Two adults discussing an offer across a bright office table with closed property folders and a pen set down between them.

Your starting point

A house purchase brings legal, financial and physical checks together. Give each its own time and appoint independent help where needed.

Offers, reservations and deposits can create different commitments depending on their wording. Use the steps below to organise a decision, not to infer an official approval, a guaranteed price or a universal deadline.

Work through the decision

Offers, Reservations and Deposits — a diagram of the key planning steps
Planning diagram. The same steps are described in the text below.
01

Read before paying

Establish what is being offered, reserved or agreed and who receives the money.

02

Clarify outcomes

Ask what happens if finance, document checks or completion do not proceed.

03

Get independent advice

Have important terms reviewed before signing or transferring funds, keeping all evidence of payment.

Adapt this to your circumstances

Keep citizenship, current residence, household needs and the location of the home separate in your notes. Ask the responsible authority, institution or qualified professional to confirm any requirement that affects your situation. A checklist used by another household may not apply to yours.

Sources and checks

Justice portal — Casa Pronta — an official starting point for this topic. The relevant page, its scope and effective date must be checked before a consequential decision.

No market prices, eligibility thresholds or legal deadlines have been invented for this guide. Dates in personal planning tools are suggestions or values you supply.

Make it practical

Open the Home Purchase Cost Calculator to keep the information you collect with your own assumptions, notes and next actions.

Open Home Purchase Cost Calculator

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