Your contractor failed you. Portuguese law hasn't.
Bring your photos, bank transfers and WhatsApp. We build the formal letter Portuguese law expects you to send and the case file a lawyer would charge €800–€1,500 to assemble. You read it in English. The contractor receives it in Portuguese.
No card. Not legal advice.
A firm message your contractor will read
From the facts you give the diagnostic, we draft an interpelação amigável — a polite-but-formal Portuguese message you can send by WhatsApp, email, or print. It's the message most Portuguese contractors take seriously. Many respond here and never escalate.
The full case pack
Case file (~12 pages, CPC art. 552 layout)1 + registered notice (interpelação admonitória) + organised evidence ZIP + English summary so you understand what you're sending.
1 Code of Civil Procedure art. 552 — the layout used for civil claims. 2 Fee range derived from typical private hourly rates in Portugal (€100–€200/hr) × 6–10 billed hours of file preparation; criteria set by Estatuto da Ordem dos Advogados art. 105.
Same six stories. Different names on the contract.
Pick whichever sounds most like yours. The diagnostic skips ahead so you're not retelling things we already know.
Paid the advance. Never showed up. Or showed up once and disappeared. Phone goes to voicemail.
See the path →Past the agreed date by half a year. They turn up, promise, vanish. This week looks like last week.
See the path →You have the keys. You also have leaks, hollow paint, electrical that trips, work the contractor won't come back to fix.
See the path →No fatura, no warranty, no IVA back, and the tax authority would like a word. Portuguese law says they have to issue one.
See the path →Each one points at the next. The plumber blames the tiler. Nothing gets fixed. We work out who is legally on the hook.
Free diagnostic →Most cases have three things going on at once. The diagnostic handles that.
Free diagnostic →Not advice. Not a chatbot transcript. Five files, ready to send.
The intake takes about half an hour. After that, everything below is generated for your case — your dates, your evidence, your deadlines.
1 · The case file (~12 pages, Portuguese)
Every fact you gave us, mapped onto the layout Portuguese lawyers use to file in court (CPC art. 552). Each paragraph cites either a Civil Code article or a document you uploaded — never a filler claim.
2 · The notice letter, ready to print
What Portuguese law calls an interpelação admonitória. Six elements the law requires. The right deadline for the kind of defect you're dealing with. You print it, sign it, take it to the CTT, and ask for "carta registada com aviso de receção." That's it.
3 · The English summary
Three pages, in plain English, telling you what's in the Portuguese letter and what happens next. So you can read it on the bus, talk it through with your spouse, and not feel like you're sending something you don't understand.
4 · Where to file, if it goes that far
For most cases under €5,000: free arbitration. Under €15,000: small-claims (€35, around 2.5 months). Above that: Tribunal Judicial. Plus the parallel filings you should be doing anyway — tax authority if there's no invoice, IMPIC if the contractor was unlicensed.
5 · The evidence file
Every photo, every transfer, every message — renamed, dated, numbered (Doc. 1, Doc. 2…), and hashed. The kind of file a tribunal expects. The kind of file a lawyer charges €300 to assemble.
+ A one-pager for your lawyer
If you decide to hand it to a Portuguese lawyer, this single page lets them triage your case in a minute. Saves you billable hours, every time.
We're not a lawyer. We're the part you'd otherwise pay one to do.
Most lawyers won't return your email under €5,000. The ones who do will charge €200 for a 30-minute call and a one-line summary email. You can keep doing that — or you can finish the diagnostic, read the file we'd build, and decide.
| What you walk away with | ClaimPack | DECO Proteste (PT consumer body) | Initial lawyer consultation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Result | Full case file + notice + routing letter | One generic template + phone advice | 1-page email + a quote for more |
| Cost | €149 once | €177–€213 / year (subscription) | €50–€300 (one consultation) |
| When you can use it | Sunday at midnight | Mon–Fri 9–18, in Portuguese | After a 1–7 day callback (if any) |
| Statute citations in the output | Article-by-article, footnoted | Generic | If the lawyer feels like it |
| English support | UI in English; output in PT (legal req.) | Portuguese-only phone line | Some expat-targeted firms; not most |
| Recovery guarantee | None — we don't promise outcomes | None | None |
Most people miss at least one of them.
Portuguese law gives you a specific window to act after a defective renovation. Wait too long and the door closes — quietly, without anyone telling you. We work out where yours stands the moment you finish the diagnostic.
See where I stand →Clock closes without action = right lost.
We organise the facts. We don't argue your case.
Every template carries the six elements Portuguese law and case law require for a valid interpelação admonitória — but you author the letter on your own behalf, you sign it, and you decide whether to send it. That's deliberate: under Lei 10/2024, acts reserved to advogados/solicitadores apply when exercised in the interest of third parties. You're acting on your own affairs. We're a tool, not your representative.
Whether to send anything we produce is your call — alone, or with a lawyer reading it first if the value at stake is high or the facts are complex.
Your data: encrypted at rest and in transit, deletable on request, never sold. Not to contractors. Not to law firms. Not to insurers.
The questions you're already thinking
"My Portuguese isn't good enough to do this myself."
The intake is in English. The legal letter is in Portuguese — that's a legal requirement, not a choice. We give you the same letter explained in English so you actually know what's in it. At the CTT, hand over the envelope and ask for "carta registada com aviso de receção." That phrase is enough.
"I don't have a contract — just WhatsApp."
That works. Portuguese courts accept WhatsApp threads as evidence. What we need is the messages, the dates, and the bank transfers. A signed contract is a bonus, not a requirement.
"What if my contractor isn't even registered as a business?"
Common — especially in the Algarve and rural Alentejo. The notice still works; the legal frame just shifts a bit. We adjust automatically.
"Is this legal advice?"
No. We organise your facts into the format Portuguese lawyers use; we don't decide what to do with them. That's still your call. Read why we can do this without being a law firm →
Four minutes. Then you'll know where you stand.
No email until the end. No card. No commitment. You'll see your deadlines, the path, and what we'd build with you — before we ask for a thing.
Free diagnostic →Not legal advice.