Process of buying property in Italy

Purchasing process of real estate in Italy is described on many sites, but there are certain ambiguities in the description of some points. We will describe here the purchase procedure as it should be carried out in accordance with Italian law. Information is given as of January 2025.

Possibility of purchase by foreigners

First of all, I would like to note that foreigners in Italy can purchase real estate, but the principle of “reciprocità” (reciprocity) must be observed.
This means that a citizen of a foreign country has the right to purchase real estate in Italy only if Italian citizens have a similar right to purchase real estate in his country.

However, if a foreign national has a valid residence permit (permesso di soggiorno) in Italy, he can purchase real estate without the need to comply with the principle of reciprocity.

Required documents

To purchase Italian real estate, you only need a foreign passport and an Italian tax code (codice fiscale), obtaining which does not cause any difficulties. You can receive it upon arrival in Italy, free of charge and without indicating the reason for receipt, at the nearest tax office, or even before your trip at the Italian consulate in your country of residence. Upon purchase real estate in Scalea. To obtain a tax code, you will need to contact the nearest tax office in the neighboring town of Belvedere Marittimo, half an hour's drive from Scalea. Real estate agencies usually help the buyer with obtaining a tax code.

The role of the notary in the transaction

Purchase and sale transaction form real estate in Italy must be notarized. The purchase and sale agreement is drawn up by a notary, and the parties sign it in the presence of the notary, two witnesses and, if necessary, an interpreter, while the notary verifies the ownership of the property being transferred and verifies the identities of the parties. Next, the notary registers the transaction in the Real Estate Cadastre, entering data about the transaction and depositing the documents in the storage of the real estate registry (La Conservatoria dei Registri Immobiliare). The cadastre in Italy, which is a structural unit of the Revenue Agency (i.e. the Italian tax office), is public, i.e. the data stored there is public; Anyone can obtain information about property, but only after paying a fee.

When signing a notarial deed

When signing a notarial deed, the notary establishes the identities of the parties, checks the title documents for the property, property data, information about the presence or absence of a mortgage and other encumbrances, condominium payment arrears, a construction permit for the building where the property is located, the presence of an energy certificate, as well as documents , confirming payment for real estate and the fact of participation in the transaction by a real estate agency. All specified data must be entered into the notarial deed.

Purchase procedure

The purchasing procedure is usually a two-step process. On your first visit, you select an apartment or house and sign the Offer to Purchase, leaving a deposit in the form of a non-transferable bank check in the name of the Buyer. The check can be issued at a post office bank by depositing cash. Opening a bank account is not required for this operation.

The deposit amount is usually 5-10% of the cost of the selected object.
Next, you have a standard period of 3 months to complete the transaction, i.e. signing the purchase and sale agreement at the notary. The date of the transaction is set by agreement of the parties at a time convenient for everyone. You don't have to wait 3 months; you can set a date earlier.

Is it possible to do everything in one visit?

Theoretically, yes, but, firstly, formally, by law, the Seller has 15 days to accept the Purchase Offer, and secondly, if the Seller agrees to the transaction faster, the notary needs from 3 to 5 days to check the current data in the mortgage registry, which must be done immediately before signing the purchase and sale agreement.

What is an Offer to Purchase?

Offer to purchase is an official document signed by the Buyer, the text of which each agency must submit to the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the relevant region of Italy at the beginning of its activities.

The purchase offer must include:

All essential terms of the transaction;
Characteristics of the object of sale and purchase;
Price offered by the Buyer;
Task size;
Details of the payment document for payment of the deposit;
Deadlines for signing the final purchase and sale agreement with a notary;
Payment procedure;
Registration data of the real estate agency in the Chamber of Commerce and Industry;
Agency commission amount.

In addition, if at the time of signing the Offer to Purchase, the Seller is missing any documents necessary for the sale, the agency will indicate in the appropriate section of this document that the delivery of the check with the deposit to the Seller is conditional on the provision of these documents. Thus, the Seller will not receive the deposit until the agency verifies the availability of all documents necessary to complete the transaction.

Irrevocability of Offers to Purchase

The offer to purchase is irrevocable for 15 days. During this period, the owner can accept or reject your offer.

Of course, the owner will accept your offer if it includes his stated price. However, if you offer a lower price, the owner may refuse or a bidding war will begin.

Before signing the Offer to Purchase

Until the Seller signs your Offer to Purchase, a check for the amount of the deposit remains with the real estate agency. At the same time, the notary checks the current information about the apartment. The property information contained in the so-calle;historical property inspection and information from the mortgage registry on the presence/absence of encumbrances contained intwenty-year mortgage certificate - mortgage statement for 20 years. This is a document in which you can find all the information about the transfer of ownership of a property over the past 20 years, as well as information about the history of all existing and existing encumbrances on the property.

Receiving this document takes from 3 to 5 days, in contrast to simple excerpts from the cadastre -mortgage inspection And;historical view, which a notary or real estate agency can receive online, but which are not enough to control the legal status of real estate. Unrenewed records of encumbrances dating back more than 20 years are legally ineffective, so the situation is monitored specifically for the last 20 years. It should be noted that a notary can register a transaction without checking the mortgage registry data contained in;twenty-year mortgage certificate, noting in the notarial deed that the Seller, under his own responsibility, guarantees the absence of encumbrances.

Additional checks

The notary also receives the layout of the property from the cadastre. The agency is obliged to check the compliance of this layout with the actual one, as well as the availability of permits for the construction of the building in which the property is located, and redevelopment, if any.

