Source: https://vademecumitalia.com/how-to-buy-a-house-in-italy/
Timestamp: 2019-04-26 05:43:54+00:00

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In order to buy a house in Italy there are some important steps to follow. Although there is no need to turn to a real estate agent, it is advisable for the parties to sign a preliminary contract with which they mutually agree to sell and purchase a property by signing a deed on a specific date. With the preliminary contract there is no transferring of ownership but only a promise to sell and to purchase in the future. After the preliminary phase, the parties must turn to a notary before whom they stipulate and sign a definitive contract (the “deed”), by which the transfer of ownership takes place in favor of the purchaser with all its legal and fiscal consequences. Once the deed is finalized, the notary must carry out a few duties, starting from the registration of the act at the Italian Revenue Agency and at the Land Registry, the transcription of the act at the Real Estate Registry, together with the payment of taxes.
3-B) forwarding a copy of the deed to the administrator of the condominium (if applicable).
In accordance with art. 1470 of the “Italian Civil Code” (hereinafter “c.c.”), “sale and purchase” is an agreement whose object is the transfer of ownership of a property or the transfer of other rights for a price. The purchase agreement concerning real estate is therefore a formal agreement with which one party (seller) transfers to another (purchaser) the ownership of a specific property upon payment of the agreed price (art. 1470 et seq. c.c.).
Under art. 1350, no. 1), c.c., contracts that transfer ownership of real property must be in the form of a public act (“deed”) or of a private writing (“private deed” or “private written work”), under penalty of nullity.
In the sale and purchase agreement obligations of the seller are: 1) to deliver the property to the buyer (in the state it was at the time of the sale), 2) to let him acquire the property, and 3) to guarantee a “free and clear title” and that the same has no defects (art. 1476 c.c.).
Pursuant to art. 1498 c.c. the buyer must pay the price at the date and place determined by the contract.
Under art. 1376 c.c. (“Contracts with real effects”) the buyer becomes owner of the property not when he pays or receives the good, but when the contract (the deed) is regularly concluded, which means that it is drawn up in writing as a notarial deed (under penalty of nullity pursuant to art. 1350 c.c.), signed and completed with every element.
The Italian civil code also establishes that the expenses of the contract of sale and purchase and other accessory expenses are borne by the buyer, unless it has been agreed otherwise (article 1475 c.c.).
Especially when the contract is concluded between private parties, the property is assessed at a flat rate and not per meter, generally because this reduces the possibility for the parties to request increases or decreases of the price if the property is a few meters bigger or smaller than stated in the contract.
After the deed is regularly concluded, specific Italian laws and regulations require that the definitive contract is registered at the Italian Revenue Agency (“Agenzia delle Entrate“) and transcribed at the Real Estate Registry (“Conservatoria“) in special registers in which ownership of properties is annotated. Especially for these purposes, although a private writing is by itself sufficient to perfect a valid contract of sale (which must have all the essential elements of the contract), parties turn to a “Public Notary” who, empowered by law to either draw up the contract in the form of a “public deed” or to authenticate the “private deed” drawn up by the parties, carries out all the formalities that follow the signing of the deed.
As a matter of fact, in Italy an important role in the sale and purchase of a property is played by the “Public Notary”, who must have a degree in Law before taking a public competitive examination. Although he/she is self-employed, in some specific cases he/she performs public functions. For this reason, it is said that in the exercise of its functions the notary is a public official who guarantees the truthfulness and legality of acts that are subscribed before and by him.
Just like everywhere else in the world, those who want to buy a house in Italy and have no intention of seeking the right property on their own can turn to a real estate agent who connects two or more parties (the demand and the offer) in order to conclude a deal, without being connected to any of them by cooperative relations, dependency or representation (art. 1754 c.c.). Only agents who are enrolled at an Italian Chamber of Commerce can legitimately perform this task.
In order to buy a property in Italy it is not necessary to involve a real estate agent. However, if (and only if) the deal is concluded as a result of his/her intervention, the agent has the right to a commission (art. 1755 c.c.) that, on average, is around 2%-4% of the price of the deal plus a sales tax called IVA (VAT/sales tax) which is currently at a rate of 22%. The agent is entitled to ask for a commission from both parties, as well as to ask reimbursement of expenses to the party on whose behalf they were borne even if the deal is not concluded (art. 1766 c.c.). Nevertheless, considering many aspects such as the international monetary crisis, nowadays many agents tend to ask only the buyer to pay commissions and forgo expenses. In case the deal is concluded as a result of the intervention of the agent, his/her name has to be included in the contract (see below); otherwise he/she will not be entitled to a commission.
