Defect notice · Portugal
Which denúncia deadline applies to you
The 30-day figure circulates widely and it is real law. It governs one relationship, and buying a property is not that relationship.
If you bought a property
You bought a completed home from a private seller
Compra e venda · Arts. 913.º a 917.º CC
Denúncia within one year of knowing about the defect, inside the five years following delivery (Art. 916.º n.º 2). Then six months from that notice to file (Art. 917.º), capped at five years from the sale. You carry the burden of proof.
You bought a new build from the developer who built it
Art. 1225.º n.º 4 CC · inside the empreitada chapter
The builder-seller sits inside the empreitada chapter, but does not bring the 30-day clock with them. Art. 1225.º n.º 2 sets its own periods: one year to denounce, then a further year to bring the action.
You bought new from a professional, as a consumer
DL 84/2021 · consumer regime, on top of the above
Ten years on structural elements, five on everything else, both from delivery. The burden reverses onto the seller, and the period suspends from the day you communicate the non-conformity.
If you commissioned the works
You hired a contractor to build or renovate
Art. 1220.º CC · empreitada, dono da obra
The dono da obra must denounce defects to the empreiteiro within 30 days of discovery, on pain of caducidade. This is where the 30-day figure lives, and a renovation is the ordinary case. It does not govern a purchase.
The rule in one line
Every buyer scenario lands on one year. Art. 1220.º and its 30 days bite in exactly one situation, and it is not a purchase.
The clock starts at discovery, not at handover. Inside a guarantee period, the trigger is the day you find the problem. There is no first-anniversary deadline to count down to. What runs from delivery are the guarantee periods themselves.