The short answer
Choose the Property Registry Certificate when the job is about the legal registry status of a specific property: registered ownership, mortgages, attachments or other registered encumbrances.
Choose the Caderneta Predial when the job is about the tax matrix: property identification, article matricial, tax characteristics and Valor Patrimonial Tributário (VPT).
Sometimes a bank, lawyer, notary, buyer, inheritance professional or foreign authority asks for both.
Property Registry Certificate
The Certidão Permanente do Registo Predial belongs to the Portuguese Land Registry system.
It presents the registrations concerning the property and pending registration requests. While valid, the online certificate is kept updated and accessed through a code.
Use this route when the receiving party needs the legal registry position of the property.
Caderneta Predial
The Caderneta Predial belongs to the Portuguese Tax Authority's property matrix.
It identifies the property for tax purposes and can include its location, characteristics, tax-holder information and VPT.
Use this route when the receiving party asks for the tax record or matrix information.
Quick comparison
| Question | Property Registry Certificate | Caderneta Predial |
|---|---|---|
| Issuing system | Portuguese Land Registry | Portuguese Tax Authority |
| Main job | Legal registry status | Tax-matrix information |
| Ownership information | Registered legal ownership | Owner or tax-holder information recorded in the matrix |
| Mortgages and registered encumbrances | Yes | No, not as a Land Registry record |
| VPT | Not its main purpose | Yes |
| Can one replace the other? | No | No |
Why files sometimes ask for both
The Land Registry and the tax matrix describe the same real estate from different legal and administrative systems.
A transaction, inheritance file, bank, due-diligence process or foreign authority may want to compare those records.
If both documents are requested, we can obtain them together and keep the file moving into any later apostille, translation or delivery stage.
If the wording only says "property certificate"
Do not guess from the English label.
Send us the exact requirement, the property address and any Portuguese reference number you already have.
We identify whether the request points to the Land Registry, the tax matrix or both before the order is placed.