When the seller signs the proposal for acceptance, it becomes a real preliminary contract (under art. 1326 c.c., the contract is concluded at the moment when whoever made the proposal has knowledge of the acceptance by the other party), subject to registration, after which parties can sign the deed directly. It is important to consider that under art. 1326, par. 5, c.c., acceptance which does not comply with the original proposal equals a new proposal, after which a new acceptance by the original proposer is necessary.
Since in many cases irrevocable offers are not extremely detailed, it is possible to specify in the proposal that, after the offer is accepted by the seller, the parties will reproduce the contents of the proposal in a preliminary contract for the purpose of adding elements not covered in the proposal itself.
A preliminary contract is a real contract in which the parties involved (promissory buyer and seller) mutually agree to sell and purchase a property by signing a “deed” on a specific date. Therefore, with this contract there is no transferring of ownership but only a promise to sell and to purchase in the future. Parties through a preliminary contract largely predetermine what they will want to include in the deed.
The preliminary contract can have the form of a simple private agreement or of a notarial act (in this case it is also transcribed at the Real Estate Registry, in accordance with art. 2645-bis c.c.), but in any case, pursuant to art. 1351 c.c., it shall be drawn up in the same form prescribed by law for the final contract (i.e. written form) otherwise it will be null and void.
Obviously, preliminary contracts written by notaries have higher costs. Apart from registration fees (“imposta di registro”), cadastral tax (“imposta catastale”) and mortgage tax (“imposta ipotecaria”) (due at a fixed amount), the buyer will have to pay the notary’s fee.
However, a preliminary contract written by a notary has significant guarantees, more than the preliminary written directly by the parties. These are, for example, the transcription of the contract at the Real Estate Registry (see below), the special privilege in favor of the promissory buyer who, in case of failure to perform the preliminary by the promissory seller, can sell the property at auction in order to recover the amount he has paid, just as if he had a mortgage in his favor, and also that the signatures of the parties are certified by a public notary, so no one can disclaim them. Considering the above elements, it is possible to understand how much easier it would be to assert rights before a Judge in the event of a dispute.
For the purpose of the validity of the preliminary contract it is not necessary to specify all elements of the future contract. It is sufficient that the parties agree on the essential elements.
usually the parties declare that the preliminary contract is subject to registration tax at a fixed rate, and that a registration tax at a rate of 0.50% on the amount paid as a deposit is also due (this will be added to the registration tax due for the deed at the time of its registration).
As far as transfers of ownership of real estate go, after the irrevocable offer or the preliminary contract or simply when the parties reach an agreement (without signing the above mentioned agreements), in order to sell and purchase the property the parties must turn to a notary before whom they stipulate and sign a definitive contract, the “private deed” or the “deed”, by which the transfer of ownership takes place in favor of the purchaser.
As a matter of fact, the signing of the deed establishes the moment in which the property is transferred from the seller to the buyer with all its legal and fiscal consequences. For example, if after the conclusion of the contract but before being turned over the property sold should be damaged or destroyed (e.g. an explosion that destroys the property occurs), the risk of deterioration is borne by the buyer. This also means that if the buyer has not yet paid the price, he is still obliged to pay for it, even if the property has been destroyed.
In most cases parties decide to stipulate a public deed before the notary, not only because generally parties do not have a high level of knowledge of the law that enables them to perfectly reproduce in a contract their own intentions and conditions, but also because, as said above, after the definitive contract is signed it must be, among other things, registered and transcribed.
In the case above, the parties and the notary will gather (usually at the office of the notary) and the notary will perform a series of checks to verify that every formality is correct, that the property is actually owned by the seller, that it is free from mortgage, foreclosures, rights of third parties, that it complies with the city regulatory plan, etc.. The notary will then prepare the contract, read it out in the presence of the parties, which, if they consider that everything is correct, sign the agreement. The notary himself signs the contract thus giving it nature of a public deed. Usually together with the conclusion of the deed, the seller gives to the buyer the keys of the property, with which he takes possession of the estate.
statement by the public notary concerning the number of pages of the act, that it has been read in front of the parties who approved it and signed it.
possible copy of check/bank wire by which the real estate agent was paid (usually the buyer).
