Process of buying a property in Italy

A summary of who we are: House For Sale Tuscany is a Dutch consultancy and Guidance office specialized in guiding international clients and business entities during the acquisition process and management of real estate in Europe, but mainly based in Tuscany, Italy. We have a partnering real estate office located in Arezzo who fully represents our interests.

We take the time to go through everything with you step by step. Our goal is to help you find the right fit into the Italian real estate market, optimizing your time and number of visits. In order to provide you with the necessary support for the choice of the asset, we would love to receive additional information in order to be fully able to find your potential Tuscan home.

Viewings:
If you’d like to arrange a non-binding viewing, we will make an appointment for you in beautiful Tuscany

At this time, you will give us the task of planning these appointments for you.

Buying a house in Italy is not something you do in a weekend. Plan a minimum of 15 days to find the right house. You will then need, at least one more trip to Italy, to complete the details of the sales process.

Once you have identified your dream home, viewed it, and decided it is the one for you, it is imperative to first understand the legal process of buying property in Italy before you close the deal. The following short guide will be helpful in unravelling some of the legal terms and requirements involved in the sales process.

1) The fiscal code “codice fiscale”:

The first thing you need to get familiar with is the CODICE FISCALE. If you are thinking about purchasing a property in Italy, in fact as well as to open any Italian bank account, you will need a CODICE FISCALE. It is an identification code calculated based on your complete name, the place of your birth, and the date of your birth. The CODICE FISCALE will be necessary any time you will need to deal with the authorities.

2) Opening an Italian bank account:

In the event of a purchase it is essential to open a bank account in Italy, not only to transfer the funds for the completion (as the final payment normally happens in Italian bank drafts) but also to get the various utilities paid automatically through direct debit.

3) Mobile phone number:

You will also be required to buy an Italian mobile phone card or pre-pay sim card. This is necessary to manage your bank account online.

4) Formal offer “proposta d’acquisito”:

Once the above is complete, you can then proceed in creating a formal offer or “proposta d’acquisito” for the property. It confirms your interest to pay for the property. However, it is always important to engage the services of a solicitor at this point to ensure that your interests are well catered to, this throughout the entire process.

5) Cadastral checks “Conservatoria e Catasto”:

In Italy the registration situation changes regularly in relation to the new European Union rules. It sometimes happens that the information we receive, from the sellers does not fully match the information at the time of the sale. Because an investigation at the Land Registry is costly and the seller has to pay the costs, it is NOT CUSTOMARY to have an investigation set up in advance in Italy.
This is done after acceptance of the proposal contract.
Sometimes it is possible that the data does not correspond 100% with what is already known.
In that case the seller is given a certain amount of time to register the whole with the Land Registry.

6) Preliminary agreement “compromesso”:

The deposit seals a contract known as preliminary agreement of sale (‘compromesso’ or “contratto preliminare di vendita” in Italian). It is also called the ‘promessa di vendita’ which is actually a major contract setting out all the full conditions of the sale including all the necessary registry information. The signed contract must be (if both parties wish) registered within 20 days to make it a legally binding document. The cost of the notary, to organize and register the contract, is approximately € 2,500.00
N.B. The preliminary agreement is NOT mandatory and the “final contract” can be immediate after the “proposta d’acquisito”.

7) Final contract “rogito”:

The next step will be to officially get the property’s title deed known as the ‘atto di compravendita’ or simply the ‘rogito’ (final contract) using the services of a notary, locally known as the ‘notaio’. He or she will validate the contracts dealing with transfer of property ownership, draft a new deed citing you as the new legal owner, and witness the closing of the deal as you hand over the final payment and receive the property’s keys from the seller.

The notary needs about 6 weeks to arrange all administrative tasks to complete the “rogito” and in some cases s/he will need more time depending on workloads.

 

House For Sale Tuscany is a Dutch consultancy and advisory specialized in guiding and advising international clients in the buying process and management of real estate in Europe mainly based in Tuscany, Italy.
House For Sale Tuscany undertakes and works together with different companies or agents or third-party individuals, often in different countries and international sectors in Europe or have part of the work – and payments – and invoices completed by third parties.
The information contained in this website and any attachments hereto and any social media accounts and publications and any other linked emails or websites are intended of a general nature and only for the personal use of the designated recipient(s) named above.
Applicable law: The Dutch law is exclusively applicable to this website and disclaimer. Disputes are submitted to the competent court in the Netherlands.

House For Sale Tuscany collaborates with real estate agency AAA-Immobiliare S.a.s. in Arezzo.
They organize all contracts and check all legal aspects of the buying and selling process.
They guide the clients at the notary office during the transfer of the contract.

All prices and information on this website are indicative and no rights can be derived from this website.