Does the year on the caderneta show when the house was built?
No. The year of inscription records when the article was entered or updated in the matrix, not the construction date.
Can I get the caderneta of a property I do not own?
Online, each taxpayer only sees the properties registered in their name. A buyer usually receives it from the seller or the seller's agent.
How is the caderneta updated?
By submitting an IMI Modelo 1 declaration at the Portal das Finanças, within sixty days of works or other changes, or by a complaint against the matrix to correct errors.
This article is general information and does not replace legal or tax advice. Sources: Código do IMI (articles 5, 13, 17, 38, 41, 42, 44, 76 and 130); Portaria 471/2025/1; Código do Registo Predial (articles 28 and 28-A); Autoridade Tributária, Portal das Finanças; IRN, Registo Predial Online; DECO PROteste. Photographs: Wiseguys Properties.
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