Ending an Exclusive Estate Agency Agreement in Portugal

You want to stop working with your estate agent, withdraw a Portuguese property from the market or appoint another agency. First establish when the current agreement can end, how notice must be given and what may remain payable. Sending a message saying you are cancelling does not answer all three questions.

This guide covers the seller's exit from an exclusive agency agreement. For an existing invoice after a failed transaction, read estate agent commission after a failed sale.

Find the complete contract and its current end date

Collect the signed contrato de mediação imobiliária, often called the CMI, its general terms and every amendment or renewal notice. Check the contracting agency's legal name rather than relying only on the brand used by the individual agent.

Article 16 of Lei 15/2013 requires a written contract and, where exclusivity is agreed, specification of its effects for both parties. If the contract is silent about duration, the statutory default is six months. Six months is not a compulsory term for every agency agreement.

Work out the start date, the current contractual period, any automatic renewal and the notice provision that applies to that period. Do not assume that the first end date still controls if the agreement has already renewed.

Stopping renewal and ending immediately are different steps

If you want the agreement to end at the close of its current term, examine the clause for preventing renewal. If you want to leave before that date, identify an agreed early-exit mechanism, obtain a mutual release or have a legal ground for termination assessed.

Articles 406 and 432 of the Civil Code distinguish the binding contract from the grounds on which it can be ended. Dissatisfaction with progress does not, by itself, establish a right to immediate termination without financial consequences.

Choose the intended route before drafting the notice. A message proposing a negotiated release should be recognisable as a proposal. A notice intended to stop renewal should identify the contract and the relevant end date. A termination based on alleged breach needs its own factual and legal basis.

Check the notice clause instead of assuming a standard deadline

Clause 8 of the official model approved by Portaria 228/2018 provides for automatic renewal unless notice is given at least 10 days before the term ends, by registered letter with acknowledgment of receipt or an equivalent means. This describes that model's clause; it is not a universal 10-day exit rule for every signed agreement, and it does not grant immediate cancellation.

Read your own clause for the period, method, recipient and address. Allow time to establish effective delivery. Keep a complete copy of what was sent together with the posting and delivery records.

Under Article 224 of the Civil Code, a declaration addressed to someone generally becomes effective when it reaches them or becomes known to them, with qualifications for receipt problems. Sending and effective receipt are not automatically the same event. Have an unclaimed letter, a disputed address or an unanswered email assessed from the actual evidence.

If the agency has not done what it promised

Identify the promised activity and the evidence of the alleged failure. Compare the signed terms with the advertising, viewing reports, communications and any specific commitment the agency made. The absence of a buyer is not, on its own, proof that the agency breached its obligations.

Build a dated record of requests for performance and the responses. A legal assessment should address the obligation, the seriousness of the failure and whether a notice or opportunity to remedy is needed before termination. Avoid copying a deadline from an unrelated contract.

Also say where and how the agreement was signed, whether you acted privately or for a business, and what cancellation information you received. Those facts belong in the review; this guide does not supply a universal cooling-off period or a ready-to-send termination letter.

A negotiated release can make the handover clearer

If both sides are willing to end the relationship, ask for a written agreement that addresses the practical consequences. Consider requesting confirmation of:

• The exact agreement and effective end date.
• When advertising and viewings will stop.
• Return of keys and documents held by the agency.
• Any identified offers or introduced buyers still under discussion.
• Whether either side claims commission, expenses or another payment.
• What is settled, what remains disputed and whether any release is limited.

These are points to agree, not benefits that follow automatically from requesting cancellation. Do not sign a broad acknowledgment that all commission is due simply to obtain removal of an online listing.

Before appointing another agent or selling privately

Review what exclusivity actually covers and when it ceases. The official model gives the appointed agency the exclusive right to promote the transaction during the term. The effect of your own wording on a private sale or another agency's involvement needs assessment rather than an assumption that every exclusivity clause is identical.

Tell the new agency about the existing agreement and unresolved introductions. Record when a prospective buyer first contacted you, who introduced them, any earlier offer and the work performed by each agency. Merely waiting until an expiry date does not, by itself, settle a later commission claim connected to earlier agency activity.

If you have already signed a CPCV, put it in the review file. Ending the agency agreement is not the same step as ending your sale contract with the buyer. Resolve those obligations before promising a different buyer that the property is free for a new deal.

Once the agency position is clear, the guide to selling property in Portugal sets out the wider seller preparation and completion process.

Keep the exit date separate from any money dispute

A dispute about an invoice need not be described as a dispute about every part of the relationship. Record separately when marketing authority is said to end, what payment is demanded and the basis on which you disagree.

Article 19 of Lei 15/2013 remains relevant to commission, including agreed payment at CPCV and specified non-completion circumstances under exclusivity. A release, expiry or termination therefore needs to be assessed alongside any existing claim. Do not assume that changing agents erases a liability already incurred, or that a demand proves the amount is owed.

Establish your exit position before sending notice

THE-Ö can review the agreement, renewal history and agency correspondence in a written legal opinion on your exit options and potential exposure. Send the complete contract, the relevant dates, any existing offers or CPCV and the notice you are considering. State whether your priority is stopping renewal, leaving early or changing agents.