Usufruct (usufruto)
Updated on
Usufruto is the right to use a property that belongs to someone else and keep its income, for a set time or for the holder’s lifetime.
Article 1439 of the Civil Code defines usufruto as the right to enjoy, temporarily and fully, something belonging to another, without altering its form or substance. The usufructuary can live in the property or let it and collect the rent. The person who holds ownership without use has what is called bare ownership (nua-propriedade).
A usufruct cannot outlast the usufructuary's life (article 1443). It ends, among other cases, on death, at the end of its term or by waiver (article 1476). When it ends, the bare owner acquires full ownership.
It is common in gifts from parents to children: the parents give the house and keep the usufruct so they can go on living there.
Example
Illustrative example: a father gave his house to his son in 2010 and kept a lifetime usufruct, registered that year. In 2024 a creditor of the son seizes the house. What goes to auction is the bare ownership. Whoever buys it can only use the house once the usufruct ends.
In practice, at an auction
Read carefully what is for sale: full ownership (propriedade plena), bare ownership or usufruct. The listing and the say which.
A usufruct registered before any seizure or security does not lapse with an enforcement sale (Civil Code, article 824(2)). One registered later does. So compare the date the usufruct was registered with that of the oldest mortgage or seizure.
The usufructuary's age affects the value, but nobody can predict the duration. Bank credit to buy bare ownership may not be available: check with the bank. For , there are specific rules for bare ownership and usufruct in article 12 of the IMT Code; check the calculation with the Tax Authority.