Once the deed is finalized, the notary must carry out a few duties, starting from the registration of the act at the Italian Revenue Agency and at the Land Registry (“Catasto“), the transcription of the act at the Real Estate Registry, together with the payment of taxes.
In case of transfer on the basis of a sale and purchase act, taxes applied are: registration, mortgage, and cadastral tax. These taxes are (usually) borne by the purchaser and paid by the notary at the time of the registration of the deed.
Only after the payment of mortgage and cadastral taxes it is possible to fulfill two other formalities concerning the deed, such as its cadastral registration at the Land Registry and its transcription at the Real Estate Registry.
The Land Registry contains unique data of every (registered) property in Italy, and it assigns a value to every real estate by which the amount of taxes due by every owner is calculated. Since each property has an accountholder of the right of ownership, the cadastral registration has the purpose of changing the accountholder (just like when you buy a car). However, it is good to keep in mind that this register has only fiscal purpose and, therefore, with regard to the determination of the ownership of a real estate property the only valid register is the one at the Real Estate Registry.
According to art. 63 of the “Provisions for the implementation of the Civil Code and transitional provisions”, whoever sells rights of a property is jointly and severally obligated with the successor in title for contributions accrued until such time as a certified copy of the title which causes the transfer of rights is sent to the administrator of the building in question.
The text above should be read together with art. 1130, no. 6), c.c., new text, which adds to the powers of the administrator the keeping of a condominium register containing the details of individual condominium owners and tenants, including their fiscal code, residence or domicile, cadastral data of each housing unit, as well as any condition relating to the safety of the common parts of the building. Any variation of the data must be submitted to the administrator in writing within sixty days.
n1. The Italian Civil Code provides some remedies in case after signing the preliminary contract one of the parties does not intend to proceed with the sale.
If there has been a deposit, as it usually is, art. 1385, par. 2, c.c. states that if the party who gave the deposit breaches the contract, the other party may terminate the contract, keeping the deposit; if the breaching party is the one who has received the deposit, the other may terminate the contract and demand double the deposit.
Par. 3 of the same article, as an alternative to the above, allows the party that is not in breach to ask a judge for execution (pursuant to art. 2932 c.c. a judge can issue a judgment which has the same effects of the contract that has not been concluded, i.e. transfer of property) or termination of the contract (pursuant to art. 1453 c.c. a judge can declare its termination for breach of contract). In both cases the plaintiff has a right to damages, which will have to be proven in their precise amount according to general rules, with the risk that the plaintiff will not be able to prove that the damage he suffered was greater than the deposit.
Therefore, (generally) the creditor may choose between the above remedies on the basis of what may bring him greater advantage. The difference is that the first solution has the advantage of avoiding judicial determination, which is generally very long and uncertain, in reference to the damage suffered, and so the creditor can keep the deposit (or double the deposit) without having to prove in front of a Court the damage he suffered.
On the contrary, the second solution allows the creditor to obtain the execution of the contract (transfer of ownership) or the judicial resolution of the contract, thus permanently terminating the agreement (even though without being able to keep the deposit). In either case the creditor has the right to ask the Judge for damages, which, however, must be proven in accordance with general rules.
n2. It is really common that the buyer (borrower) does not receive from the bank the amount borrowed together with the stipulation of sale and loan contracts. As a matter of fact, some banks, before delivering the amount, ask for the registration of the mortgage, and in some cases even for the so called “consolidation”, i.e. they wait for confirmation from the notary that the mortgage has actually been registered in their favor, that no other mortgage has been registered and that within ten days from the sale and purchase contract no judgment of bankruptcy has been issued against the borrower. The consolidation usually requires eleven – fifteen days ca..
In consideration of the above, often parties agree to stipulate the loan contract two or three weeks before the sale and purchase, with the intervention of the seller who grants mortgage in favor of the bank, in order to stipulate the sale and purchase contract at a time when the buyer has already received the sum borrowed from the bank.
in case of transfer of agricultural land and related assets in favor of persons other than farmers and agricultural entrepreneurs: 12% registration tax + € 50 mortgage tax + € 50 cadastral tax.
n4. As a matter of fact, if the seller should sell the property to more than one buyer, the criteria of priority of transcription is ascertained by determining which among different purchasers of the same property, first transcribed the contract at the Real Estate Registry.
