CPCV (contrato-promessa de compra e venda, promissory contract)
Contrato-promessa de compra e venda Promissory purchase and sale agreement CPCV
The CPCV is the agreement by which the parties commit to sign the purchase of a property later. Where it concerns a building or unit already built, under construction or to be built, it must be a document signed by the parties, with the signatures witnessed in person and the building licence certified. Money paid by the promissory buyer is presumed to be a deposit («sinal»).
In practice
The deposit rules are what give the contract its weight: if the party who paid defaults, the other may keep the money; if the party who received it defaults, they may have to pay back double. That is why the size of the deposit is argued as carefully as the price.
There is a tax effect that catches buyers out: if the property is handed over — keys given, house already in use — before the deed, the IMT Code treats the promise as a transfer and the tax can fall due earlier, except on the purchase of an own permanent home.