MikeB2169

We are half way through our D7 visa and need to look for long term rental which accept dogs we have 3 very small dogs well behaved house trained open to areas but not further north than Porto there is only the 2 of us and dogs so can be quite small,Anyone got any ideas

Alan PT

We found pets (cats in our case) were accepted by most owners for long term rentals. Not having Portuguese guarantors and IRS returns is more of an obstacle (usually only surmountable by offering eye watering amounts of deposit/advance rent).

Have a look on Idealista, but you might need to be a bit more specific than "not further North than Porto", that's most of Portugal!

MikeB2169

Thanks for the reply I have looked on Idealista but they seem to be just a platform and there is no filter for pet friendly rentals which is a bit of a pain and I know I was a bit vague about area but Setubal/Beja/Evora would be ideal but am certainly open to other areas

Alan PT

Well, Rightmove is also just a platform, for estate agents to advertise, what else were you expecting? There isn't a pet friendly filter because, it's rarely a problem. Try contacting a few agents advertising properties that you are interested in and asking them - preferably by phone, response to email in Portugal is often not great.

OK, so you have a rough are of the country you are looking at now. Think about what you want - Setubal is a decent size city with good infrastructure and a reasonable availability of rentals (especially if you expand your search to the whole Setubal peninsula, not just the city). It's also close to Lisbon, handy for services. But this proximity will make it more expensive.

Beja dn Evora are nice, but a totally different lifestyle. I suspect (but don't know) that rental availability will be lower, but the costs will also be lower. You need to do some Idealista browsing think about what you want, contact some agents

There's lots of rental availability in Lisbon but again it's more expensive and things do tend to go quickly there, so if you are trying to do things remotely and can't view quickly you'll find that hard

MikeB2169

Thanks you thats really great advice will give that a try we dont need to be near a big town as we are used to living in the countryside in uk with no trains and only a few buses so further out would not be a problem.We have a lawyer who is doing our D7 visa so have contacted her as there seems to be very few rentals for 12months Any advice will be helpful

Alan PT

I can see 92 listed in the last week in Setubal province, less in Beja and Evora, as I expected. But at least a couple in Beja clearly say they are open to short term or 12 month rentals

Generally 12 months is a funny period. It's a bit long for a short term rental, a bit short for a long term (generally these are 24, 36 or longer). You can always take a 24 and break it a bit early, that's permitted

If you are happy to pay for a bit more hand holding, a lawyer is quite an expensive way to do it - try one of the corporate relocation companies, like this: https://www.newway.pt/en/

Rambling archer

Incidentally, as regards finding mention of pets acceptability on rentals, some time ago we were investigating the subject and discovered that Portuguese law does not allow (officially) discrimination in allowing renters to have pets or not - so this is not usually declared in adverts etc. but it is up to the individual owner as to whether he actually agrees to take in pets or not and he does not have to give a reason for refusal ... So you ask politely as you go along and if you get a swift rejection, then it may well be because of the pets. As long as you are clear up front that you have your pets in tow, there should be no acrimony down the line!

MikeB2169

Many thanks you have been very helpful,we have tried looking at newspapers on line but so far only managed to find one that has a rental section so must be looking in the wrong place.The information about what is and what is not a long term rental was something we didnt know,we have found 2 online and have contacted them and they will offer 12month rental with a contract and allow pets neither is ideal but at least its a start and we are over in Portugal on 8th june so we hope we can line up one or two to view,at least we can be fairly fexiable with area and type of property

Rambling archer

We also found that rentals advertised by estate agents were rarely actually available when one made a request for additional information!!!! Basically they were kept online to encourage enquiries often enough, and then the estate agents would go through their books to find something that might (or not) actually suit and be available at the time required. Another track that has been successful on some occasions has been via AirBnB where private owners rent out through them normally on short term (ie holiday type) lets, but are keen to negotiate a long term arrangement (note that the contract is essential here for you). So consider that, and when you come over to PT check out various locations as to suitability for you, and go in and ask at local Estate Agents in each town you like the look of, firstly if they do rentals (not everyone does) or if they can recommen a Rental Management service in the area, or what they have available themselve - local knowledge is often key in this.