Furthermore, the principle of priority of transcription applies also to determine whether other acts transcribed or recorded are effective against the buyer (for example a mortgage against the seller registered after the transcription of the sale is ineffective against the buyer).
n5. The system is based on the rule of continuity of transcriptions according to which a transcription against a person concerning the ownership of a specific property must be preceded by a transcription in favor of the same person on the same property.
n6. Another minor fulfillment is (rectius: was) for example the communication to the local Authority for Security of the sale of the property by the seller. Pursuant to D.L. 59/1978, art.12 (converted with amendments by Law 191/1978) anyone who transfers ownership of a building or part of it has an obligation to notify the local authority for security, within forty-eight hours after the delivery of the property, its exact location, as well as the generality and identity document of the purchaser. However, D.L. 79/2012, art.2, par. 1-2, has established that registration of contracts relating to the transfer of property absorbs the duty to notify under the aforementioned art.12 of the D.L. 59/1978 as subsequently amended.
However, the absorption principle does not apply – and, therefore, the obligation to notify the local authority for security remains – when the buyer is either a foreigner or a stateless person. As a matter of fact, according to D.Lgs. 286/1998, art. 7 anyone who provides accommodation or hosts a foreigner or a stateless person, even if parent or relative, or sells him ownership or confers enjoyment of real property, rustic or urban, located in the Italian territory, is required to give written notice, within forty-eight hours, to the local Public Security. Communication includes, besides the generality of the complainant, those of the foreigner or of the stateless person, the details of his passport or identification document, the exact location of the property sold, or where the person is housed, hosted or provides service and the title for which the communication is due. Even though this is a minor duty, violations of the provisions contained in this article shall be subject to administrative sanction for payment of a sum from € 160 to € 1,100.
In the case of another person living with the new owner (e.g., flatmate, fiancé etc.) he/she must declare to the local Police that such a person is residing at his new property.
I’m currently in the process of buying a flat in Abruzzo, do you have any guidance regarding the costs a purchaser would incur?
such as Realtor commission, inspection, lawyer review with municipality regarding any outstanding work orders of deficiencies, and ultimately closing the deal.
There are various costs that a buyer has to bear in order to buy a house in Italy, which are different from case to case. For example, if you ask a real estate agent to assist you, he/she has the right to a commission (art. 1755 c.c.) that, on average, is around 2%-4% of the price of the deal plus IVA (Italian sales tax). If a lawyer is involved, his/her professional fee will depend on the activity you ask him/her to perform, therefore we cannot predict it at this time. Furthermore, costs increase if you need a bank loan, because in this case the Public Notary will have to draft two contracts and, therefore, your costs will double. Notary fees for deeds and loans depend on the price of the “house” and on the mortgage related to the loan (the mortgage is usually equal to twice the bank loan amount). In addition to Notary fees, you will also have to pay taxes, that vary significantly if the seller is an individual (natural person) or construction company (in the latter case IVA applies), and if you purchase as “first home” or “second home”. We can give you a quick example. Recently we assisted a client who bought a “first home” in Rome for the amount of € 450.000 circa. She asked for a bank loan of € 165.000 circa. The following were (more or less) the related costs: 1) Notary fees for the deed € 2.800, for the loan € 2.600; 2) registration tax € 1.797 (2% of the cadastral value), mortgage tax € 50, cadastral tax € 50. You will then need to add the real estate fee and the costs that the bank asks to “open” the loan (€ 500/1000). We will be glad to assist you in case you decide to buy an estate in Italy. Please send us an email (info@vademecumitalia.com) with your specific request of assistance and your contact details and a lawyer will get in touch with you as soon as possible. We look forward to hearing from you. Thank you for contacting VI.

References: art. 1470
 art. 1350
 art. 1498
 art. 1376
 art. 1350
 art. 1326
 art. 1326
 art. 2645
 art. 1351
 art. 63
 art. 1130
 art. 1385
 art. 2932
 art. 1453
 art.12
 art.2
 art.12
 art. 7