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ITALIAN PROPERTY BUYERS GUIDE
A LEGAL
AND TAX OVERVIEW
Our aim is
to help you understanding the process of buying
a real estate property in Italy, approaching
both legal and tax Italian systems.
The process to buy a
property in Italy is different from any
other country you may be familiar with, but we
can help you getting familiar with the Italian real
estate buying process and also prepare all
needed papers and documents for a smooth Italian
real estate transaction.
With this
Guide to buy a property in
Italy, we would like to help you
understanding the steps you will have to
deal with when thinking about purchasing a property in
Italy.
Of course, without the
assistance of a trusted
Real
Estate
Broker,
like us, the process of
buying a property in Italy would be a
maze-like process, much more complicated than described
in the following guide.
When talking about
purchasing a property in Italy, we
basically can divide the total process in 3 steps
to deal with:
Step one: Italian property
selection, checks and searches
The first thing to do
is having a clear idea about where to buy a
property in Italy. Italy is the country
of good taste and invaluable art and culture, and there
is plenty of places where you could be interested in
buying a property. We suggest you to read our
article about Italian Real
Estate Market to
make you a better idea about Italian most popular
regions, cities and areas.
With our help, you will
select the property and negotiate the general terms of
the purchase. The transaction has to be done according
to Italian law and the deed of sale has to be executed
before a public notary. In all Italian real
estate transactions, a notary act as an Italian
State officer and handles both checks and surveys at the
land registry office (catasto) and of course the
registration of the real estate transfer at the Ufficio
del Catasto (land registry office). Married couples
should keed in mind that the public notary will ask them
about their matrimonial property regime (regime
patrimoniale).
Before the completion of
any Italian real estate sale, it is
important to complete a large list of verifications
about the property. Our company aim is to assist you
during this crucial process, with our local surveyors
(geometra) we will check your property in
Italy and be sure that:
1. Your
Italian property matches with Italian Land Registry
definition
2. The Italian real
estate you choose was not built without planning
permissions
3. Any
restructuration, work or extensions done inside or
outside your italian property by the previous owners
have received approval and have the relevant taxes
paid
4. The owners of the
chosen Italian real estate as Land Registry Office are
the same as stated by the vendor
Step II: Purchasing
Agreement (Compromesso o contratto preliminare d’acquisto)
Once the property has
been chosen, according to Italian law you should sign a
proposal of purchase (contratto preliminare d’acquisto).
You should be aware
about the different types of Italian real estate
contracts:
1
. Reservation Contract: a
reservation contract for a property in
Italy means that after paying a small amount of
money you reserve the right to buy a property for a
fixed period of time, usually not less than one month.
Of course, if for any reason you can not buy the
property anymore, you loose the deposit.
2. Full Preliminary
Contract: after signing this kind of
contract and paying 10 to 30 % of the value of your
property in Italy, you commit yourself
to buying the chosen Italian property,
unless any problem appears with the seller.
3. Formal Offer
contract: by signing a formal offer to
buy a property in Italy, you fully
commit yourself in buying the selected Italian
property for sale.
Please note that it is
not mandatory to involve a notary in the signing
process, but you can only registry your
Italian property at the Ufficio del Catasto (land
registry office) if you execute the proposal of purchase
before a public notary, and also you have
to understand the importance of the agreement execution
before a public notary by thinking that the
Italian property land registration is the only way to
protect you in case the seller refuses to sell or he
decides to sell to a third party between the signing of
the proposal of purchase and the rogito (deed of
sale). If the buyer breaches the
contract, he may lose his deposit. If the seller does
so, he must pay the buyer twice the amount of his
deposit.
Step III: completion
formalities of the property in italy
The last step to
buy a real estate property in Italy
usually ends in the office of a local Notaio (Notary).
For the Italian law, a Notary has to prepare the Rogito
Notarile
(purchase deed). To successfully accomplish this step,
it is vital that you have acquired all mandatory
documentation.
The help of our company
in this process will be invaluable due to a large list
of local Italian lawyers and notaries working with us
since a long time ago. Our Notaries will be able to
guarantee the correct execution, registration and the
payment of all different Italian taxes related to your
Italian real estate property. We will guide you to
receive from our Notaries the assurance that:
1. The seller is
the legal owner of the property and he is entitled to
sell the property
2. There are absolutely no
previous debts or loans on the property
3. There are no previous written liens.
4. The vendor knows that he is committed to
declare any outstanding private agreements regarding the
property.
The vast majority of
real estate properties in Italy are freehold. The total
fees for buying a property in Italy varies between 10 to
20 per cent of the purchase price.
There are many different
fees and taxes you will be entitled to pay,
our lawyers will be able to reduce this taxes
to the minimum, depending on types of chosen property in
Italy.
Among different taxes
and fees we mention:
1. Italian property
registration fees: 10% for non residents, 4% for
residents
2. Legal fees (if any independent
legal advice is needed)
3. Ufficio del catasto
(land registry) fees and stamp duty
4. Notaio
(notary) fees (generally about 2% of the property
declared price)
5. Loan fees (if applicable)
6. IVA fees (Italy’s equivalent of VAT), if
buying from a company(normally 10%)
7. State tax, if buying
from a private individual
8. Translator fees
for formal translation of the purchase deed, usually
around 250 Euro
9. Bank fees of any
international wire transfer is necessary (please contact
us for assistance)
VR IMMOBILIARE wants to
offer his help to you through this process with our
trusted local lawyers, vendors, surveyors, notaries and
partners to find the best italian property for your
needs.
We can assist you in
many ways, among them:
1. Find the
property in Italy that best suit your needs
2. Open an account by an Italian bank
3. Provide local
notary, lawyers, translators
and trusted surveyors
4. Provide
trusted local builders restoration
5. Provide
finance and mortgage options
6. Provide Foreign
Exchange options
7. Provide trusted
professional for furniture removals and storage,
8. Provide insurance options
9. Arrange utilities transfers to your name
The mission of our company and
our vision is to help you in every aspects of the
purchase a property in Italy. To
organize operations in order to find the
Italian real estate property that best suits your
needs, for helping you with any legal issue and
completely through the sales process.
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