e-leilões

e-leilões is the electronic auction platform of the Ordem dos Solicitadores e dos Agentes de Execução, the Portuguese professional body for solicitors and enforcement agents. Created under Despacho no. 12624/2015, it has run since April 2016 as the default channel for selling assets seized in Portuguese enforcement proceedings. Lots are published by the enforcement agent, insolvency administrator or court officer handling each case, so the stock is debt recovery and liquidation, not trade consignments.

What you can buy

• Residential property: apartments, houses and plots repossessed from defaulting borrowers.
• Commercial and industrial real estate: warehouses, shops, offices and building land from failed businesses.
• Vehicles: passenger cars, vans, heavy trucks and motorcycles taken in execution.
• Machinery and equipment: production machines, workshop and catering equipment, agricultural machinery.
• Furniture and fittings: contents of closed offices, shops and restaurants.
• Rights rather than objects: credit claims, company shares and shares in undivided inheritances.

How the bidding works

Registration is free for individuals and companies, but it is built around Portuguese identity: the tax number (NIF) is the username, and the fast route is a Portuguese Citizen Card with reader or the Chave Móvel Digital. Otherwise you use a paper form needing a signature certified by a lawyer, solicitor or notary plus a Portuguese bank IBAN, activated in several working days. Each lot appears at least five days before its closing time with three figures: base value, an opening value near 50% of it, and a minimum acceptable bid around 85% of base. Bidding is open and no bid can be withdrawn. A bid in the final five minutes extends the deadline by five minutes, repeating until bidding stops; lower offers are kept as conditional bids for a possible private negotiation. The enforcement agent may require a deposit of up to 5% of the base value. The winner is notified on the platform and by registered post, then has 15 days to deposit the price and prove the transfer taxes were paid.

What to check before you bid

Access is the first hurdle: the EU e-Justice portal states that consultation of e-leilões is limited from outside Portugal and that affected users must send their IP address to suporte@solicitador.net to be unblocked — our own attempts to load the site from abroad timed out. The interface and lot descriptions are Portuguese only. Costs above the hammer price are real: IMT transfer tax and stamp duty on property, VAT on some movable goods, registration fees on vehicles. Assets sell as they stand, with no warranty for defects and no organised viewing day; the notice names the enforcement agent, and arranging an inspection is on you. Co-owners, tenants and other preference-right holders then get eight days to take the sale at your price, so a winning bid is not yet a purchase. Handover happens at the address in the individual notice, anywhere in mainland Portugal, Madeira or the Azores.

Access note: the platform refuses connections from outside Portugal. Bidders abroad generally work through a Portuguese enforcement agent (agente de execução) or a local representative.