"we are looking to come over in Oct , register residency in jan 19 and apply for NHR status immediately following residency application (NHR being one of the main drivers), budget will be around the 400k euro , looking forward to the move and early retirement , did you need help sorting out nhr or was it a simple process? "

We used an Accountant in Lisbon, simply because when we applied at the end of 2009 the scheme had just been launched and it was centred in Lisbon and we felt that it would be easier to use a "Local" accountant rather than one from Alcobaca, I have heard of people who have gone through the process themselves with online forms and have had no issues, others have had problems, frankly it will come down to an Individual and their tenacity to get things right, The Portuguese systems of Govt. are predicated on paper, they love it, the more the better, and if there is a box on a form that needs ticking or completing with information then it MUST be done, missing something out will result in a rejection. It seems the best way is to have a half way house, fill the forms in yourself and get them checked by an Accountant before submission. IIRC you only get one go at it.
Other things that you may need to think about or maybe you are already thinking about (tell me to mind my own business if already sorted)
1. What are you doing about cars..........Luxury cars here are eye wateringly expensive so it may be better to import from the UK,........................... remember there is a 12 month ownership clause here to import free of Taxes.
2. Healthcare...........State health is basic.....you may want to arrange some kind of Insurance
3. Get the gross payment forms from HMRC in advance of leaving as you will need to register with HMRC that you are no longer Tax Resident.......this is/was a PITA and took ages.
4. Driving Licences need thinking about.
5. Fibre Optic, we have 100 mbps and drive our Kodi box off it.

There will be many more I guess.
As far as the house is concerned I have no idea what type of house you are looking for, (it is none of my business) but all I would urge you to do is to think carefully about the age of the house you are buying. legislation and building regulations have changed considerably in the last 2 decades and so a house built pre 2008 will be way less well engineered and finished than a house built 2008 to 2010, and this in turn will be way less than one built post 2010. We built to make sure we got the latest technology included such as ZAP protocol for house wiring, pre installation of Air Conditioning, pre Installation of Solar Hot water etc etc........I could go on !!

Let me know if you need anything further.
No question is too trivial, seriously it is not, we made some real good f**k ups along the way so I may be able to help you not do the same

Rob Now running a 2016 Autobiography plus an Aston Martin Virage
Previously ran a Lincoln Navigator and 18 XC60 T5
Before that a pile of Jeeps, Mercedes and Jaguars and Porsches, Mustang and Volvo.

once again Rob thanks for the thorough reply

re cars , going to bring over the ffrr may have some issues with matriculation as its been lpg'd may not depends who you talk to , time will tell , hoping that the headlamps will get through the test with the flapper dropped and some adjustments rather than forking out for lhd lights.

good to hear kodi is up and running and you have 100meg , that'll keep the missus happy re tv


I've dropped you a pm re other thoughts hope that okay

G

Of course it is, PM away

I would get the CoC arranged in the UK before starting the registration process over here, more, do remember that you can each bring in a car providing it is registered in your individual names.
we went out and bought 2 x LHD second hand cars to bring over and registered the Lexus to my wife and the Cayenne to me.
Matriculation should be no problem, it only seems to get messy when the Car is not european such as my Cayenne which was a Californian car imported to Italy and then to the UK and then to Portugal............but we got there

Rob Now running a 2016 Autobiography plus an Aston Martin Virage
Previously ran a Lincoln Navigator and 18 XC60 T5
Before that a pile of Jeeps, Mercedes and Jaguars and Porsches, Mustang and Volvo.