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sounds like your landlord is a dishonest person. if he fights you, you should write humus in the red book and tell everyone you come in contact with not to rent from him. Make it difficult for him to do business as usual… he’s wrong btw… i’ve lived in 3 different apartments and all agreed that it is 120 days notice given before your 1/3 of the contract is up… not after. whether it’s them telling you not to renew or visa versa. sorry for the trouble with your difficult landlord.

Sorry for the trouble with your difficult landlord. Is the contract in English or in Portuguese?

To me there could be a difference (maybe in Portuguese language) between 'terminate the contract after 1/3 of the period' (send a termination letter) and 'end the tenancy after 1/3 of the period' (vacate the property and stop paying),

I am sure that there is precedent in the Portuguese legislation and if courts/judges have always sided with the tenant's interpretation then this should be easy to find out for a lawyer.

How far in advance should the tenant send the termination notice?

- 1/3 of the initial duration of the contract - contracts with a duration of less than six months;

- 60 days (2 months) - contracts with a duration of 6 months or more and less than 1 year;

- 90 days (3 months) - contracts with a duration of 1 year or more and less than 6 years;

- 120 days (4 months) - contracts with a duration of 6 years or more.

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Artigo 1098º da Lei Nº31/2012 de 14 agosto:

@caronnyc thanks very much for the response and support, Caron! Good to know about your experiences.  We are starting to think that what they put in the contract is meant to differ slightly from the law, which mine and our lawyer interprets the same as yourself and your previous three landlords.

@nz7521137 thanks for the response.  The contract is in Portuguese. They would not translate it for us but we had our immigration consultant look at it and their legal counsel said it was in line with the law.  You hit the nail on the head, though, it is exactly in this which we differ - whether terminating at 1/3 means contract and therefore tenancy ends or whether you can then give notice.

It seems the contract has been worded such that the notice is given after 1/3 termination.  They are saying that is in line with the law though.

I guess, regardless of the law, it is what we signed in the contract and must live with that.

@JohnnyPT thank you for this.  In our contract they stipulated 120 days, although it is only a 3 year contract.  The debate is whether the 120 days can be given in advance of 1/3 of the contract (so that we may end tenancy at 1/3 mark) or whether [120 days] notice cannot be give until 1/3 of the contract, so that we must stay there 1 year (1/3 of total) + notice period.

@stephanie47,

Your lawyers are right.

@eralevelei,

If the duration of the contract is 6 years or more, the tenant must send a registered letter to the landlord 120 days in advance;

If the duration of the contract is less than 6 years, or equal to or greater than 1 year, the tenant must send a registered letter to the landlord 90 days in advance;

If the duration of the contract is 6 months or more, but less than 1 year, the tenant must send a registered letter to the landlord 60 days in advance;

If the duration of the contract is less than 6 months, the tenant must send a registered letter to the landlord 1/3 of the duration of the contract in advance.