Paying rent in cash in Portugal is not banned: the ban applies to payments of €3,000 or more
No. You can pay rent in cash in Portugal, and nothing about this changed in August 2026. The question most likely comes from a post that spread across Russian-language channels on 25 August 2026. It described the general ban on large cash payments, and people took it to mean that "rent can now only be paid by transfer". The rule does exist, but it is not new and it is not about rent. It is about the size of a single payment: Article 63.º-E of the LGT (Lei Geral Tributária, the General Tax Law), added by a law of 22 August 2017. The text of the article is publicly available on the website of the Autoridade Tributária e Aduaneira, AT (the tax and customs authority), in the tax codes section.
What is actually banned. You may not pay or accept €3,000 or more in cash in any kind of transaction, and the ban applies equally to both parties. For a non-resident individual who is not acting in a business or trading capacity, the limit is higher: they may pay up to €9,999.99 in cash. There is a separate rule for those paying as a company or as a self-employed person with contabilidade organizada (organised accounting): for an invoice of €1,000 or more, they must pay in a way that identifies the recipient — by transfer, by a cheque made out to a named person or by direct debit. Taxes may be paid in cash only up to €500. Breaking the rule carries a fine of €180 to €4,500 under Article 129 of the RGIT (Regime Geral das Infrações Tributárias, the General Regime for Tax Offences), and it can be imposed on both the person who paid and the person who accepted the money.
So what does this mean for rent? Ordinary monthly rent — €700, €900, €1,200 — is not covered by the ban: paying it in cash is legal, and the landlord is entitled to accept it. You cannot split a payment to get under the threshold: the law expressly requires all payments linked to a single sale of goods or a single service to be added together, even if each one is below the limit. Monthly rent payments, however, are not added together: according to guidance from the Ordem dos Contabilistas Certificados (the Order of Certified Accountants), the limit applies to each individual payment, not per customer or per period of time. So twelve months at €800 do not become a single €9,600 transaction. I could not find separate official guidance from the tax authority dealing specifically with rental contracts, so to be clear: this is a reading of the general rule, not a rule written for rent.
“You don't need a Portuguese bank account for rent. For now, you can pay rent from Russia via OTP or any other bank that still sends SWIFT transfers to the EU. Once you're here, pay cash through the bank into the landlord's account.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkHigherEducationPortugal05.07.2026
Where you are actually likely to hit the threshold is when you move in. Newcomers without local income are usually asked for a month in advance plus a deposit, and often more: in our chats, people have paid four months plus a deposit. With rent of €900, that is €4,500 in a single payment — too much to pay in cash, so you will need to make a transfer. The same goes for a large cash deposit "in hand", which landlords sometimes ask for: €3,000 or more means a fine for both of you, not a clever workaround.
“That's what we did with our flat: we paid 10k+ in cash as the first payment, because we simply didn't have a card or a Portuguese account. Three days later the landlord sent a receipt.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkchatlisboa10.02.2024
The paper trail matters more than the legality. Cash is legal, but it does not prove that you paid. For a tax deduction, for renewing your residence permit with AIMA (the migration agency) and for changing your tax address, what you need is not banknotes but a contract registered on the Portal das Finanças and recibos de renda eletrónicos (electronic rent receipts). Issuing them is the landlord's duty; the only landlords exempt are those over 65 and those whose rental income is below two IAS (Indexante dos Apoios Sociais, the social support index) a year and who have no electronic mailbox on the portal. The deduction depends not on how you pay but on whether there is a receipt: the deduction for your permanent home is 15% of the rent paid, capped at €700 for 2025, €900 for 2026 and €1,000 for 2027, and at up to €1,100 for those on a low taxable income. How to check this in your own account is explained in the guide How to reduce IRS with e-Fatura, receipts and tax deductions, and what should appear in Finanças after you sign the contract is covered in the guide How to rent a home in Portugal.
“You will need: 1. The monthly recibos issued to the tenant through the Portal das Finanças. 2. A statement from your Portuguese bank account showing that you paid in that cash.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkleft4portugal11.02.2026
That is why people who pay in cash usually do not hand it over in person but pay it into the landlord's account using their IBAN (bank account number) — at a branch or at a cash machine that takes deposits. It is effectively a transfer, just made with cash: the landlord can see the money arrive, and you keep a receipt. Bear in mind that not all cash machines take deposits — only those in branches do — and deposits are often switched off at weekends. The guide How banks work in Portugal has a separate step on this.
“It depends on your bank in KZ and whether they do SWIFT transfers. But it's much easier for everyone to just take cash to the landlord's bank.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkbanksdeportugal17.07.2026