Real-estate agency paperwork, signed electronically — and where ink stays

Agency mandates, viewings, tenancy paperwork and promissory contracts (CPCV) can be concluded electronically under Regulation (EU) No 910/2014, article 25(1). What cannot be signed here is a purchase deed (escritura de compra e venda) or a mortgage — those need notarial or registry form and sit outside the e-signature envelope.

Agency mandate (mediação) — a private contract between the owner and the agency. Concluded electronically, it is admissible in evidence under Decreto-Lei n.º 12/2021 article 3(5) and article 376 of the Civil Code.

Tenancy paperwork — again a private contract; the same rule applies.

Promissory contract (CPCV) — can be privately signed and carries effect in Portugal once countersigned by both parties; the final deed of sale remains a separate, notarial act.

The purchase deed (escritura) — done in front of a notary; not the grounds for an e-signature platform. A CPCV signed here is not the deed and never replaces it.

Bulk: one envelope per transaction. Send the mandate first; CPCV, if needed, follows in the same envelope chain once owner and buyer countersign. Viewings paperwork rarely needs a full signing — a dated acknowledgment usually suffices.

Each signature embeds a PAdES signature and, when an RFC 3161 authority is configured, a timestamp; the evidence pack records the level actually reached. The ceremony log (who, what, when) is signed as one pack under the customer's retention settings — default maximums of 5 to 20 years by document type — erased afterwards with cryptographic proof of erasure.

What one platform does not cover: purchase deeds (notarial acts), mortgage documents, state register proceedings. Where a client or a bank demands a qualified tier (QES), the signing must run through a qualified trust service provider; this service provides an advanced signature with strong evidence, not a qualified one.

Anything else where a party demands the qualified tier or a bank’s own paperwork is a boundary to check — the same honesty that applies everywhere on this list. Where a CPCV is signed by both sides done, the electronic signing is the strong commercial evidence of it.