One Clause Keeps Your Brazil Lease Alive

Without it, 90 days notice and you are out

Por Lucas Ribeiro Cavalcante — OAB/CE 44.673

You signed a 30-month lease in Portuguese you could not fully read. Eight months later the owner sells the building. The new owner has every right to send you a notice.

90 days

That is all the notice a new owner needs to end your lease

Nothing about it is illegal. Article 8 of Law 8.245/1991 allows it, unless your contract carries the clausula de vigencia registered at the Registro de Imoveis.

✘ Mito

Myth: a fixed-term contract already protects me

✓ Verdade

Truth: fixed term, continuity clause and registration must exist together

Fixed-term contract in writing

Clausula de vigencia included

Registered at the Registro de Imoveis

R$ 800

Registration starts here, up to R$ 2,500 by state and rent value

Dica

Registration also secures your direito de preferencia. If the owner sells, you must be offered the property first, and you can challenge a sale that ignored you within six months.

Can the landlord ask for a deposit and a surety bond?

No. Demanding two guarantees at once is treated as a criminal misdemeanour by the landlord.

Protect the home you built in Brazil before the paperwork protects someone else

Review your lease with us