How to rent an office in Brazil Business

The process of renting an office in Brazil can be
very bureaucratic. From the choice of the property to the
regularisation process, there are some particularities involved. In
this article we will look at how to rent an office in Brazil and
what the particularities of this process are.

Choose the right property

The first step is to choose the property. This can be done
through classified portals, advertising on buildings or through a
real estate agent. Whatever your choice, have in mind that you must
always consider if the property meets your needs in terms of:

Check if the property meets legal and regulatory requirements
made by the municipality, the state and federal government. At the
local prefecture, ask for the floor plan to check if there are no
subsequent changes or reduction of the initial area. Ask for the
“habite-se” document and check if the activity you are
planning to execute is in accordance to the zoning law, known in
Portuguese as Lei de zoneamento.

There are some classified portals that may assist you regarding
the choice of the real estate. Here are some of them:

• ZAP
• Imovelweb
• Viva Real
• Lugar Certo
• OLX

Some of them work better for a specific area of Brazil, like
Lugar Certo, that has most of its ads in the state of Minas Gerais.
Also, be aware that all information is only available in
Portuguese.

Documents and rental agreements

The agreement is issued by the real estate agent and will only
be available in Portuguese. Also, the tenant will have to notarise
the documents in a special category, called valor econômico,
and the costs for this notarisation must be paid by the tenant.

Ask the landlord for the updated documents that prove their
ownership of the property. This document is issued by the notary
office^[1], or cartório de
registro de imóveis in Portuguese.

Here are the items that are mandatory in the contract:

• Name and qualification of the landlord, tenant and
  guarantor
• Description and address of the rented property
• Rental price and index for the yearly increase
• Payment method and where it is going to be executed
• Guarantee modality (guarantor, deposit or
  seguro-fiança)
• Specification of the charges to be paid (condominium, water,
  electricity, IPTU^[2]
  and so forth)
• Specification of how the property will be used (commercial or
  residential purposes)
• Contract duration
• Duration clause
• Inspection term (must contain the description of the property
  conditions)

All the expenses related to the rental agreement must be paid by
the landlord.

Legal aspects and seguro-fiança

The Brazilian tenant law, known as Lei do Inquilinato,
allows the landlord to demand from the tenant some form of
guarantee^[3] that can be:

• A deposit cheque or cash, usually the equivalent of 3 months
  rent. The deposit option is becoming less common now as many
  landlords prefer to have a guarantor or seguro-fiança. The
  amount is deposited in a savings account shared by the two parts,
  and must be reimbursed to the tenant at the end of the rental
  period, when the keys are delivered back to the landlord
• Guarantor, a third person involved in the process (not the
  tenant or the landlord) who takes full responsibility for the
  payment in case the tenant is unable to pay the rent
• Seguro-fiança, an insurance that guarantees that the lessor
  will receive the payment for the rental, even if the tenant does
  not pay for it

The best option for a foreigner coming to Brazil would be the
deposit, as they probably do not know anybody who could be a
guarantor. However, over the last couple of years, the
seguro-fiança has been practically mandatory for anyone who
wants to rent a property. Many insurance companies^[4]
offer this product, which requires a pre-approval process involving
the submission of documents and the payment of a fee for the
verification of the documentation. This fee is not reimbursed even
if the insurance is not approved.

Seguro-fiança tends to be a far more costly option to the
tenant, adding the equivalent of 1 to 1.5-months rent per year to
cover the insurance. Different from the deposit, this amount is not
reimbursed after the rental period is finished.