The January condominium assembly in Portugal: notice, accounts, budget

In Portugal the ordinary assembly of condominium owners meets in the first fortnight of January to approve the previous year's accounts and the new year's budget (article 1431 of the Civil Code). Notice goes out ten days ahead, and the building's regulations or a majority vote can push the meeting, exceptionally, to the end of March.

Does it really have to be in January? It is the question every administrator hears around this time, usually from someone who has just realised how short December is. January is the rule; the first quarter is the exception, and it only applies if the regulations say so or the owners have voted for it. What does not change is the work leading up to the meeting.

That work is where the meeting is won or lost.

The real calendar starts in December

Calling the meeting is the last step, not the first.

Before it you have to close the year's accounts, gather the supporting invoices, establish who is in arrears and prepare the budget that will be voted on. Anyone running a small condominium tends to learn this the hard way: the notice goes out on time, but the accounts arrive without documentation, and the meeting spends its evening arguing about a €300 invoice instead of approving a €30,000 budget.

A calendar that works looks like this:

• First week of December: close the accounts and reconcile the bank balances
• Second week: a map of arrears, owner by owner
• Third week: next year's budget and the proposed contributions
• By 20 December: send the notice, with margin over the legal deadline

Between public holidays and slow post, a notice sent at the limit arrives late, and decisions taken at a badly convened assembly can be annulled.

How notice is given, and what email changed

Notice is sent by registered letter ten days in advance, or by a convening notice with the same period provided the owners sign a receipt (article 1432 of the Civil Code). It must state the day, time and place, set out the agenda, and flag the items whose approval requires unanimity.

Law 8/2022 opened the door to email, with conditions that many buildings overlook. The owner must have asked for it at a previous assembly, the request must be written into the minutes together with the email address, and the owner must send back a receipt by email. If you live abroad and want your notices by email, this is the one thing to do at the next meeting you attend or join remotely: say so, and check that the minutes record your address.

Practical note: the same law lets the assembly meet remotely, preferably by video conference, whenever the administration decides so or a majority of owners requests it (article 1-A of Decree-Law 268/94). An owner who has a justified reason for being unable to join that way must be given the means to do so, or the meeting cannot be held remotely.

Quorums, and why the first call rarely decides anything

On first call, decisions need a majority of the votes representing the invested capital: more than half the permilagem of the whole building. In a building with ten units and three absent owners, that number is gone before the meeting starts. Which is why the notice should fix the second meeting from the outset. If it does not, a new meeting is deemed convened for one week later, same time and place, and there the assembly can decide by a majority of those present, provided they represent at least a quarter of the building's total value. When that quarter can be guaranteed on the day, the notice may set the second meeting for thirty minutes after the first.

What gets approved: accounts, budget and reserve fund

The January agenda has a fixed core: the previous year's accounts, the current year's budget, the contributions and their payment schedule, and electing or reappointing the administrator.

Added to that is the common reserve fund, to which each owner pays at least 10 % of their share of the other expenses (article 4 of Decree-Law 268/94). It is the money that stops the first serious repair from becoming an emergency levy, and its absence is a common source of conflict once fees fall into arrears.

Vote item by item. Minutes that lump accounts and budget together leave the door open to challenges, and the budget minutes should state each owner's annual amount and the due dates, because that is what makes them enforceable against anyone who stops paying.

The minutes and the absent owners

Decisions must be sent to absent owners within 30 days, by registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt or by email to those who authorised it in the minutes. Those owners then have 90 days from receipt to state in writing whether they agree.

Silence counts as approval.

This is the step self-managed buildings most often miss. Write the minutes the same day, send them the following week and file the acknowledgements with them: that folder, not anyone's memory, is what sustains the budget for the rest of the year. Anyone setting up a condominium for the first time should build the folder before the meeting rather than after. Owners who live in another country are exactly the ones who end up absent; Vecinly keeps the notice and the minutes with the rest of the building's documents, where they can read them from anywhere, and our page on international communities explains how that works across languages.

If the notice leaves after 20 December, count the calendar days to the meeting before you post it, not after.

Information updated in September 2026. This article is for information only and does not constitute legal advice.