Thus, not just before the transaction, but even before the deposit is transferred to the Seller, the agency together with the notary checks the following essential points:

information from the cadastre about ownership, encumbrances, history of the property over the past 20 years;
documents confirming the legality of construction and redevelopment.

Transfer of the deposit and signing of the Offer to Purchase

Once the above information has been verified, the agency will issue a check for the deposit to the Seller. After the Seller has signed the Offer to Purchase, the agency, according to the Italian Civil Code, is entitled to receive a commission, since the agency's intermediary work has been completed, and the offer signed by all parties becomes a preliminary contract, and the parties have an obligation to enter into a final contract.

However, according to established practice, the moment of payment of the agency's commission usually occurs at the notary's office during the final payment at the time of signing the purchase and sale agreement.

Cancellation of the deal

If the Buyer refuses the transaction after the Buyer has signed the Offer, the deposit remains with the Seller.
If the Seller refuses the transaction, he is obliged to return double the deposit to the Buyer.
If one of the parties withdraws from the transaction after signing the Offer to Purchase, the agency is nevertheless entitled to receive a commission.

Important Points When Signing the Offer to Purchase

An offer to purchase is not just a piece of paper drawn up in any form, it is a mandatory document in a form determined by law.

The document must contain:

Accurate cadastral data of real estate;
All essential terms of the transaction;
Exact payment procedure;
Duration of the main transaction;
The name of the notary who will formalize the transaction;
Real estate agency data.

Recommendations for the deposit

Although in theory the deposit can be sent by bank transfer to the Seller's or agency's account, or paid to the agency in cash (if the amount is less than €5,000), it is safer for the Buyer to leave the deposit in the form of a bank non-transferable check in the name of the Seller. In this case, only the Seller will be able to cash the check after all documents have been verified, or the Buyer, if something turns out to be wrong and the agency will return the check to the Buyer. Neither the agency nor the Seller (until verification of documents) will have access to the deposit amount.

Important: Under no circumstances should you transfer any amounts to either the Seller's account or the Agency's account before the transaction with the notary. Do not make any advance payments other than the deposit.

It should be noted here thatprepayment is possible only if you want to conclude a transaction within a period longer than the standard one, for example, after 6 months instead of the standard 3. Then the Seller can set a condition for making another payment, for example, 10% of the transaction amount after 3 months, but this must be must be specified in the text of the Purchase Offer; this is completely legal.

If you are asked to deposit additional money to the Seller or agency before the transaction under its standard conditions, do not do it. Also, do not deposit any money, including a deposit, without signing an Offer to Purchase, which must be signed by a representative of the Agency.

After signing

After signing the Offer to Purchase, you can go home. All checks described above will be carried out by the Agency and the notary, and you will receive an accepted and signed Offer by email from the Seller. Scanned documents have the same legal force in Italy as the originals.

We move on to the second stage - payment and the procedure for concluding the main purchase and sale agreement.
The date for signing the purchase and sale agreement with a notary is agreed upon by the parties within the maximum period specified in the Offer to Purchase.

Payment methods for real estate

Payment for real estate can be made in two main ways:

An Italian bank check made out to the seller.
- Money is deposited in cash at the bank's cash desk without opening an account.
- The check is handed over to the seller at the time of signing the notarial deed of purchase and sale.
- Cash can be brought into Italy within the established limits without a declaration or by declaring it upon entry into the EU.
By transferring money from your account in an Italian or foreign bank to a special deposit account of an Italian notary before the transaction.
- After signing the notarial deed of sale and purchase, the notary will transfer the money to the seller.
- Transferring funds to a notary's deposit account is completely safe, since the notary can send money from this account to the buyer only after signing the purchase and sale agreement and submitting documents for registration to the cadastre, or return it to you if the transaction does not take place.
- The notary has no right to use the deposit account funds in any other way.
- This notary service is paid, the cost is about 500 euros. It may be higher when purchasing real estate over 100,000 euros.

Consultations with a real estate agency

The payment method will need to be agreed upon with the real estate agency. We also recommend checking with the agency about the possibility of depositing cash in the bank in order to write a check.

The fact is that the possibility of depositing cash depends on the conditions of a particular bank in each specific region of Italy.

Other payment methods for real estate

We do not recommend other theoretically possible payment methods, such as prepayment to the seller's account before the transaction or transfer of money to the account of a real estate agency. Payment in cash is also not possible, as it is contrary to Italian law.

It is also theoretically possible to pay for real estate from your Italian account (to a notary or by writing a check), but for a foreigner, even if he is an EU citizen, opening an account in Italy, at least in the south, is very difficult, almost impossible.

Signing a purchase and sale agreement with a notary

After you have prepared to pay for the transaction, you meet with the Seller at the notary to sign notarized real estate purchase and sale agreement (Notarial deed of sale), drawn up by a notary.

The notary must read the text of the agreement out loud. When signing an agreement, the presence of a translator is required, who, together with the seller, buyer and notary, signs the agreement.

After signing the agreement you must:

Give the check for payment to the seller;
Pay the notary fee, purchase tax (which is collected by the notary) and agency commissions.

The seller hands you the keys to the apartment.

Receiving documents after the transaction

The notary will issue you a certificate stating that the purchase and sale agreement was signed today.
You will receive the text of the agreement with an extract from the property register in approximately 30 days.

You can:

Pick up the contract from the notary yourself.
Receive the contract through a representative of the real estate agency, who will then transfer it to you.

There are no strict formalities for obtaining documents in Italy.